Where to buy a Canadian WW2 Battle Dress

Dear all,

At the moment, I am trying to complete a Canadian mannequin. I have most items, one of the few things still missing is a Battle Dress. Does anyone know where to buy a Battle Dress from the Black Watch of Canada or le Regiment de Maisonneuve? I prefer a named one, or one that is priced accordingly.


Thanks very much in advance,

Jan

Which regiment?

I am sorry. Either the Black Watch (RHR of Canada) or Le Regiment de Maisonneuve.

Anyone Anke to help me? Thanks,

Jan

Keep looking Jan. Black Watch and Maissonneuve battledresses don't come up too often. You just have to get lucky sometime. Keep checking the likes of Ebay and other militaria sellers online.

I have found one! Although I believe it was used by the home defence (it lacks 2nd Div patches) I still bought it. It has Overseas stripes, probably used by a replacement Battalion of the Black Watch.

jan m wrote:I have found one! Although I believe it was used by the home defence (it lacks 2nd Div patches) I still bought it. It has Overseas stripes, probably used by a replacement Battalion of the Black Watch.

A couple of points. Many 'home defence' or second battalions of regiments whose first battalion was fighting overseas didn't use the same shoulder titles. Particularly the overseas 2nd Division which had those small oval shaped titles not often seen in their second battalion counterparts. On the other hand, for the first part of the war home defence troops wore black service stipes on the opposite cuff to the red ones for overseas. Then, in 1944 the black ones were abandoned and both home and overseas troops wore the identical red stripes. The reason I'm told (and a Herbie cartoon confirms it) is that the black stripes instantly identified someone as being a home defense soldier which caused friction between the two groups, especially given the conscription crisis.

Hello,

Thank you very much for your help. I also have been in touch with Ed Storey and he told me the same thing.

I think I will use this one untill I come across a nice named example. If anyone is interested I could send some pictures of the Gear that I have now.

BAP, I am not sure where you are getting that information. First, NDHQ insisted that the home defence battalions that were activated wear the same pattern shoulder title as their overseas counterparts. This was true of 2 CID regiments who had battalions activated for home defence. The service chevrons were originally black but only worn on home service. The type of chevron was changed circa late 1943 early 1944 to the smaller red version. They were then permitted to be worn overseas after that date. They were not a distinction for volunteers or zombies.

Agreed the intent of the black stripes was not to distinguish volunteers from conscripts, but the troops often inferred that given one group served at home and the other overseas, hence the friction. When did the adoption of overseas flashes occur? There seems to be a variety of entirely different styles of flashes for some units. Was this perhaps early and the standardization happened later? What is often a clue to a doctored battledress is one that has overseas titles and divisional/corps flashes yet also has a Mars and GS badge. I've also seen several Atlantic Command battledress (again with the Mars and GS) identified as 'faded' 2nd Corps ones.