We return for a second week to look at another piece of Indian produced jungle green 37 pattern webbing, with a pair of shoulder braces:
These are faintly dyed green, but would have been more vibrant when new. Dyes were a constant problem in India, with many being supplied from the United States as lend-lease. Chemicals used in the dyeing process included Sodium Bichromate and Potassium Bichromate, neither of which had been produced in India before the war and acetic acid which was only a tiny industry before the war (the Mysore government rapidly set up a plant producing 600 tons a year once the war began). The country also looked into what it could produce from its natural resources, as outlined in the post war review of Indian production and supply:
In the field of drugs and dyes, the failure of imports from abroad resulted in the initiation of research projects for the utilisation of the country’s indigenous resources. Glandular products were prepared from slaughter house wastes. Atoxyl and carbarsone were synthesised from easily available raw materials. Various vegetable dyes were extracted from the country’s forest wealth.
I suspect vegetable dyes, derived from plants such as bamboo, sabai grass and munji grass, were used extensively to dye jungle green webbing which would explain why the colour has often faded quite markedly in the individual pieces.
Even through the jungle green dye, the distinctive ‘striped’ look of Indian webbing comes through, as does the slightly looser weave that gives Indian made webbing its softer feel:
As with last week’s components, the brass fittings on these shoulder braces are blackened to aid the camouflage of the piece in the field:
One of the two shoulder braces has a set of stamped numbers on the reverse:
These are again typical of Indian produced webbing and are most likely inspectors’ marks. All items of jungle green Indian webbing are scarce and this pair are in typical condition. Some pieces do turn up in vibrant green, and these I suspect were produced with chemical dyes, whereas the majority are like these and I think it’s fair to say they were produced with vegetable based dye.
When the DKP2 was issued it came in a heat sealed plastic bag to keep it safe from contaminants:
Wrapped around the bottle is a paper instruction sheet:
The top of the packet has a V-notch to help the user rip open the packet, even when wearing gloves:
The 1983 copy of Survive to Fight explained how to use the DKP2:
Kevin Mervin served in the TA and describes using the DKP2 bottle during training:
This cruiser was laid down in 1904 and served with the Royal Navy during the First World War. She had a displacement of 11,000 tons and measured 473 feet from bow to stern. Her bow had a typical cruiser shape with a distinctive pointed slope:
Her stern was also traditional in shape, with the rounded shape seen on many turn of the century cruisers:
The ship was powered by two four cylinder triple expansion engines that used fifteen niclausse and six cylindrical boilers, the smoke from which exited via the ship’s distinctive four funnels:
The ship had a crew of 610 men and was commanded from a large open bridge just forward of the main mast and boilers:
The ship was armed with four 7.5 inch guns on the main deck, one fore, one aft and two amidships. Her secondary armament was six 6 inch guns, four carried in case mates on the ship’s hull.
The details of the sender in the corner show which camp he was stationed in and his name, Edwin Edmunds:
Whilst the stamp in the top corner indicates that the card was sent through the German postal system in November 1944:
The rear of the postcard has the prisoners message:
This reads:
The material of the puttee was folded to a point and the woven tape sewn on:
The opposite end was merely doubled back on itself and sewn together to prevent the fabric from fraying and coming undone:
When not being worn, it was typical for the puttees to be rolled up, with the tape wrapped around:
Short puttees had been reintroduced in 1950 and the official list of changes recorded:
Puttees seem to have been phased out in the mid-1980s, not always to the pleasure of troops some of whom were very fond of the short puttee:
The neck is ‘V’ shaped and bound with white tape:
There would originally have been a label sewn into the neck but this has been removed, possibly it was scratching the wearer’s neck and he felt it would be better taken out.
The letter ‘M’ equates to 1944 so the vest can be dated to that year. The design of the vest includes a cut away at the seam on each side, presumably to help make it easier to put on and remove the garment and to improve its comfort:
As well as an item of underwear, vests were also used for PT: