This week sees the final part of our mini-series on Indian jungle green 37 pattern webbing when we take a look at the bayonet frog:
In design this exactly matches the description from the 37 pattern fitting instructions:
This is made of narrow webbing with a loop for suspending from the waist belt and has two horizontal loops for suspending the scabbard:
The scabbard is inserted and pushed through until the stud on the outside comes out between the two loops.
A second loop is sewn at the top to allow the handle of the bayonet to be slipped under to prevent it from bouncing around excessively:
As with the other pieces of jungle green webbing we have looked at, the piece is very faded and the markings on the rear are very badly stamped and hard to read:
There were a number of webbing manufacturers in India, Bata and ‘KEF’ being two whilst ‘CA’ is often seen marked on webbing and is the mark of the Cawnpore Government Harness and Saddlery factory. This manufacturer was based in Cawnpore and was a government run equipment company dating back to the First World War. In addition to this factory, the company had branches at Calcutta and Cossipore, whilst yet more satellites were set up in Amritsar, Bombay and Madras when the threat of Japanese invasion was at its height.
This then concludes our look at Indian jungle green webbing for now, I am still missing some components such as the small and large packs but rest assured, when I add examples to my collection I will bring them to you here.
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:
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.
It has the same wooden and metal construction as the H51 case we looked at 
A folding metal handle is included for carrying the case:
The markings on the front of the box are very worn:
An example in better condition shows how it should read:
From this we can see it held 234 individual insecticide sprayers in packs of three. Volume 2 of the Official History of Special Weapons and Types of Warfare gives a description of what these sprayers consisted of:
The RASC were warned to keep the box cool and away from direct sunlight.
This appears to read ‘Luralda Ltd, 1945’.
The hat is a shade or two lighter in colour compared to the wartime design, however that may just be down to extensive wear and fading. The design is broadly similar to its earlier incarnation, with circular stitching round the rim to reinforce it:
And loops for vegetation to be attached:
The top vents are covered with brass grilles, however this hat has clearly had a hard life and they are heavily corroded:
One new feature to this pattern of hat is the addition of two fabric tabs with metal grommets in them on the underside of the hat:
These allow a chinstrap to be threaded through if required. The inside of the hat has a stamped size, 7, and both an NSN number and what appears to be an old style stores code:
This suggests that the hat was made in that transitional period in the 1960s when NSN numbers were just starting to be introduced. This boonie hat was clearly used, as the original owner has written his name and regiment inside in permanent marker:
The boonie’s longevity is due to a number of factors. It is comfortable, effective at protecting the wearer’s head from sun and rain and can easily be folded flat to put in a pocket:
It also has that indefinable ‘allyness’ that soldiers are always seeking- the wearer of a battered boonie is automatically a grizzled veteran who has seen much action (regardless of whether he used his boonie for years in the jungle or had just bought one from Silvermans…). These hats are then customised as one ex-regular explains:
The British Army purchased these boots in quite large numbers form the US for issue to troops on jungle deployments and in training in jungle environments. The boots are lightweight, as is so often the case with jungle boots, and feature a two part construction with leather for the lower portions, and fabric for the area above the ankle:
Leather reinforcing goes up the whole of the front of the boot in order to mount the eyeholes and clasps for the laces:
As befits boots that are likely to get very wet and then need to dry rapidly, two drainage holes are fitted to the lower portion of the boot:
The soles of the boots are made of heavy duty rubber and have a pattern known as a ‘Panama Sole’:
This design was invented by a US soldier called Raymond Dobie in World War II and uses a series of angled rubber lugs in the soles to push soft mud from the soles, clearing them and providing much better grip in greasy clay or mud. Each sole has the size (here 12) moulded into the rubber, indicating that these were manufactured for the British Army rather than for the US military as the sizes are those used in Britain, not America. The official stores catalogue describes the boots as:
Each boot also has a maker’s tag with the US flag and the name Wellco embroidered on it:
As ever we can rely upon Arrsepedia to give a humorous and not necessarily accurate reason as to why the British Army adopted US produced boots:
This net is made of a nylon mesh, in olive green. Rather than being a simple bag, a round piece is sewn into the crown to give it a little more structure and fit better over a head and under a cap:
An elasticated drawstring is provided to allow the net to be closed off around the neck and prevent insects from flying up underneath it:
These nets are issued in small polythene bags from the manufacturers:
These have a sticky label with a stores barcode and details of who made them:
Coneen Defence Ltd is a Northern Irish company specialising in the manufacture of military uniforms and accessories and they have been supplying the MoD for over fifteen years, with manufacturing bases in India, Bangladesh and China. Their advertising material describes their company as:
The insect head net is one of the standard pieces of equipment a soldier would expect to receive when deploying in the so called ‘black bag’ of essential equipment. The accompanying Army pamphlet has this, admittedly brief, information on the net:
The spike sits across the back of the knife, and in this example has suffered quite badly from corrosion over the years:
The use of the spike is often recorded as being for the removal of stones from horses’ hooves. Whilst I am sure it would do this job, in the jungles of East Asia in the 1950s, this would seem to be a rather superfluous tool! As a sailor I was always taught that it was for splitting the strands of rope to allow them to be spliced correctly and this seems a much more probable explanation!
A large loop is fitted for a lanyard to be secured to:
This example was made by JH Thompson in 1956:
These examples seem marginally rarer than the two piece clasp knife, but a quick search of the web suggests they are still out there and were being manufactured as late SAS the 1990s. I suspect there is no logic behind which version troops were given, but it is a nice variant to add to my little collection of jack knives.