Quote:
Originally Posted by leigh kitchen
Royal Tank Regiment and Royal Armoured Corps would be black, yes, the Commando's green beret was worn not just by Royal Marines but by Army Commando personnel who wore a variety of parent Regiment badges.
The badges look to be RNF or RWF but I'm not firm on those at all, given the quality of the image.
I'd considered the RTR / RAC black beret. Some infantry battalions were converted to RAC units, some adopting the RAC badge, some retaining their infantry badges, sometimes in a white metal version.
The RNF didn't wear black berets, wearing GS caps, Field Service Caps etc, they adopted berets after WWII, dark blue ones were introduced during the early 1950s.
I don't know of a RNF or RWF RAC Battalion that served in Algeria (which doesn't mean they didn't, I just don't know much about the subject).
There is at least one member of RNF who was in 6 Commando buried at Bone in Algeria.
It could be that the men in the photo are wearing the black beret as they're RTR or RAC, the badges not being RNF or RWF.
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Thank you for that summation of the beret use and colour. I did determine that the 1st Bn of the RNF was in NA up until September 1943 with the companies farmed out within the Corps, which fits, with the exception of the black berets. Most of the companies (HQ, W, X, Z) were attached to the 1st, 8th and 10th Armored Divisions, so it is conceivable they wore their RNF insignia on the RTR beret perhaps. Unless there is a distinction between RTR and an Armored Division wherein the black beret was not worn.