Puttees

[Tony]

I was looking at some of my Great War photos today and noticed a difference in the way the two soldiers below had wrapped their puttees.

Does anyone know the reason why one has them done it in what I would term the normal way and the other sort of criss cross?

I tried copying the way they were done and didn't quite manage it as they are far too long.

Tony

[Bob Hunter]

Always so neat and tidy. How did they do that in an age well before Velcro?

[Tony]

Bob,

I wore puttees in the army too, not the long ones though, we had the short ankle puttees. Quite easy to wrap after a few weeks practice, knowing exactly where to begin so that the triangle end was positioned correctly was the problem.

I've been told WWI puttees were crossed as in the above pic because when wet they tended to stretch and would loosen after drying. They could be a bit of a bugger when charging the enemy or running away from him even.

Tony

[leigh kitchen]

Infantry puttees rolled bottom to top, mounted troops top to bottom, I think the criss-crossing is personal or unit affectation, from personal experience, yes, puttees get a bit stretched & mishapen along the edges with wear.