Abstract
Whereas scientific research was and is a significant driver of innovation in the development of the Australian Army uniform, other equally important factors have also contributed to its innovation. These include: the influences and characteristics of the locations where Australians fought in battle; changes in combat methods (this chapter focuses on chemical warfare); and comments and complaints from the soldiers themselves. War locations are directly linked to climatological influences and this had led to significant uniform changes. The need for dry and clean clothing and socks was the driving force for the construction of bath and laundry buildings on the Western Front. The introduction of gas during the First World War brought about the supply and further development of gas masks and other protective equipment and clothing. Chemical warfare had made its entrance on the battlefields and today is one of the important factors in the development of protective military clothing. The Army has always had an ear out for the comments or complaints by soldiers and deliberately programmed structured trials of new clothing designs, of which many examples have come to light in the search through archives.
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Notes
- 1.
To provide some idea of the great variety of clothing to be issued, the list included the dress to be worn by the General Staff, Australian Light Horse regiments, Royal Australian Artillery, Australian Field Artillery, Australian Garrison Artillery, Corps of Australian Engineers, Submarine Miners, Infantry (which also incorporated Scottish Regiments), Australian Army Service Corps, Corps of Australian Signallers, Australian Army Medical Corps, Australian Ordnance Department, Army Veterinary Department, Chaplains and Army Nursing Service.
- 2.
For an appreciation of the design details of Australia’s first and long honoured Service Dress, a brief outline is provided in Appendix A.
- 3.
The Köppen-Geiger climate classification is used to indicate climate zones. This uses averages of temperature and precipitation patterns and degree of summer heat and divides the world climates into Group A (Tropical/megathermal), Group B (Dry/arid and semiarid), Group C (Temperate/mesathermal), Group D (Continental/microthermal) and Group E (Polar and Alpine) climates. These are then further modified using precipitation and summer heat temperatures. For our discussion, France/Belgium belongs to Group Cfb—Temperate/fully humid/warm summers, Egypt to Group BWh—Dry/desert/hot arid, and Gallipoli to Group Csa—Temperate/dry summer/hot summer. Northern Australia belongs to Group Aw—Equatorial with dry winters.
- 4.
A.K. Macdougall (ed.), War Letters of General Sir John Monash, Sydney, 2002, pp. 68–69.
- 5.
AWM25, 187/1, Memorandum from R.S. May, M.-G, for Quartermaster-General, to Australian Divisions, 8 December 1918.
- 6.
AWM27: 373/56, Letter to Colonel R.M. Downes, D.D.M.S., 2 May 1917.
- 7.
Whipcord is a strong, worsted or cotton fabric made of hard-twisted yarns with a diagonal cord or rib. The weave used for whipcord is a steep-angled twill, essentially the same weave as a cavalry twill or a steep gabardine. However, the ribs of whipcord are usually more pronounced than in either of those fabrics, and the weft (filling) may be visible between the ribs on the right side, which is usually not the case for gabardines. In practice, marketing considerations, rather than technical details, determine when the specific term whipcord is used. Whipcord is usually found in durable outdoor clothing (typically pants, sometimes jackets) as a 16–18oz. (ounce per square yard fabric weight) wool, or in durable workers’ clothing (typically overalls) as a 9–12oz. cotton. In the latter case, whipcord is an alternative to duck, which has a different weave. Whipcord should not be confused with corduroy. Whipcord has a hard smooth finish with diagonal ribs. Corduroy is fuzzy with vertical ribs. Bedford cord, named after the town of Bedford in England, is a durable fabric that resembles corduroy. The weave has faint lengthwise ridges, but without the filling yarns that make the distinct wales characteristic of corduroy. Trousers made with Bedford cord are sometimes called ‘Bedford cords’. For further details see A.J. Hall, The Standard Handbook of Textiles, 6th edn, London, 1965.
- 8.
NAA: MP153/9, 12, Minister’s Decisions, Minutes of the Military Board No. 26/1913; Approval by the Minister, 6 June 1913.
- 9.
NAA: A1952/2, 473/7/2. Woollen Cloth Factory, Annual Report for the Period Ending 30 June, 1916.
- 10.
Roy Kyle, A.I.F., An Anzac’s Story (introduced and edited by Bryce Courtenay), Camberwell, VIC, 2003, p. 161.
- 11.
AWM25, 187/1, Letter from Director of Ordnance Services to Headquarters, Fifth Army, 26 March 1917; from Evan Alexander Wisdom to Headquarters, 2nd Australian Division, 6 April 1917.
- 12.
A.K. Macdougall (ed.), War Letters of General Sir John Monash, Sydney, 2002, pp. 119–120.
- 13.
The AIF uniform and greatcoat are shown in Illustrations A1 and A4 in Appendix A.
- 14.
AWM25, 187/1, Letter from Evan Alexander Wisdom to Headquarters, 2nd Australian Division, 6 April 1917.
- 15.
NAA: MP153/9, 6, Decisions of the Military Board, Australian Military Forces, Standing Orders for Dress and Clothing (Citizen Forces), 1912.
- 16.
AWM15, 8605, Memorandum from General Officer Commanding, A.I.F. Depots in the United Kingdom, to Administrative Headquarters, A.I.F., London, 15 November 1916.
- 17.
Roy Kyle, An Anzac’s Story, Camberwell, VIC, 2003, pp. 137–138.
- 18.
AWM25, 905/52, Rates for Certain Articles of Clothing, Necessaries and Equipment.
- 19.
http://centenary.redcross.org.au/groups/red-cross-comfort-parcel-wwi (accessed 17 September 2014).
- 20.
AWM25, 101/15, Letter from Lieut.-Colonel Robert Jackson to General Carruthers, 24 December 1917.
- 21.
AWM25, 101/15, Memorandum from Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster-General, Second Army Headquarters, to VIII, IX and X Corps and I and II Anzac, 26 September 1917. A second document in the file is titled Allotment of Laundries, it is undated and unsigned, but probably originates from the same source.
- 22.
A.K. Macdougall (ed.), War Letters of General Sir John Monash, Sydney, 2002, p. 130.
- 23.
NAA: MP153/9, 2, Minutes of Meeting of the Military Board Held 27 July, 1909.
- 24.
NAA: MP153/9, 2, Minutes of Meeting of the Military Board held 27 July, 1909.
- 25.
NAA: MP153/9, 2, Minutes of Meeting of the Military Board held 5 October, 1908.
- 26.
Major (P) Charles E. Heller, ‘Chemical Warfare in World War I: The American Experience, 1917–1918’, Leavenworth Papers No. 10, Combat Studies Institute, US Army Command and General Staff College (September 1984), p. 7.
- 27.
The information describing the gases employed is taken from Peter Dennis et al., The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History, 2nd edn, online version (2009) (accessed 10 July 2014).
- 28.
Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918, Volume III—Special Problems and Services, 1st edn, 1943, p. 40.
- 29.
Mary Fox, Frank Curriero, Kathryn Kulbicki, Beth Resnick, Thomas Burke, ‘Evaluating the Community Health Legacy of WWI Chemical Weapons Testing’, Journal of Community Health, 35 (18 November 2009), p. 96. A second worthwhile source of information on chemicals used in warfare is provided in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_weapons_in_World_War_I (accessed 27 September 2015). It was a former featured article of the Wikipedia encyclopaedia. It has been included here as it uses an extensive list of academic source material and provides an excellent overview of the chemicals used and their impact on soldiers.
- 30.
Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918, Volume III—Special Problems and Services, 1st edn, 1943, p. 7, footnote 5.
- 31.
Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918, Volume III—Special Problems and Services, 1st edn, 1943, p. 25.
- 32.
Official History of Australia in the War of 1939–1945, Volume V—The Role of Science and Industry, p. 376.
- 33.
AWM25, 905/52, Rates for Certain Articles of Clothing, Necessaries and Equipment.
- 34.
Official History of Australia in the War of 1939–1945, Volume V—The Role of Science and Industry, p. 368.
- 35.
NAA: A5954, 243/11, Defence Committee Agendum No. 114/1943, “Impregnated Clothing for Anti-Gas Protection for R.A.A.F.” signed by Douglas I. Menzies, Secretary, Defence Committee, 10 November, 1943.
- 36.
NAA: A2031, 51/1944, Minutes of the Defence Committee Meeting, 16 February, 1944, Agendum No. 27/1944, entitled No. 51/1944—Impregnated Clothing for Defence Against Vesicant Chemical Warfare Agents.
- 37.
NAA: A2031, 51/1944, Minutes of the Defence Committee Meeting, 16 February, 1944, Agendum No. 27/1944, entitled No. 51/1944—Impregnated Clothing for Defence Against Vesicant Chemical Warfare Agents.
- 38.
NAA: A2031, 51/1944, Minutes of the Defence Committee Meeting, 16 February, 1944, Agendum No. 27/1944, entitled No. 51/1944—Impregnated Clothing for Defence Against Vesicant Chemical Warfare Agents.
- 39.
This is discussed at length by Joseph A. Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle, translated from the German by Redvers Opie and with a new introduction by John E. Elliott (New Brunswick and London, 2012), p. 65, where he states: ‘To be sure, we must always start from the satisfaction of wants, since they are the end of all production, and the given economic situation at any time must be understood from this aspect. Yet innovations in the economic system do not as a rule take place in such a way that first new wants arise spontaneously in consumers and then the productive apparatus swings round through their pressure.… It is, however, the producer who as a rule initiates economic change, and consumers are educated by him if necessary; they are, as it were, taught to want new things, or things which differ in some respect or other from those which they have been in the habit of using.’
- 40.
NAA: B168, 1905/10010, Item 1 of 7, Recommendations of Commanding Officers with Regard to the Determinations of the Military Board on the Question of Military Clothing for the Citizen Forces, December 1905, Recommendations in response to Resolution 3. Note: the Board referred to the yoke mistakenly as the ‘yolk’ and so did several Commanding Officers. The Jacket, Field Service, was often referred to as ‘tunic’.
- 41.
NAA: B168, 1905/10010, Item 1 of 7, Recommendations of Commanding Officers with Regard to the Determinations of the Military Board on the Question of Military Clothing for the Citizen Forces, December 1905, Recommendations in response to Resolution 3.
- 42.
NAA: B168, 1905/10010, Item 3 of 5, Minutes of Meeting of the Military Clothing Board Held on 12 January, 1906.
- 43.
NAA: B168, 1905/10010, Clothing and Dress Regulations—Item 3 of 5.
- 44.
NAA: B168, 1905/10010, Clothing and Dress Regulations—Item 3 of 5.
- 45.
NAA: MP153/9, 11, Minister’s Decisions, 20 June, 1912.
- 46.
NAA: MP153/9, 7, Decisions of the Military Board, Meeting held 21 July, 1913.
- 47.
NAA: MP84/1, 1902/7/117, Annual Report, 1911—Inspector General.
- 48.
AWM15, 8605, Memorandum from Officer Commanding, 8th Training Battalion, A.I.F. to Headquarters, “C” Group Training Area, A.I.F., 9 October 1916.
- 49.
AWM15, 8605, Memorandum from Commanding Officers, 11th Battalion, A.I.F. to Commanding Officer, “C” Group, 3 October 1916.
- 50.
AWM15, 8605, Letter from General Officer Commanding, A.I.F. Depots in the U.K. to Administrative Headquarters, A.I.F., London, 15 November 1916.
- 51.
AWM25, 187/4, Copy of Cablegram from General Birdwood, 1st Anzac Headquarters, British Expeditionary Forces., France, to Australian Headquarters, A.I.F., London, 10 August 1917.
- 52.
AWM25, 187/4, Stock Sheet for the Week Ending 15 December 1917.
- 53.
AWM54, 187/3/1. Report from Assistant Quartermaster-General, “Q” Branch Minute 15, 7 September 1945.
- 54.
AWM61, 436/3/1951 Part 6, Memorandum from Commanding Office, 45 Battalion, Drill Hall, Arncliffe, to 9th Infantry Brigade, 20 June 1934; Report from Commanding Officer, 9th Infantry Brigade to 2nd Division, 27 June 1934.
- 55.
See the section on camouflage in Chap. 7.
- 56.
AWM27, 382/9, Letter from Melville Anderson of Singleton, NSW, to the Minister of Defence, 17 October 1914; and associated correspondence from John Stanley, Quartermaster-General, 30 October 2014, and Secretary, Department of Defence, 4 November 2014.
- 57.
NAA: MP508/1, 61/716/91, Letter from Deputy Director of Contracts to Master-General of Ordnance through Chief Inspector, 20 August 1940.
- 58.
NAA: MP508/1, 61/716/91, Letter from Chief Inspector of Munitions to Director of Ordnance Services, 30 August 1940.
- 59.
AWM54, 187/3/1, Letter from Deputy Adjutant & Quartermaster-General, First Australian Army to 2 Australian Corps, 6th Australian Division, 28 February 1945.
- 60.
NAA: MP508/1, 61/707/39, Letter from H.L. Clisby to Secretary, Contract Board, 19 February 1941. Clisby refers to an earlier letter written by him on 14 February; however, this letter is not on file.
- 61.
NAA: MP508/1, 61/707/39, Memorandum from Inspector General of Munitions to Director of Ordnance Services, 6 May 1941.
- 62.
NAA: MP508/1, 61/707/39, Memorandum from Brigadier John Rowlstone Stevenson, 11 Australian Infantry Brigade, to Headquarters 2 Australian Corps (AIF), 5 June 1945; Memorandum from Deputy Adjutant & Quartermaster-General, First Australian Army to 2 Australian Corps, 5 and 6 Australian Divisions, 22 May 1945.
- 63.
AWM54, 187/3/1, Letter from Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster-General, 2 Australian Corps to 3 Australian Division, 11 Australian Infantry Brigade and 23 Australian Infantry Brigade, 6 July 1945.
- 64.
NAA: MT1274/1, 65/02/167, Committee on Post War Dress, First Draft (Incomplete) of Final Report, 1948, p. 1.
- 65.
NAA: MT1131/1, A87/1/96, Question Without Notice—Blue Uniform, 7 June 1956, Explanations, pp. 1–2.
- 66.
NAA: MT1131/1, A87/1/96, p. 2 of letter.
- 67.
Australian Military Forces, Dress Manual, 1963 (Canberra, reprinted 1966).
- 68.
NAA: MT1131/1, A308/1/170, Pictorial Representation of AMF Uniforms, Memorandum from Secretary of the Army Headquarters Suggestions Committee to MGO Branch, 6 May 1960.
- 69.
NAA: A1831, 1953/369, Letter from F.R. Sinclair, Secretary of the Department of the Army, to The Chief Auditor, Commonwealth Audit Office, 23 September 1953.
- 70.
‘$300 m for Combat Gear’, The Courier-Mail, 28 October 2006, http://search.proquest.com/docview/35003092 (accessed 14 December 2012).
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van Mosseveld, A. (2018). Driving Forces of Military Innovation. In: The Australian Army Uniform and the Government Clothing Factory. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71425-7_8
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