10-27-2020, 07:00 AM | #11 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: Illegal WW2 modifications
That wasn't merely fashion, as the German field uniforms were custom tailored to your size - as measured when you joined up and the cut was like that of a civilian suit. Thus they tended to be too tight around the shoulders and upper arms and restrict movement when you were fighting or working out in the field. So getting a uniform that was a little too large might've made you look a bit shabby, but it made actual wartime soldiering a lot easier.
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Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." |
10-27-2020, 08:08 AM | #12 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Udine, Italy
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Re: Illegal WW2 modifications
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Insofar as it was a statement, it was an elite identity statement. "Our uniform is different from the run-of-the-mill poor bloody infantryman's because we aren't that, we are an elite", and consequently, "I'm a member of the elite because I wear this special uniform". That said, yes, freedom of movement would have been important for any soldier. But think of the full kit of a Fallschirmjäger. When he jumps, his limbs are constricted at the joints by his harness and equipment. In particular, the thigh has two chokepoints: the harness on top, and the kneepad at the bottom. A tight-fitting trouser leg there would seriously hinder maximum movement. Yes, once you remove what was needed for the jump and landing, what remains is baggy in looks. But even that considered, there's another reason. Why do runners, in winter, prefer tight leggings to baggy gym trousers? Why do high-speed cyclists shave their legs? Answer that, and you'll see why a paratrooper, especially considered the crude WWII-era parachutes, would prefer his jump suit as tent-like as possible. |
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10-27-2020, 10:36 AM | #13 | |
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Chatham, Kent, England
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Re: Illegal WW2 modifications
Quote:
He paid a tailor to make it up into a bulky jacket, and it was destroyed when some medics cut it off him after he was wounded in the fighting at Tossigano on the 'Vene Del Gesso'? Did not know this SS pattern was originally Italian! |
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10-27-2020, 10:39 AM | #14 | |
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Chatham, Kent, England
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Re: Illegal WW2 modifications
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Very few fitted, as we'd changed shape somewhat... |
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10-27-2020, 11:16 AM | #15 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Udine, Italy
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Re: Illegal WW2 modifications
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Quote:
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10-27-2020, 11:44 AM | #16 |
Banned
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Bristol
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Re: Illegal WW2 modifications
Fallschrimjaeger in oversized field dress.
Another oversized uniform From my discussions with a Fallschrimjaeger and some re-enactment they really went all out to get uniforms too big for themselves. |
10-27-2020, 11:52 AM | #17 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: Illegal WW2 modifications
I remember my father telling me that whenever they got their tank out of depot maintenance the first thing they did was unbolt the pintel-mounted .50cal from the top of the turret and ditch it on the side of the road. Because nobody in their right mind was going to pop their head out of a perfectly good tank in the middle of a fire fight and try to use it, all it ever did was get tangled up in low-hanging branches and telegraph lines.
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10-27-2020, 12:13 PM | #18 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Udine, Italy
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Re: Illegal WW2 modifications
The German geballte Ladung was born as an in-the-field improvisation. They removed the handles of six "potato masher" Stielhandgranate M24, and tied them to a seventh such grenade still having the throwing handle. There you go, a "bundled load". Heavier and more difficult to launch, and with a shorter throw distance - but a nice bang.
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10-27-2020, 12:14 PM | #19 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Udine, Italy
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Re: Illegal WW2 modifications
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10-27-2020, 12:50 PM | #20 |
☣
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Illegal WW2 modifications
Aircraft nose art started out as this, but when they realized the propaganda impact of having recognizable identities in the newsreels they started officially condoning it. Though some of it had to have clothing added.
There's also aircrews who increased their defensive firepower by adding extra guns. The pinnacle of that was Old 666, a B17 stripped of its bomb equipment and armed with 19 .50 cal MGs for high risk reconnaissance missions.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
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