Commando clothing

Can any one help - What was the standard / or non standard clothing worn by the commando:

1) While training
2) Day dress
3)Battle or raiding dress

The reason for this question is that while looking at photo's of the men on Spean Bridge monument,they seem to be wearing "turtle neck shirt/sweaters"
I believe I have also read they wore rubber sole foot wear
The photo's I am referring to can be found:
FORUM
Looking for information - misc
subject Men of the Spean Bridge monument
Nic answer to Laura dtd 1/6/2011

Regards
Graham

Now there's a can of worms!! My best advice is to look through the excellent galleries on here as you'll soon see that there's no such thing as standard with commandos, that's before you factor in where in the world they're operating!

In very, very high level TYPICALLY:

Training at Achnacarry was in denims, with ammo boots, sometimes helmets sometimes cap comforters, wool shirt and whatever jumpers were available, standard issue or private purchase and 37 webbing. Later they seemd to wear denison smocks too.

Day dress/walking out dress battledress, gaiters, 37 pattern belt, wool shirt ammo boots, early days before the green beret was introduced they?d have worn tam o?shantas, Glengarrys, FS caps and whatever specific unit querks they had, lanyards, white webbing, etc.

Raids - anything goes! Orders were normally issued before hand and can be seen in war diaries with what the requirements were. Yes a lot of the time on raids they wore vibram soled ammo boots. Later in the war and depending on the theatre, battle jerkins were worn, Denison smocks were worn, a lot of the time they wore denims on raids too or BD in cooler climates. Obviously in the middle east they wore KD and in the far east they wore JG. But everywhere you will see a mix and match

This is a massive subject and they wore just about every piece of British kit that was available, plus American kit as well.

Hope this helps?

Cheers
Paul

Further to my original quest would any one know the individual scaling/ issue of personal kit to commando's as against the normal infantry man.

Thanks again
Graham

Again Graham, it depends who, when and where!

By way of an example in Commando Subaltern at War by WG Jenkins, he includes a kit list that was issued prior to them leaving Vis - see attached
I've seen several of these in different unit war diaries

Cheers
Paul

Hi Graham

You might find Army Commandos 1940-45 by Mike Chappell useful to start you off. Very well illustrated paperback (colour drawings and b/w photos) showing uniforms, kit and weapons used in different theatres. Published by Osprey Publishing as No 64 in their Elite series - ISBN 978-1-85532-579-1.

Good hunting.

Jennie

As far as some of the kit this photo has some laid out:

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/WW2/scan0238.jpg.html

Here is a link to an excellent US War Dept declassified report on the British Commandos which includes sections on clothing , kit, rations, and many other topics.. it is dated August 1942. It has been posted before but the link on the original message no longer works

http://www.scribd.com/doc/87281230/British-Commandos-Special-Series-No-1

Thank you Pete, the gallery photo of the kit inspection is exactly what I am after as an answer,but due to the quality of the photo cannot make out all items.
Can anyone help with naming the items,especially the clothing at the top of the picture,and the webbing in the lower portion of the photo.

Regards
Graham

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 25/06/2012 23:51:45

You don't want much!!

See attached, first cut. ? = educated guess. All the things are what you'd expect to be issued but he ?s might not be in the right place. Other things you'd expect to see are things like leather jerkins, balaclavas, gaiters, rain cape, etc.

I'd love to know the source of this photo, it's RM, my guess is its late/post war and obviously a nice cosy UK based barrack shot not what you'd expect to see during a war in the theatre!

For further info on British kit I'd recommend the glossy book "From D-Day to VE-Day, The British Soldier Volume 1" by Jean Bouchery.

Don't forget there was nothing unique about commando kit (I think the only thing is SV boots), 90% was regular British Army issue, the other 10% was 'special forces' kit (not unique to commandos, i.e. was also used by paras, etc.) like toggle ropes, FS knives, etc.

Hope this helps
Paul

The photo comes from the collection of L/Cpl. 'Ken' Emmerson who was attached to the 1st Special Service Brigade HQ during Operation Overlord and their subsequent push into NW Europe and Germany. His collection of photos each taken by himself span from his period in 2 Commando, 12 Commando and the SS Bde HQ in NW Europe after D Day. His son who discovered the negatives and some actual printed copies kindly sent copies to the CVA to display on our website. There were no other " nice cosy UK based barracks shots" in his collection of photos. One should never assume.

Just to add to the above, on page 244 of Commandos and Rangers of WW2 by James Ladd, there is a photo of RM Commando kit laid out in a field which has some items numbered and described. This includes bicycle, camouflage net, , basic pouches , webbing and water bottle, hand signal flares, gym shoes, life jacket, small smoke generator, mug, mess tin, gas mask, clasp knife , sewing kit, holdall with toilet items

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 26/06/2012 10:09:03

Hi Pete

I didn't assume, I guessed :wink:, but it does look very staged! Also there is a RM cap badge attached to the helmet?
There is also kit missing that you'd expect to see.

I know the picture in the James Ladd book, this is a pre-D-day embarkation shot if I remember rightly. Again it goes back to the question of "when and where" different kit for different theatres, different operations and different times... oh and of course different jobs, rifleman, signalman, PIATman, etc.

cheers
Paul

The website dedicated to 48 RM Commando contains some information and a kit list for that RM Commando:

http://48royalmarinecommando.com/index.php?p=1_11_Full-Kit-List

Nice find that website Pete

The thing I love about the above photo, is that just to confuse us all further, the bloke on the right is wearing an American M41 jacket over his British BD! I also know that 2 Cdo were issued with US enlisted men's wool shirts too in Yugoslavia.

The first rule is, there are no rules!
Paul

Thank you for all contribution,I now have a good idea of general issue and special gear for tasks and operational use.

Regards
Graham