Osprey Men-at-Arms 108 : British Infantry Equipments (2) 1908-1980

The conflict in South Africa from 1899 to 1902 gave the British military establishment reason to effect swift reforms in the period which followed the end of the hostilities. The humiliating defeats suffered at the hands of a comparatively small number of Boer citizen-soldiers in the opening months of the war showed up deficiencies in leadership, training and equipment. In the years 1906-08 a committee to examine the diet, training and clothing of the soldier was set up under the chairmanship of the Surgeon-General. A design of infantry equipment produced by Major Burrowes of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, in collaboration with the Mills Web Equipment Company, was presented to the Equipment sub-committee for examination in 1906. The equipment found favour with the sub-committee and troop trials followed in Great Britain, the Middle East and India. As a result of these trials the Mills-Burrows equipment was accepted by the Army Council in December 1907. Work was now put in hand to re-equip the infantry arm of the British army with the equipment which would serve them through the Great War and the 20 years that followed - the pattern 1908 Web Infantry Equipment. In this companion book to Men-at-Arms 107 : British Infantry Equipments (1) 1808-1908, Mike Chappell examines the period from 1908-80 in a text complemented by numerous illustrations including eight full page colour plates by the author himself.

Contents

• Introduction
• The Pattern 1908 Web Infantry Equipment
• The Pattern 1914 Leather Infantry Equipment
• The Pattern 1937 Web Equipment
• The 1942 Battle Jerkin
• The 1944 Pattern Web Equipment
• The 1958 Pattern Web Equipment
• Future Developments
• The Plates