I recently got the Bronco British 25 pdr. gun crew figure kit. I wonder about the cloths these are molded in. All wear berets and not helmets and most have leather jackets. This looks awful "DRESST" to me to be combat clothing. Can anyone tell me about it?

Regards,

Ray Mehlberder

Hi Ray,

The clothing is fine and there are various pictures of the crews in this type of dress. In the field thngs are much different to the 'On Parade' look.

Guns would be in the rear, so unless you were expecting an attack helmets are not really necessary and servicing a gun is very hard work when in action. Webbing was rarely worn as it gets in the way.

If you want a bit of variety change the odd head to be with or without helmet.

Cheers

Al

Ray here is a video on You Tube of the group I am a part of firing 25pdrs in France during the D-Day events last year, the uniforms are correct as the video will show with the officer in the set being the only questionable figure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKit8bRq6UI

Many thanks to you two fellows. This answers my questions nicely.

Ray

I served in 53rd Field Rgt. Royal Canadian Artillery in the late 50s. We wore the old style battle dress made of 1/4 inch thick scratchy wool. (bulletproof, or nearly) My own research shows that elements of the 8th and 6th army wore leather sleevless jerkins over brown/green coveralls with a waist belt. it appears they wore helmets as optional and only wore them as permanent dress in the western desert. Hope that helps mate.

After replying to your post about dress in France during the Normandy campaign I went to the Canada at war site and got some color shots of arty lads doing maintenance. Also in the gallery were a ton of b&w shots showing quite a few lads wearing the fleece lined leather jerkis cast on the figures. i think the mention of air power might have come up and there are many shots of cerw wearing a whole lot of different headgear from 'para' helmets to berets with and without cap badge.

almost everyone wore the ammo belt suspenders to keep their trousers up!

Hi John,

They would have worn braces under their jackets to keep their pants up.

If they were in shirt sleeve order then the trousers had belt loops so the belt rather than the shoulder straps is what holds your pants up.

Head gear woud vary and helmets would be worn if they were close to the battle. You will probably find that each regiment has it's own way of doing things and what is standard for one is different for another. I dare say para or tankers helmets would have been preferred as they don't move about as much on your head, so they would have be liberated ones most likely.

Cheers

Al