by ypres on Tue Oct 27, 2020 9:43 pm
Respectfully, your idea about the fifth div spending the war in England is not true. The fifth div elements in England were moved to France where they fought as members of infantry battalions in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th divisions. Therefore, 5th Div elements in France were very small. The variety of flashes found in the other divisions did not exist because there were no units in the field. They probably painted the patch of their new unit on their helmets.
All remaining members of the 5th Div, regardless of rank, would have painted the CIIIII symbol on their helmets. The divisional artillery was in the field and you can find uniforms and helmets to these formations. I have collected helmets for over 40 years and have handled over a hundred WWI examples over that period. I have never seen a 5th div infantry battalion patched helmet. I have handled and seen a dozen or so fifth helmets all of which had this patch painted to the front. I have 2 examples of this type of helmet in my collection presently, one of which is named to a gunner in the artillery.
All the best,
Ypres
