Ammunition Boots

[Allan H.]

OK, I have checked out my Brian L. Davis bible, and must be missing something here. I recently picked up a pair of 1943 dated ammunition boots. They had cap toes and are a russet brown color.
I have been told that the boots with the plain toes were made in Canada. What is the difference between black finished and brown finished ammo boots?
Thanks,
Allan

[Rick Research]

While this has come up:

WHY are these called "ammunition" boots?

[Tony Farrell]

I understand brown (or Oxblood) ammo boots to be of Canadian origin. Those without toecaps may well be officers' boots. Why ammo boots? Various explanations for this, but it is within my understanding that (as consumables) they 'came with the ammunition'. Marc Sherrif will probably come back with a truer explanation.

[anguspm]

Like the explanation Tony

I was likewise told: The steel toecaps were introduced to soldiers involved in the carrying of ammunition and to prevent a high number of foot injuries occuring.

Kind of an early form of Health & Safety Strange that an organization where people try to kill you should think of ot first!

[DJT]

Enlisted and officers wore black ammo boots. Ones with the cap are British made. Ones without are Canadian made. They will also usually have markings and dates inside and out. Brown boots were worn by Officers for best dress. I have seen brown boots that had been blackened up with polish wartime.

Regards,

Des

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Guys, I thought that I would add a pic of a pair of boots I was very kindly given last week. These are Officers private purchase high leg field boots. These must have been expensive at the time? They are hard to date but I would assume they are pre war or very early WW2. There is of course a possibility that they date from WW1.


Cheers, Ade.

[leigh kitchen]

While this has come up:

WHY are these called "ammunition" boots?

The name comes from an old extended use of the term "ammunition" to describe supplies not just bullets & shells etc. For some reason it stuck with the boots.
In fact, I've just dug out a reference - Page 163 of Brian L Davis's British Army Uniforms And Insignia of World War Two:
He mentions that W. A. Thorburn, former curator of the Scottish United Services Museum, Edinburgh, states that Queen's Regulations of 1844, 1857 & 1862 refer to "Ammunition Boots and Shoes", 'tho the terminology was dropped by 1868 & thereafter. Thorburn maintained that the term "ammunition boots" is a legitimate expression based on the fundamental meaning of the word as a description of an item of military equipment & which simply meant "Army issue" or "issued from stores".
"Ankle boots would seem to have been the last item of issue clothing to retain the original use of the word".