Aussie gear

Ha ha, I'm tempted now, too!

I was wondering about the 3 button gaiters myself, surely there must be a repro out there somewhere? Also if you're going to get a rifle I'd recommend waiting a little while as Warren of shoot and scoot has said that he'll be releasing a No1 Mk3 SMLE soon (VSR 11 based). Oh, and the Aussies used P08 (WW1 type) webbing with their service dress, but I can't see anyone pulling you up on using 37 Patt.

My research indicates that although when they arrived in Britain the Aussies had P08 everything, they were quickly issued British or Canadian P37 Webbing and would have had this by the time they were sent to fight. Australian made P37 webbing wasn't available until later.
Pictures of Aussies seem to indicate that the 3 button anklets were ditched by the time they got to the desert, would be nice to have them with the service dress though.

Evike currently have the SMLE at $220 (£115) so if it's still that price when I have some money it may be worth the hassle. The SMLE is now listed as discontinued on the shoot and scoot site but looking through Warrens section of the forums, I got sidetracked by his plans for an M1 Carbine. I love the M1 Carbine and Aussies did tend to use American guns when working with American units, presumably to simplify supply issues. If an SMLE is coming soon at Shoot and Scoot it will cause a dilema.

All of the pictures and newsreels I've seen of Australian troops during/after the battle of Greece show them still in P08, same with a few I've seen from Crete. I didn't think the Aussies came to Britain, I was led to believe that they landed where they fought i.e. Egypt, Greece, Libya etc.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they didn't use 37 Patt webbing. They certainly did. All I'm saying is that they did also fight a couple of battles using P08. Mind you I'm just looking for an excuse to buy P08 webbing

I'll leave this here, very good reference for loadouts:
http://stukasoverstalingrad.blogspot.co ... z.html?m=1

Evike currently have the SMLE at $220 (£115) so if it's still that price when I have some money it may be worth the hassle. The SMLE is now listed as discontinued on the shoot and scoot site but looking through Warrens section of the forums, I got sidetracked by his plans for an M1 Carbine. I love the M1 Carbine and Aussies did tend to use American guns when working with American units, presumably to simplify supply issues. If an SMLE is coming soon at Shoot and Scoot it will cause a dilema.

The new SMLE due is based on the VSR 11, the old is the one listed out of stock, but I think that's because they're made to order and you have to ring up to enquire. I expect the new SMLE to be priced around £350-£375, but if you can get the Iron airsoft SMLE working (reliably) it would be worth the money.

Also if you're gonna be in service dress, using an American weapon would look odd. The Aussies were in BD by the time they were fighting alongside the Americans.

[Edited due to grammatical error]

Yes, definitely need an SMLE, but if I can get a gas one cheap it makes an M1 carbine a viable option later, when I'm doing Jungle greens
Aussies were not in BD at any point during WW2. It was Service dress->Khaki drill->Jungle greens.

Are you sure? They certainly had their own battledress variant, which replaced service dress as their standard uniform.

[EDIT]Ah, I see what you mean. No they didn't fight in BD, What I meant was that they'd moved on from service dress by the time they were working with the yanks. I can see how that was a bit confusing.

All of the pictures and newsreels I've seen of Australian troops during/after the battle of Greece show them still in P08, same with a few I've seen from Crete. I didn't think the Aussies came to Britain, I was led to believe that they landed where they fought i.e. Egypt, Greece, Libya etc.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they didn't use 37 Patt webbing. They certainly did. All I'm saying is that they did also fight a couple of battles using P08. Mind you I'm just looking for an excuse to buy P08 webbing

I'll leave this here, very good reference for loadouts:
http://stukasoverstalingrad.blogspot.co ... z.html?m=1

Most Aussies were landed where they were needed. The 1st lot to arrive were after Dunkirk but before the N Africa campaign. They were stationed in Scotland (To keep all the alcaholics in one controllable place?/To help acclimatise them ready for the Desert?/The Canadians got here 1st and nabbed all the good locations?) as part of the strategic reserve ready to counter any invasion force. It may be that they got kitted out and then other units arriving elsewhere received new webbing later as it was harder to supply it in battle zones. But yes, definite scope for getting a set of P08 gear. Hell the WW1 impression just needs a slightly different jacket and trousers which spearhead also stock

Battledress wise, they had it for Korea but only for armoured units, infantry still seem to have been in Service dress. Although Australian WW2 battledress does exist I believe it was made for export to other commonwealth countries. I have found evidence that it was used by US marines as they didn't have any smart uniform to use when on leave.

Ah, I just assumed that once they had it they started using it. Lets just say that the marines stole it all.

Yeah, it makes sense that those based in Britain would get 37 Patt, but the ones in Greece, Crete and Tobruk all landed in P08. The Aussies in Tobruk got 37 Patt rather quickly though. Either way, both P08 and 37 Patt are credible.

Have ordered a jacket and Hat

Went for the brown jacket from the WW1 section of Spearhead rather than the green. This means my Battledress trousers will match and save me a few quid. Also this one has the insignia included for just £5 more, sourcing them separately would have been a nightmare. Both Green and Brown appear to have been used in WW2. It doesn't have the integrated belt so is fine for WW2.
Can't wait for an opportunity to wear it

Cool! Remember to post some pics when they arrive!

To save a bit of cash, I looked for a cheaper pair of boots. I found these:

They looked a bit too yellow in the picture but when they arrived and the laces were replaced with leather laces, they look spot on.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121138205596? ... 1423.l2649

Nice, if you needed to you could always darken them with polish.

Have ordered a jacket and Hat

Went for the brown jacket from the WW1 section of Spearhead rather than the green. This means my Battledress trousers will match and save me a few quid. Also this one has the insignia included for just £5 more, sourcing them separately would have been a nightmare. Both Green and Brown appear to have been used in WW2. It doesn't have the integrated belt so is fine for WW2.
Can't wait for an opportunity to wear it

That tunic is a bloody good match for a Belgian one as well, at least to my albeit less than trained eye.

I may have use for that.

Spearhead also have the WW1 type Belgian tunic if that's of any use?

Spearhead also have the WW1 type Belgian tunic if that's of any use?

Err... yeah, it might be actually.

I'll have a look. Cheers for that.

Belgian: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WW1-Belgian-A ... 9c0c96d1f8

Yup very similar, pockets are smaller, buttons are shinier and red collar.

When I get onto the Aussie Jungle gear, I may have to do some DIY for the Aussie water bottle holder:

They made it belt mountable, which makes so much sense.

That just looks like a bit of webbing sewn onto a normal skeleton holder, should be easy enough to replicate, maybe use a pistol pouch for the clips and spare webbing.

I had to resew one of my skeletons, it was very easy to unpick and re-do.

Cheers
Martin

Yup stupidly easy improvement to the water bottle attachment. Presumably meant that Aussie troops could carry more water in the jungle by adding extra bottles. I read that there was an Aussie water bottle that could be attached to the belt but it took me days to find out how they did it.
I did once read a comparison of Aussie and US webbing in Vietnam. Aussies were using 54 webbing by then, which still had the big pouches but attached to the belt so that they hung down. The Aussie standard webbing therefore had all the ammo in 2 pouches and the rest of the belt was a machete and lots of water bottles. US webbing had lots of smaller ammo pouches and 1 water bottle. Apparently the Aussies were somewhat better at long range patrols for some reason. Does however make me wonder if the adapted water bottle is an indication that Aussie top brass worked out that to fight in the jungle the trick was to carry a lot of water? Which then begs the question, why didn't any of the other allies pick up on this?

Jacket and hat finally arrived

You know how battledress is made from really itchy scratchy wool, well the Aussie Jacket is sooo soft and comfortable
Now if only my phone would work so I could show you

Cool!
Odd that the wool is softer though, is it serge?
Anyway, looking forward to seeing the pictures (Once your phones working, of course)!