Fake Battledress??

[Adrian Stevenson]

[QUOTE=Ciaran Byrne]Different blouse with black bakelite buttons. Could this have been for a rifle regiment?

Hi Ciaran, no, not for a Rifle Regt in this case; but I have seen several Rifle Regt BD's & trousers with black Rifle Regt buttons added to them. A friend of mine bought a matched set from Birmingham rag market some years ago.

Cheers, Ade.

[Ciaran Byrne]

This is the stamp that is present on all of the blouses and the trousers. Anybody recognise the arrow? Could it be Polish?

[Ciaran Byrne]

these are the trousers...

[Ciaran Byrne]

trousers. Note the lack of ankle straps, and map pocket.

[Ciaran Byrne]

The back of the trousers.

[resaw]

Bd

Inside of the blouse.

I'm stumped. A friend of mine has a 1943 RAAF BD tunic with a cloth manufacturer's label from CWS Ltd. (I don't know why I rememberd this, but sometimes obscure details stick in one's mind). As I recall, it had black bakelite buttons on it, but I don't recall seeing an arrow like the one on your jackets & trousers before. Also note that there doesn't appear to be a button on the FD pocket. The FD pockets were discontinued after the war, but the map pockets remained until the 1960s. It wasn't unusual to see the ankle tabs removed when BD doubled as service dress and worn without puttees. I think a couple of belt loops are also missing from the trousers.

The one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that these are not Canadian.

Wish I could be more help, but I haven't seen this type of variation before.
Resaw

[Guy]

Hi All

I have owned, in the past, privately tailored Officers Bd Trousers which were without ankle tabs or map pocket but had retained the dressing pocket. In this case it's odd as the pieces are factory made.

Does anybody know where this manufacturer was based? There is something very reminiscent of US War Aid about the Serge colour and plastic buttons. Could this be the answer?

Yours Guy

[Ciaran Byrne]

I initially thought that it could be the type manufactured for the Greek Army after the war but having got hold of one and comparing to these BDs there are significant differences. Lining colour, and cut etc. The Greek ones were cut to the 1937 pattern, these ones vary.

[Ciaran Byrne]

Just noticed this on Ebay. I am pretty sure its fake but the stamp on the inside is the same as mine. Also, the stamps are the same as mine. My battledress blouses also came from Germany so could this be the first of the fake battledress from Eastern Europe?





Again the strange "CWS" stamp

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Ciaran, the blouse on E Bay, is, as you had thought, junk.

The shoulder title was introduced post war to comemmorate the Border Regt's service as an Air Landing unit in WW2. This cannot be seen in conjuction with a Pegasus flash or Airborne strip.

I am now really concerned that these blouses could indeed be fake. I think dealers at Beltring will certainly have them for sale if they are? Given the price you paid I would not worry too much as it was very cheap for the amount you got for your money. There are just too many conflicting areas of concern about them; odd ink markings; strange cut; missing pockets, etc.

Cheers, Ade.

[Jack Dutton-Roberts]

Hi Ciaran,

Could you provide a link to the last ebay item you posted? I'd be interested in taking a look...

I suspect that the AIRBORNE strips are original!

Thanks from Jack.

[Ciaran Byrne]

Here you go:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...106133334&rd=1

He's German so don't mention the war

[Jack Dutton-Roberts]

No worries...

I have to say...this new fake stuff sure is good!

Thanks from Jack.

[mietek]

This is the stamp that is present on all of the blouses and the trousers. Anybody recognise the arrow? Could it be Polish?

Hi.
Do you mean used by Polish troops, or produced in Poland?
First - stamps doesn't look as Polish, but I don't know, were Polish BD stamped?
Second -definitely not, Poland didn't produce BD. Soldiers used British (or other production?) BD.

Best regards

mietek

[Ciaran Byrne]

There seem to be a lot of these strange B/D blouses appearing on Ebay at the moment:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...106082713&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...105727680&rd=1
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...105727729&rd=1