 |
| Short on clothing in the bitter Belgian winter, American soldiers enjoy the warmth of a rarely allowed fire. |
by Philip Katcher
By December 1944, when Hitler made his last desperate bid for victory by sending his troops in through the Ardennes to split the Americans and British, the American Army had evolved good, comfortable combat uniforms.
Unfortunately, not all American soldiers had these uniforms. Instead, because winter uniform supply had been given such a low priority during the drive across France, most Americans had to make do with a mixture of old and new uniform items.
The basic uniform included a steel helmet, worn in the European Theater of Operations with the chin strap hooked around the helmet’s back. Officers wore their rank insignia on the helmet front. Helmets were painted dark olive green, using a paint which included sand to give the helmet a rough finish. The steel outer liner was worn over a separate fiberglass inner liner, which could be worn separately for ceremonial duties.
An olive green knit wool jeep cap, made with ear flaps which could be folded up, and a visor, was worn under the helmet. Often these caps were worn separately, too, although this practice was usually against regulations.
An olive drab undershirt was worn under a wool olive green shirt. Chevrons and unit shoulder insignia were worn on the shirt sleeves by enlisted men, while officers wore both unit shoulder insignia and their corps insignia on the left collar and rank insignia on the right. The shirt could be worn without a tie, although a tie was required in certain commands, such as the Third Army.
A hip-length field jacket, made of light olive drab proofed cotton and lined with light wool, was first issued in 1941 and was still widely seen, although it had been officially replaced in 1943 by a longer, darker olive green jacket. The M1941 field jacket had two slit pockets, one on each side, while the M1943 had two large breast pockets and two large pockets below the waist. The M1943 jacket had a drawstring which ran around the waist, allowing the wearer to pull the baggy jacket close to his body. A knit olive green pullover sweater, buttoned at the throat, was issued with the M1941 jacket but was worn with any combination of dress.
Chevrons and shoulder patches were worn on both types of jackets, while officers wore their rank insignia on the jacket shoulder tabs. This insignia could be the metal type worn on dress uniforms, but was often metallic-colored thread woven onto a leather or olive drab cotton base.
Dr. George Snook, who joined the 45th Division as a company aid man in early 1945, recalled, “A new unit going into combat for the first time in this season of the year was equipped with the standard issue field jacket. While these were worn by most of the veterans, there were a few of the older, shorter styles to be seen. The one item which every infantryman desired was the tanker’s lined jacket with knit wrists and collars. Whenever possible, one of these was begged, borrowed, or otherwise requisitioned; by the end of the war, approximately one quarter of the men in I Company, 180th Infantry, had tanker’s jackets.”
Tankers and many infantrymen also wore one-piece olive green overalls. The main problem with them, according to Colonel John Elting, 8th Armored Division, was that they lacked, “… strategic zippers or drop buttons—you had to half undress to relieve yourself, which was trouble enough—but you also had to try to keep all that bulky clothing up out of harm’s way.”
Certain troops wore specialized insignia. Military police wore the white letters ‘MP’ on the front, and often the rear, of their helmets, usually with a white strip painted parallel with the helmet edge. They wore a black brassard, some four inches wide, with the letters ‘MP’ in white, on their left arms.
Similar brassards, but in green with white letters, were worn by correspondents; photographers; radio commentators; chauffeurs for correspondents, photographers, and radio correspondents, and messengers for correspondents, photographers and radio news men.
Medical personnel also wore brassards, theirs being white with red “Geneva” crosses on them. A brassard was worn on each arm. Their helmets were also marked with red “Geneva” crosses on them; one on the front, one in back and one on each side. The crosses were either outlined in white or painted in the middle of a white circle, the latter being the most common. Some non-commissioned medical personnel wore their chevrons painted on their helmet sides instead of the crosses.
Even these apparently obvious markings seem to have been too subtle for the Germans, who shot a number of medics in the field. In answer to protests they claimed they could not see the red crosses. The Americans’ answer to that was to make large white squares, about the size of a man’s chest from top to waist, with a large red “Geneva” cross in the center of each. These were issued to be worn on the front and back of each medic’s field jacket, coat or overalls. Most medics also carried two aid kits, often also marked with red “Geneva” crosses, suspended from an infantryman’s cartridge belt suspenders. They also carried two canteens on their issue pistol belts, but many got rid of their personal first aid packets.
Airborne personnel also wore specialized insignia and uniforms. On their right arms they wore an American flag, either on a brassard or sewn to the sleeve. This served for easy identification in the field. Otherwise, their uniforms featured steel helmets with large leather chin straps with a cup to be worn under the chin. Their jackets were similar to the M1943 one but the breast pockets were set at an angle different from that of the infantry ones. Their trousers were made with a large patch pocket tucked into tall russet brown boots which were laced all the way to the top, instead of using any form of gaiters. The paratrooper boots were highly popular with everyone in the Army—becoming the standard pattern eventually—and the demand meant that many paratroopers did not receive the boots they were supposed to have.
Helmets were marked, among paratroopers, with a horizontal bar for NCOs and a vertical bar for officers on the backs. In the 101st Airborne Division regimental markings, in the shapes of squares, hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs, circles, crosses and triangles, were worn in white on the helmet sides.
Bibliography
Paul Boesch. Road to Hürtgen. Houston, 1962.
Howard P. Davies. United States Infantry Europe, 1942-45. London, 1974.
Brian L. Davis. U.S. Airborne Forces Europe 1942-45. London, 1974.
Roy Dilley. U.S. Army Uniforms, 1939-1945. London, 1977.
Philip Katcher. U.S. 101st Airborne Division, 1942-45. London, 1978.
—. U.S. 1st Division, 1939-45. London, 1978.
Andrew Mollo and Malcolm McGregor. Army Uniforms of World War 2. London, 1974.