Tropical British in topees

[TacticalPainter]

I've been putting together a 20mm British/Commonwealth force for the early part of the war in the Far East and as the tropical uniforms were basically the same as that worn in the desert I've been using 20mm 8th army and western desert figures from various ranges. One of the things that I've found impossible to find are Lewis Gun teams in tropical dress with tin helmets. Many British units in the Far East were the poor cousins when it came to modern equipment and several had Lewis guns instead of Brens or in some cases a mix of both.

While searching I came across the Early War Miniatures range of British in topee helmets as they have Lewis gun teams. It didn't give me figures with helmets but I was aware there were British units in Malaya and Burma still equipped this way and with topees and 1908 webbing. Of course the figures would also work for East Africa and Syria/Lebanon. More about the Far East project here on my blog http://thetacticalpainter.blogspot.com/2020/05/more-for-far-east.html

[DCRBrown]

Good uniform, here's a pic of the old man in tropical outfit circa 1940!



DB

[Plynkes]

Nice! I've got a 1940s Wolseley, "It Ain't 'Alf Hot Mum", style.




You don't see the other sort very often in gaming, the style that DCRBrown's old man is holding with the more flattened top. What is that one called, India Pattern or something like that? Don't think I've seen many figures wearing those.

[TacticalPainter]

Excellent stuff! To be honest the EWM sculpts are nothing to get excited about, their helmets are a sort of hybrid tropical number, so could be whatever style you want them to be.

[TacticalPainter]

Here are some pictures of them worn by troops training in Malaya just prior to the Japanese invasion and as you can see they still have the 1908 webbing:







They were also worn in Syria/Lebanon, although you can see here this unit has the 1937 webbing, so it wasn't necessarily always a case of having outdated equipment, the helmet would have been standard tropical issue.



I'm not certain if they were worn in combat. The unit training in Malaya look like that's the headgear they would expect to be wearing in combat, but there is so little photo evidence of the Malaya campaign it's hard to know if that actually occurred in practice. While providing no evidence whatsoever of British practice the picture below shows French troops wearing them in what looks like it could be a combat situation (the photographer is certainly keeping his head down!).

[vodkafan]

That top pic is not 1908 webbing . It is 37 pattern cartridge carriers.  Issued to secondary troops not infantry. Notice the thinner belt and straps

[Hang Tuah]

Certainly reminds me of this illustration from an Osprey book:

[Truscott Trotter]

I would expect the topee to be swapped for battle bowler when the lead started to fly, just like service / field caps were....unless you are in the Paras or Commandos.....where your skull is tough enough to bounce bullets off 

[TacticalPainter]

That top pic is not 1908 webbing . It is 37 pattern cartridge carriers.  Issued to secondary troops not infantry. Notice the thinner belt and straps

Ah well spotted. It was while I was looking around for figures in tropical helmets that I picked up some info that some units in the Far East and other far flung posts of Empire still had 1908 webbing and that's lodged into my brain.

[TacticalPainter]

I would expect the topee to be swapped for battle bowler when the lead started to fly, just like service / field caps were....unless you are in the Paras or Commandos.....where your skull is tough enough to bounce bullets off 

Yeah, I would assume so, but the training pictures from Malaya don't seem to suggest that. Can't imagine they would train for combat wearing helmets issued for non-combat situations. Of course between the training and the Japanese invasion they could have been issued with tin helmets, alternatively these 'training' pictures are purely for propaganda purposes and we should read nothing from it.

The other view to take is that like the Australians with the slouch hat and the Chindits and others in Burma with the bush hat, this headgear was preferred to a tin helmet even though it offered less protection. I know many Australians considered the helmet too noisy to wear in the jungle and a liability when trying to move quietly. Also pretty hot I should imagine.

I've found historical reference that identifies which overseas stations would warrant the issue of a pith helmet, unfortunately it doesn't say anything about a tin helmet as well, so hard to know if this means they were not issued a tin helmet at all, or just that they get the pith helmet in addition to any other headgear.

[Truscott Trotter]

The pith helmet is a helmet in name only - it is made of cork, papermache or other lightweight material (cactus ) you may as well be wearing a cloth cap when it comes to bullets - but it does keep you cool

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

I believe that the Indian Army was generally towards the back of the queue in terms of new kit - and certainly the newly-raised formations that were sent to Malaya in 1941.  I didn't realise that British units were equally under-equipped.

[wmyers]

Are the Strelets ‘South African’ 1/72 / 20mm figures in the same pattern helmet?

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=2219

They have Lewis guns, too.

[TacticalPainter]

Are the Strelets ‘South African’ 1/72 / 20mm figures in the same pattern helmet?

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=2219

They have Lewis guns, too.

Thanks, I wasn’t aware of those. They had a slightly different helmet but it’s a minor difference that you can get away with at this scale. SHQ also do a range of similarly dressed South Africans. My problem with the Lewis gun is finding a gunner in tropical shorts and shirt but wearing a tin helmet (as in a Brodie helmet). Some Australians and Canadians were equipped this way and I believe some British/Indian army too.

[wmyers]

What about a WWI gunner?

Or cutting the legs off a prone gunner to replace them with ones wearing shorts?