Home Forces very small patch.

[sapper533]

Hi Folks

Bit of a mystery to me is this very small GHQ Home Forces patch, the one on the left is the standard size printed Ordnance issued one.

What is the little one?

I saw somewhere that there was an Artillery unit that wore the Home Forces patch...is it anything to do with that?

Cheers
Sean

[badjez]

Your printed badge is mint. Before stitching to uniform it would have been folded back to the dotted lines. I'm not sure there would have been too much difference between the embroidered badge and a properly folded and stitched printed version.

Both versions were produced privately, not by Ordnance so there would have been little product control between different manufacturers.

At 309th Meeting of Army Dress Committee, on 22/03/72, approval given to a Formation Sign for HQ UK Land Forces. On a roundel per fees gules and azure a lion passant with dragons wings within a double tressure flory counter flory or.

Stephen.

[Postwarden]

The printed badge is not that of GHQ Home Forces but is the badge based on it adopted in 1957 for the staff and those directly linked with the GHQ of UK Land Forces formed two years earlier to plan for possible events in a nuclear attack on Britain.

The attached image of a sadly undated letter has an embroidered version attached which is described as "Sign, Formation GHQ, UK:LF.

Jon

[sapper533]

Oh that's interesting, I've just double checked and 37 Signal Regt are described as wearing this badge as a regimental embellishment is that correct?
Cheers
Sean

[sapper533]

Jon I should of asked how does your badge differ from the Home Forces badge, apologies if it's a stupid question ....is it on the older badge the colours were darker?

[Postwarden]

All the examples of the real Home Forces wartime sign that I have recorded are of the small size you show in your first post. Also the red and blue are darker and the surrounding circles are close together and don't have the wider gap shown in the UKLF version. The attached image shows the two together.

I would suggest that 37 Signal Regiment's use of the UKLF version implied that at some point it was a unit commanded by GHQ UKLF. The Army Dress Committee was very strict about not allowing formation signs to be used as regimental dress distinctions.

The attached picture shows the sign worn by an unidentified Signals unit.

Hope that helps,

Jon