Did every soldier used to own a complete set of badges?

[Bwetdude]

I was wondering if WW2 soldiers had a cap badge, collar badges et shoulder titles in their "kits"?

The tought came to me because I usually find way more cap badges than collar badges....

The collar should come on a 2:1 ratio if they were distributed as complete sets...

[Unknownsoldier]

I believe yours is a rather pertinent and intelligent question, and one I've often wondered about myself, as some badges (collar) seem to be plentiful, and yet others seem to be rather hard to obtain, even though logic dictates they should be more plentiful than the cap badge due to their indcreased amount, as you say 2:1, however having thought this through, one can only think it may have to do with territorial units, who did not have ceremonial uniforms, just battledress (at least 39-45), as well as other soldiers who joined in wartime, who were not issued with uniforms or through economy, never received their 'full quota'. This I beleive would knock the ratio of badges a little, and therefore contribute to the relativly bizarre situation where the theoretically more plentiful article is in fact harder to obtain than the theoretically scarcer article.

ATB,
Tom

[boots and saddles]

Bill A will perhaps handle this question for you but the common soldier didn't wear collars on their Battle dress & some officers didn't .Very few soldiers had dress uniforms where the collars were worn, The regulations part I will leave to Bill.

[54Bty]

As a rule soldiers were not to wear collar badges on the Battle Dress blouse of which they would have had two, plus in some cases a denim suit as well. Collar badges were to be worn on Service Dress which was not issued to other ranks during the war. Prior to WW2 SD was issued to everyone, once BD came in the issue of SD was stopped and was not started again until after the war. Officers of course were to wear collar badges in their SD. Hope this helps.

[Bwetdude]

It clarifies the whole thing.

It was mostly what I tought.

So the Battle Dress was issued with a "wedge" or beret and a cap badge.

But no collars to privates and most officers.

But should the collar badges be worth more to collectors than the cap badges?

Is it the same case with shoulder titles? Metal or fabric.

Thanks.

[guest_000]

For some reason there is an abundance of KC collars on the market at any time most in unissued condition. There are some scarce ones for sure but the prices tend to be very low at this time . An area which could be looked at for collecting right now while the gettin is good. Also most cloth was made in great abundance by several contractors and I know of several dealers who have hoardes that will never have to be replentished in their life times

[Bill A]

54Bty is taking this down the right path. The type of badges issued was related to the order of dress the soldier wore. The Canadian army started the war with service dress and then, fairly quickly was issued battledress. However, some other ranks wore a pattern of service dress while in Canada well into the war. The soldiers with service dress had cap badges, and some had collars and metal shoulder titles. However the vast majority of Canadian soldiers wore the ubiquitous battledress.
Due to metal shortages during the war, and the orders to withdraw collars from use, the collar badges and metal shoulder titles disappeared from use. Only officers and some senior nco's (usually the RSM) were allowed to wear service dress. Once in operations in NW Europe, the officers seldom had their service dress with them.
Shoulder titles were on issue at the start of the war, to be quickly replaced by the worsted slip-on corps or regimental titles. These in turn were replaced by coloured embriodered shoulder titles and formation patches and then the printed shoulder titles. At the very end of the war, the army was in the process of switching back to embroidered titles.
How does this relate to the insignia issued? The Canadian soldier was supposed to be issued with one cap badge and 6 pairs of shoulder titles and formation patches, scale of issue, if that quantity was available. (Often the supplies didn't exist so the scale of issue was irrelevant. The soldier was given what they could at that time.) Many soldiers either had an in with the QM or someone in stores and scarfed more cap badges and titles if they could. The badge was an awsome trade commodity for everything from cigarettes to a beautiful girl's heart. It was not unusual for a soldier to have a couple or more badges in his kit. So, to sum up, the average Canadian soldier would have had, as has been mentioned above in the string, a cap badge andn his cloth shoulder titles and formation patches.
Metal collars/shoulders were put back on issue after the war, but the main uniform was the battledress. The dress reg's basically prohibited the wearing of collar badges with the battledress, so the collars were seldom issued. One note, some officers had begun to wear collar badges on battledress late in WW2. Lots of photo evidence to confirm their use.
As to the question of value and scarcity, the collar badges are not seen as part of the WW2 uniform. Thus many WW2 collectors ignore the collars, only seeking the actual insignia worn on the uniform.

[Pylon1357]

As usual Bill A, another very informative post. I have gleened much information for your posts. Agreed that many collectors of insignia ignore the collars, this for me is avery good thing.

[Sonofacqms]

I have inherited a small photo of a friend of my Father who is wearing collar badges on B.D. c1940 R.A.S.C. I would be interested in any information concerning other units that wore collars on B.D.

[Stanley_C_Jenkins]

My father, who served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps during World War II, did not even have a "walking out" uniform, only a standard BD blouse or a lighter shirt, etc., for use in India and the Far East. He appears to have had only one (bakelite) cap badge, and did not wear collar badges. Otherwise, he wore various cloth badges, only one of which has survived. Photographs suggest that my three uncles, who were in the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, were also more or less “badge-less”.