A piece of paper instead of a cap badge

[ynot]

Hello,

I have a large photo of an ASC unit with their vehicles taken in Salisbury in 1916 and have noticed that a few of the men have a square piece of paper instead of a cap badge in their hats. Was there a shortage of cap badges for troops not on active service or do you think some of these men had just lost their badges somewhere?

By the way, I'm not knowledgable on weapons but none of them have the No. 1 MKIII SMLE (I think it's a Lee Metford (?) or something) so could they be a bunch of sick lame and lazy?

Thanks for any comments

Tony

[yellow]

The front line troops in the middle of 1915 were using the Lee Metford. It was afterall the rifle many men had learned to shoot with. Almost all the territorials used it.

And yes there was a shortage of cap badges.........sometimes buttons or collar badges were used. It is also not uncommon to see an officer wearing a bronzed collar. Some badges were recovered from the dead and reissued.

After men were transfered to another unit they were asked to remove all their badges and give them back to their unit.

In Gallipoli cap badges were a prize. Many a tin of "bully" was traded for a cap badge!



Steve.

[Ciaran Byrne]

Just as an aside. Many of the BEF on their way to thr front at Mons were relieved of their cap badges and buttons by enthusiastic crowds. By the time they reached the front, many a tunic was held together with pieces of string!

[ynot]

Thanks.

Here's a section of the very long picture (about 4' long) showing one soldier with a piece of paper instead of the cap badge. He's 3rd from the left, 3rd row.

Tony