Home Defence Divisions orientation....

[Bill A]

The orientation of the home defence division patches has caused confusion. The 6, 7, and 8 Divisions were mobilized for home defence, and authorized to wear formation patches. After some consideration, it was decided to use the overseas division patches, divided on the angle to represent the home division. 6 Division wore red over blue, 7 wore French gray over dark green, but 8 Division departed from the pattern and wore maroon (from 5 CAD overseas) over a light green. The light green had no connection with any formation.
The patches were worn in pairs, with the senior division colour to the front. So, 6 Div, red to the front, 7, gray, and 8 Div, maroon.

[160464]

Originally Posted by Bill A

The orientation of the home defence division patches has caused confusion. The 6, 7, and 8 Divisions were mobilized for home defence, and authorized to wear formation patches. After some consideration, it was decided to use the overseas division patches, divided on the angle to represent the home division. 6 Division wore red over blue, 7 wore French gray over dark green, but 8 Division departed from the pattern and wore maroon (from 5 CAD overseas) over a light green. The light green had no connection with any formation.
The patches were worn in pairs, with the senior division colour to the front. So, 6 Div, red to the front, 7, gray, and 8 Div, maroon.

I found this pic of a rifleman in the Oxford Rifles wearing what appears to be an 8th Division flash. If so then another departure the 8th had from the 6th and 7th is that the flash was 'upside down' compared with the other two divisions (ie the 'senior' colour maroon is to the front, but the diagonal is from the top down rather than from the bottom up). At first I thought the forward facing light colour was light green (upsetting the maroon forward premiss) but when I photographed my 8th Div. patch and faded the colour to black and white oddly the maroon came out to almost the exact shade of grey as in this pic.

[Bill A]

Nice pic. The patch is not worn in the proper orientation, but that sometimes happened when there was only the one side issued. There are some comments about the shortage of right/left patches. There were also private purchase division patches that were available. The private purchase were stitched diagonally along the seam, while the issue patches had the maroon sewn on over the green.
The tones are a bit off in the image as well. The Oxford Rifles title is a gray tone which appears lighter than the actual rifle green would be.
It is not unusual to see insignia worn incorrectly or expediently.

[160464]

Originally Posted by Bill A

Nice pic. The patch is not worn in the proper orientation, but that sometimes happened when there was only the one side issued. There are some comments about the shortage of right/left patches. There were also private purchase division patches that were available. The private purchase were stitched diagonally along the seam, while the issue patches had the maroon sewn on over the green.
The tones are a bit off in the image as well. The Oxford Rifles title is a gray tone which appears lighter than the actual rifle green would be.
It is not unusual to see insignia worn incorrectly or expediently.

From your description this would be correct then? I've also faded out the colour and again you can see how the maroon looks lighter just as in the Oxford Rifle pic. I recall seeing another 8th Div. (RCA)? battledress on E-bay a few years ago. It was different again in that it was a top down diagonal like the Oxford patch but it was green forward. That may just be an E-bay thing however. I'll look to see if I saved the pic.

[Bill A]

Thanks for showing the gray scale image. It is amazing that the maroon scaled to a lighter tone than the green.

[160464]

Originally Posted by Bill A

Thanks for showing the gray scale image. It is amazing that the maroon scaled to a lighter tone than the green.

But what about the orientation of the flashes in the colour pic? Are they correct?

[Bill A]

Yes, maroon over green with the maroon edge leading. They were made in matched pairs, so there was one for each shoulder.

[Blue Puttees]

Great idea for a thread Bill A and that's a nice photo 160464!

[160464]

Originally Posted by Bill A

Yes, maroon over green with the maroon edge leading. They were made in matched pairs, so there was one for each shoulder.

Thanks Bill. The flash on the left is the mirror image (maroon forward over green).