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WWII Australian digger loadout?


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I'm trying to set up an Australian WWII Burma loadout. Any suggestions? All the websites are a bit obscure about these guys.

 

As far as I can piece together:

 

- Enfield

- KD or jungle greens?

- Some sort of ankle boot with gaiters

- Slouch hat

- P37 webbing

 

Suggestions? Help? Lol.

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Have a google for a group called the far setting sun or forgotten tommies as the loadouts are pretty similar.

 

but basic list would be

 

Jungle greens/denims.

37 patt webbing

ammo boots with gaitors

Enfield SMLE or i believe the Mrk5 was used, or for Aussie theres the Owen SMG ,stens brens etc etc

slouch hat

 

for suppliers, try What Price Glory, Soldier of Fortune or even replicators as they used to do offers on sets and gear.

 

im sure gadge will correct me if im wrong.

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I don't think that ANZAC forces were in Burma, at least not in a big way; I believe it was mainly British, Burmese and Indian forces, with a smaller presence of Americans keeping the Burma road open with the Chinese.

Uniforms are similair, but you wouldn't see the owen gun. The jungle carbine, Enfield No.5, wasn't used in a big way until after the war either. Mostly it would be Brens, Thompsons (M1928), SMLE's etc.

The Australians may have been involved in some small scale special forces raids further in the area (South east asia, Z force) but I don't know masses about them in that context, and they weren't restricted to that area.

regards,

-Matt

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Get 'khaki drill and jungle green' by Martin Brayley

 

that will have *everything you need to know for about a tenner of amazon. Failing that ask Chief Chinthe on the Comrades in Arms forums, hes pretty much an expert on the far east and has been doig a lot of research into Anzac forces (his wifes Australian).

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Simon got Married!!! :blink::wide-eyed: good on him!

 

sorry to hijack.

 

AS to Aussies I am unsure as to their presence in Burma, but i do know they had involvement in new guinea, borneo and the like,not to forget that parts of australia were bombed by the Japanese aswell.

 

http://www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww2/overview/ww2-00.html

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Mate,

 

I have attempted a similar loadout out based on New Guinea. I got a lot of my stuff from Digger militaria in Australia, Greg is the owner and if you give him a call he will no doubt be able to procure what you are after. Another good site is What price Glory. I got my slouch hat from the Imperial war Museum in OZ and have replaced the hat band for an original WW2 one.

 

Another site with much WW2 Aussie goodness is called Oztion. It is an australian based website and deals in a lot of aussie kit, some original & some repro. I also got an Owen gun custom made to finish my loadout from two guys in NZ, which was shipped to me in the UK as parts, not cheap but some very good workmanship.

 

Digger militaria

 

http://gameymilitaria.tripod.com/

 

What Price Glory

 

http://onlinemilitaria.net/

 

Oztion

 

http://www.oztion.com.au/

 

Hope this helps.

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Oops, I totally screwed up... Kokoda was not in Burma but in New Guinea. I just watched the film (it's excellent and lots of good photos of kit and weapons).

 

PS Gadge, just ordered the Brayler book from Amazon. Looks very interesting, can't wait to take a look at it.

 

I'm surprised by how much cheaper it is to get Commonwealth stuff... all the American kit is so damn expensive.

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Good stuff :rolleyes:

One of the Major battles in the CBI theatre took place at Kohima, which is just inside India, so that may have been where you got mixed up.

Is that Kokoda: 39th battalion you're refering too? If so, excellent film; got it on DVD.

While we're on the subject, are there any cheap alternatives to the felt bush hats that were used? Perhaps a similair civilian hat?

regards,

-Matt

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Good stuff :rolleyes:

One of the Major battles in the CBI theatre took place at Kohima, which is just inside India, so that may have been where you got mixed up.

Is that Kokoda: 39th battalion you're refering too? If so, excellent film; got it on DVD.

While we're on the subject, are there any cheap alternatives to the felt bush hats that were used? Perhaps a similair civilian hat?

regards,

-Matt

 

 

when you say the felt bush hat do you mean the slouch hat http://www.collectors-badges.com/images/Badges%20Hats/hat_australia_army_slouch_hat.jpg ?

 

as they are easy and relatively cheap enough to find. or do you mean the 44 pattern style bush hat? http://media.photobucket.com/image/44%20pattern%20bush%20hat/PossiblesPete/DSC01876Small.jpg

 

 

If its the slouch hat your after the try places like SoF What price glory or even ebay, as i believe the modern ghurkas still wear their versions, albeit a bit thicker in material as they used to put two slouch hats one inside the other.

 

for a good reference site i used to use these guys..... http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-uniforms/slouch_hat.htm

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It's the clouch hat I was after, I have to admit I didn't know we issued the later pattern of hat during the war. I've seen the slouch hats on ebay, but they're still a little steep (most seem to go for £50.00+); but i'll keep digging.

Cheers for the info,

-Matt

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just and idea, why not pick up a brown american civil war slouch hat and with a few minor (cheap) additions you'd have a perfectly passable aussie/ghurka slouch

 

http://www.fcsutler.com/fchats.asp (bou 3/4 the way down called lite slouch) another option is to buy a blank and shape/form your own

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Cheers for that; I had another look on ebay, except this time for civilian hats, and came up with this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230367032248&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

So it seems I was horribly wrong about ebay.

Also, this guide from CIA may come in handy:

http://www.ww2airsoft.org.uk/php/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=8931&p=148956#p148956

regards,

-Matt

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Mr Tierney Is certainly well known in the "Circuit" as being knowledgable on all things pertaining to the "forgotten tommies" campaigns in burma and the like.

 

your ebay find looks tasty, with a bit of material wrapped around it and one side pinned up you'd be well away.

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While we're on the subject, are there any cheap alternatives to the felt bush hats that were used? Perhaps a similair civilian hat?

 

If you're not doing Chindit in particular then the standard MkII Tommy Helmet will do you fine for Brit, Aussie, etc.

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Cheers; what other headgear was in use? Berets at all (in Burma in general that is)?

Personally, i'm investing in some propper Japanese tropical kit soon, but I have a few friends who are after Burma/Chindit kit, although i'd like to throw togethe ra uniform at some point.

-Matt

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In the main it was cap comforters, slouch hats and MKII helmets.

 

 

Very very very late war the 44 pattern jungle hat was issued but mianly to troops doing occupation duties

 

Equally some commonwealth units had denim GS caps.

 

Other nations had various tribal and regimental headgear like Sikh units with turbans etc.

 

Again Simons your man really.

 

Berets mauy have been worn by RTR but there were not a lot of tnaks in the far east. Equally the parachute regiment deployed to the far east at the end of the war (post hostilities) and wore maroon berets and 44 pattern equipment with no5 rifles.

 

Not much use unless you want to re-enact post 'bomb' occupation duties though.

 

Berets in the infantry come in late 40s early 50s afair.

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I've seen a few photos of diggers in "berets", all stating that they were taken during operations in Bougainville, seems to be a cloth rather than woolen item (judging by the way it falls, I'd guess it was made from HBT cotton) with a distinct headband more akin to a balmoral cap than a beret. Those are the only wartime berets I've seen photo evidence of. I suspect it was an item on field trial during that operation.

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the aussies wore a JG version of the GS cap as their felt slouch hats rotted to quick. easy as that, its a jungle green drill materal general service cap exactly the same as the khaki wool one you wear in design!

 

 

 

As researched by a friend of mine with more knowledge in the field of kit and caboodle through the ages.

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