Private Thomas Hawkins, Royal Canadian Regiment, digging slit
trench near Motta, Italy, 3 October 1943. |
| Photo by J.H. Smith. Department
of National Defence / National Archives of Canada. PA-116844. |
|
British and Canadian soldiers were outfitted with countless items of equipment
or "kit" in addition to the standard battle dress of khaki wool
serge. Probably the most recognizable was the distinctive steel helmet,
similar in shape to that worn during the Great War. Most soldiers wore the
Mark II helmet, more circular in design and with a flatter brim than its
predecessor of the earlier war. Troops designated for the D-Day assault,
however, were issued the Mark III helmet, which offered 38% more protection
because its flared shape covered more of the head. Helmets were camouflaged
in action with mesh netting used to secure field dressings as well as pieces
of burlap or foliage, which served to disguise their distinctive outline.
One of the most important items for the infantryman's survival was undoubtedly
his entrenching tool. Modified only slightly from the tool used in the Great
War, the general-issue entrenching tool consisted of a detachable metal
mattock or head and its wooden handle or helve and was designed to be attached
at the back of the 1937 pattern web equipment (see below). Unsuited to efficient
digging due to its small size, the tool was spurned by many soldiers in
favour of full-size shovels and picks.
“Our number-one priority was making a hole.
In our training days, we all had the small trenching tool most people
have seen in photographs or films. It was useless. Within hours after
D-Day, every second man had a regular round-bladed shovel; one in every
section had a pickaxe. Two men could make a decent place for themselves
in about an hour.”
— Charlie Martin, Battle Diary,
1994
Troops
of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles near Ifs, France, 25 July 1944.
|
| Photo by Ken Bell. Department
of National Defence / National Archives of Canada, PA-116528. |
|
The infantryman carried his entrenching tools, ammunition, water bottle,
mess tin, toiletries, ground sheet, gas cape (essentially a waterproof poncho
supposed to protect against blistering agents), box respirator (gas mask),
compass, and other items in pouches or packs attached to his web equipment.
Essentially an interconnected harness system of belts and braces worn across
the shoulders and fastened at the waist, the 1937 pattern equipment was
waterproofed and dyed to a khaki colour. Seemingly contrary to the idea
that an infantryman should go into battle as lightly burdened as possible
so as to maximize his mobility, all of these items served to weigh him down
even more than his predecessor of the Great War. While allowing him to carry
all of this paraphernalia of dubious value, the web equipment was uncomfortable
and awkward when fully loaded with attachments.
More than one historian has pointed out the tactical
hazards of overloading soldiers, who take fright more easily when tired,
and tire more quickly when frightened. An extreme example is found in
citing the 105 fatal casualties suffered by one company of American infantry
at Omaha Beach on D-Day: all but one died in the water, where even otherwise
non-fatal wounds doomed men unable to shed the equipment which dragged
them under or prevented them from moving above the incoming tide.
|
