Allied policy regarding usage of captured german clothing

august winter · Post by **august winter** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 7:09 pm

Hi, this might seem like a strange question but I recall seeing a series of photos of british troops burning down buildings in one of the concentration camps in 1945. In the photos is a large group of soldiers watching the proceedings and there are at least 2 brits wearing ss camo winter parkas.

A strange thing for brits to be wearing (although it looks pretty cold in the photos), i presume this kind of activity would have been frowned upon??

any ideas?

raj-rif · Post by **raj-rif** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:41 pm

actually this kind of thing happened a lot in the desert war with both sides wearing each other kit, in the desert war bith armies were at the end of a very long supply chain so they often utilised captured equipment,clothing etc and as the luftwaffe clothing was much the same as the british then often they would be used.

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:36 am

August...what about them being British camoflage Dennison smocks? There was discussion of these before - they weren't actual combat issue for regular toops, as they weren't available in any quantity, though I've seen a short film clip of Commandos wearing them in the hours immedaitely preceeding them crossing the Rhine. But after the war and into late 1945....?

august winter · Post by **august winter** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 6:14 pm

Hi Phylo, nope definately not denison smocks...

Im a bit of a buff regarding camo uniforms and the brits in the photos im talking about are wearing waffen ss oakleaf pattern reversible winter parkas.

Not too much of a problem wearing them when not in contact with the enemy but could create friendly fire problems when in combat...