The Saint

Sample of pages :

The album cover :

I have the album on which the cards have to be glued.

It is not at home for the moment but I will try to take pictures over the WE.

Eric

If dark blue and red, the flash could be that of the Guards.

Eric

I am sure most of you are aware of this new site dedicated to the Selous Scouts, but for those you are not, it is really worth the visit. One of the creator is GMIC member Marco Gollino.

http://www.theselousscouts.com/

Enjoy !

Eric

The uniform details matches the Full Dress jacket worn by the Royal Horse Artillery.

It is originally dark blue, with red collar and yellow lace.

The Parachute Regiment plaid brooch could have been worn by a piper of the 15th (Scottish) Battalion, Parachute Regt, a Territorial Army unit which existed 1947-1993.

The unit has been reduced to a company since then.

Yes indeed, Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment.

The unit was reborn in 1973 with a few Ferrets, and by 1980, had 4 squadrons equipped with mainly Eland-90 armd cars and one with T-55s.

The latest addition to the collection : a 'Black Devils' beret (at last ! ).

Stuart,

I may have the answer (picture taken at the Buffs Regimental Museum, Canterbury) :

Eric

James,

Very nice catch, I must say.

My most interesting Greens is that if an Engineer Sergeant, Para qualified, attached Special Forces Brigade.

Thanks for the pic of clandestine boots. I don't have a pair of these - at GPB 180 in average, they are simply outside my financial possibilities at present.

Cheers

Eric

Nice pics, thanks for sharing.

The leather equipment as worn by the Volunteer is the 1914 Pattern. There was just not enough web equipment to equip the newly raised battalions, so a updated/simplified version of the 1888 Pat Slade-Wallace equipment was produced in brown leather. Packs (large and small) were still made in webbing, with leather tabs.

I seem to recall that collar badges on SD were reintroduced something like 1922, but I may be wrong.

Eric

The right smock is a 1960 Pattern, originally produced in olive green, then about 1965 in DPM.

These jackets are really hard-wearing, I wear an OG '60 Pat from time to time, and, other than a reproof every two or three years, it still stand the abuse.

Eric

White bands have been worn by officer candidates in more recent years. Could it be a similar sign for 19th C. University Cadets ?

the buttons however are QEII

Well spotted ! I should have taken more care in examining the pictures. RHA have a different cap badge though.

Dave, if you consider removing the cap badge - not the original from all apparences - you may find a shape left by the previous one.

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.

I am not a specialist of armoured vehicules, but I think it is an Italian tank, not British.

Actually, the two central soldiers in the second picture are British POWs. Too bad that the right one does not have insignia on his sleeve (already taken as booty ? LOL), we could have had identified the division and unit.

Cheers

Eric

The original button :

The badge has the correct metal blades at the back, rather than lugs, which is typical of officer's versions.

... the Officer's bronze cap badge for a Life Guards Officer's Service Dress cap in my collection.

I found this cap some years ago in the stock of a costume company, without the badge and the chinstrap. I acquired it because of the regimental buttons and the unusual leather binding to the peak. The former I identified as Life Guards and the latter I discovered is typical of the Household Cavalry officer's caps. The buttons have the King's Crown, which dates it between the 1930s and the early 1950s.

The cap was made by Herbert Johnson of London.

Unfortunately the cap is not named. There are just some numbers written with a pen inside the sweatband, which I assume is an order reference.

WW2 bronze cap badges for the Household Cavalry are not common. I don't know how many officers were commissioned in the LG around WW2, but I guess just a few dozens, so I was quite happy when I found one such badge in Militaria shop in Paris.

Here's the completed cap (at last) :

David,

After some googling, I found out that it was the 5th Hampshire (46th inf Div) who fought at Sidi Nsir.

Here's the story of a member of the battalion who was captured during the battle :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/34/a4789434.shtml

Other than hard-to-find regimental histories published after the war, I think your best option is the following :

"Royal Hampshire Regiment 1918-1954", by D. Scott Daniell, Naval & Military Press Ltd; New Ed edition (May 2005)

Cheers

Eric

It's a Model 1945 arm-of-service flash for unregimented infantry, as stated by Veteran.

As already stated, this is a regimental shoulder title for the Hampshire Regiment, worn by all ranks. Although unofficial (Regulation title would be white letters on red background), it was universally worn by members of the Regiment from 1943.

As far as I can ascertain, the following battalions on the Hampshire Regt fought in Tunisia : 1st Bn (50th Infantry Division), 2nd, 1/4th and 5th Bns (128th Bde, 46th Inf Div).

Eric

Looks like a member of the Volunteers movement of the 1860s-70s, who often wore grey uniforms. They are the forerunner of the Territorial Army.

Finding a unit would be difficult without seeing the cap badge.

My guess is that cap is tailor-made for a Senior NCO (or a wealthy conscious-looking Other Rank), dated from between the wars or later. The shape is Other Rank but the Barathea cloth and lining are similar to officer's private purchase caps - WW1 OR cap had an oilcloth lining.

The chinstrap looks odd though, being in one piece. Standard ones were of two piece construction with two brass buckles for OR, two leather slides for WOs and Officers. It might be not the original one.

Eric