Thread: Interesting, Odd or Funny Pics.

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1485


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Originally Posted by korg20000bc

1066




1485


1709


1916


2014

so why did the poms go to Red uniforms
and why did the poms go to kaiki uniforms?

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKWmFWRVLlU[/ame]

Originally Posted by 85 county

so why did the poms go to Red uniforms
and why did the poms go to kaiki uniforms?

Guessing that red would not obviously show any bleeding.

kahki because they realised how effective drab colours were for the Boers...?

Originally Posted by korg20000bc

Guessing that red would not obviously show any bleeding.

kahki because they realised how effective drab colours were for the Boers...?

wrong and 1/2 wrong. but both common misconseptions

Red was adopted when it was important to be able to identify your side in poor visibility in clouds of black powder smoke, and when red was almost the only distinctive colour for which a reasonably cheap dye was available - before this there were no real uniforms - insignia were worn, but were often very hard to see once gunpowder was used extensively.

Khaki was adopted in India in the late 19th century, probably initially temporarily because of a problem with dying cotton red (wool was used for red uniforms but was expensive and hot in India). The advantages of it for camouflage became apparent as rifling and muzzle velocities improved so that longer range sniping became a factor, and it became standard by the time the Boer War started. Being seen by the enemy became the major determinant of uniform colour with the widespread adoption of rifled artillery and machine guns in the last twenty years of the nineteenth century. This moved the range of engagement out. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, most of the fighting consisted of a single volley at maybe fifty yards or less, followed by engagement using bayonets before either side could reload. By the end of the century, rifled artillery, magazine rifles and machine guns meant that it was no longer important to be able to distinguish the enemy at a glance in hand to hand fighting (which became rare), but being able to see them before they saw you was important.

Dark green camouflage uniforms were used by British rifle units during the Peninsular War in the period 1800-15, so the principle of camouflaging troops was certainly known much earlier.

John