Battle Dress - Variants

Variants

The so-called P40 or Pattern 1940 Battle Dress (also known as "austerity pattern") was introduced in 1942; it deleted the fly front, and the front buttons, as well as the pocket buttons, were now exposed.

Officers were permitted to tailor the collar of their blouses so as to wear a collared shirt and tie, especially if they had the austerity pattern without the openable "rise and fall" collar.

Canadian Battle Dress never had an austerity pattern introduced, though the collar closure did change from a set of hooks and eyes to a flap and button in about 1943. The Canadian version was also a much greener shade of khaki than the standard British version. It was greenish with some brown, rather than brownish with some green.

• 1940 Pattern Battle Dress Blouse.

• Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Arthur Montague Browning in a specially tailored Battle Dress blouse with faced lapels.

• U.S. version of Battle Dress for European Theatre of Operations uniform with Ike jacket.

• Air Chief Marshal Tedder wearing RAF war service dress.

• The Monumento al Partigiano in Parma (Italy) depicts a Resistance fighter in Battle Dress, wielding a Sten Gun.

The United States produced Battle Dress uniforms for use by the Commonwealth, these uniforms were known as "War Aid" Battle Dress. The US also produced a version called the Ike jacket or Eisenhower jacket which subsequently replaced the OG Army service uniform for troops stationed outside the Continental United States for the duration of the war. Personnel of the 1st Marine Division returning from Guadalcanal were posted to Australia where they were issued Australian battledress that the Marines called the Vandegrift Jacket.

Battle Dress trousers with additional pockets sewn to them were known as Parachutist's Trousers and were issued to men in parachute and glider units.

A version of Battle Dress intended for working clothing was produced from denim with several manufacturer's variants. It was issued a size larger as it was intended to be worn over the regular uniform.

Battle Dress in shades of postman blue and navy blue were also produced for the Royal Air Force (and Commonwealth flying services) and Royal Navy/Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (and Commonwealth naval services). The Civil Defence Corps were issued dark blue battledress with the same colour issued to post war prisoners in the United Kingdom.

German U-Boat crews were also commonly issued with British Army battledress (with German insignia added). Large stockpiles had been captured by the Germans after the fall of France in 1940.