The Shoulder Patch

[Gaylord Focker]

The military shoulder patch's origins date back to the first World War.

The system of a unit sleeve insignia was an inovation of the British Army during World War I. It's purpose was to allow for the identification of battalions,regiments, and divisions in combat.

The date, 1918: Hundreds of thousands of Americans of the American Expoditionary Force are arriving in France, and the need for an identification system was in need and quicky adopted. Generaly American soldiers of the 81st Division are acknowledged as the first Americans to don the shoulder patch. AEF headquarters approved the proposed insignia of a wild cat for the 81st, and not long after other divisions including non divisional outfits such as support units were granted insignias of their own during the autumn of 1918 in France.

The date: 1919 , Doughboys begining to return home, come wearing a patch stiched to their left shoulder to indicate their unit. The adaptation of the shoulder patch reached as far, or as near shall we say as units who had not made the trip across the Atlantic Ocean. The shoulder patch soon became a symbol for veterens war time experience in World War I. Not limited to to the representation of combat in France, the insignias also commonly held a meaning from within the outfit and was not uncommon to include some symbol of home. An example being the 28th division, made up of Pennsalvanian National Guardsmen. Pennsylvania being the "keystone state" picked a red keystone for it's shoulder patch. Some designs also contained elements of contemporary popular culture mixed with humor. The 5th Division's patch of a red ace of diamonds based on the slogan of a clothng dye manufacturer that stated, "Diamond Dye-it never runs".

Color and construction of shoulder patches were very dyvers between divisions. Incorporation of differing color schemes within their basic design to differentiate between regiments was common. Although AEF approved of most of the designs worn by the soldiers, their was no standardized method of manufatcure. They were created with material at hand, most commonly wool. Interestingly enough the use of a wool base for patches continued into World War II.

In between the two World Wars, the shoulder patche was worn by the Army, National Guard, and the Reserves. New insignia designs were sparse but one of note being the 101st Division's patch in 1923.

25 years after the Great War the shoulder sleave patch once again was the ubiquitous sign of the direct decendent of the DoughBoys, the GI. Reactivation of many divisions along with their insignias that served in the first world war was brought about by the US's entry into World War II. Millions of shoulder patches were designed and implemented as the American army grew over 6 million strong by 1945.

The Quartermaster Corps of the U.S Army now became the supervisors of the manufautring and issue of now officaly referred to as the shoulder sleave insignia. Use of varied color combinations for a given design to represent subbordinate units ceased, and in it's stead a single shoulder patch now was worn by all outfit members. Now the shoulder patch indentified a soldiers affiliation with an army unit who's numbers could be 10,000 strong, or a command with 500,000.

Manufacutring of the shoulder patches was now being done by civillian contractors, making the patch to the US Army Specification No. 6-246, of wich desrcibed in detail the presice amount of material to be used, and exactly how the embroidery of the patches would be carried out.

Originaly the patched were used only on the service unifrom jackets. By 1942 changes were made to inlcude shirts and field jackets. In combat the patches were generaly removed to deny the enemy use of them to locate the presence of specific outfits. Upon departure over seas, US soldiers were given the order to remove their patches so movements could be kept in secret.

[ July 18, 2002, 05:09 PM: Message edited by: Gaylord Focker ]

[Michael Dorosh]

Interestingly enough, the original "battle patches" of the BEF and CEF in 1915-16 were intended to worn on the back of the tunic, so the enemy could not see them but follow up waves could properly identify what unit men in front of them belonged to. The Commonwealth army created a much more complex system of unit identification than the Americans or Germans (ask Darknight about that one!) though the troddeln of the German soldiers (bayonet knots - tassels worn on the bayonet) could identify a soldier's company and battalion at a glance.

By 1943, British soldiers had different coloured insignia to recognize battalion and division, plus arm of service strips identifying brigade, with some units adopting even company flashes on the shoulder strap (for example), or helmet flashes designating the company.

The US 101st Airborne also had helmet markings identifying regiment, battalion and company.

Entire volumes have been written on these subjects.

[Philippe]

And speaking of shoulder patches...

The Intstitute of Heraldry, Quartermasters Corps, Fort Belvoir has been exceedingly helpful in providing information and counseling (don't ask) for an upcoming CMMOS mod of divisional flags and, as it happens, shoulder patches.

At the moment almost all of the flags have been done several times, and my German and American unit flags, along with my Andrew Fox-compatible American shoulder patches, are in the middle of a test run. We're still having a few problems with the German unit emblems, but the end is in sight.

Canadian flags have been finalized, British flags are almost there, Darknight is going crazy making the Commonwealth patches, and Sitzkreig is sweating over the Uniform sets. The flag and patch mod, along with US and Commonwealth Uniform editions, should be ready in time for the next CMMOS release.

[Gaylord Focker]

I have a question about CMBB, will trench coats be in it during fall and winter scenarios? Not a big thing but i think it would look cool.

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by Gaylord Focker:

I have a question about CMBB, will trench coats be in it during fall and winter scenarios? Not a big thing but i think it would look cool.

That does raise an intriguing question - the reversible winter suits can be easily modded and used for winter textures from late 1942 on...but the first winter, the only cold weather gear the Germans had were indeed overcoats...

[Gaylord Focker]

Well lets hope for the best, i'm not a programmer by any means so take this with a grain of salt, but for some reason i think that it could added to the game if not already in it.

This could very well be one of the nice surprises in CMBB. If it's not modeled it's not the end of the world either, did'nt make me dislike CMBO any.

[Splinty]

Is it possible for the shoulder patches to only appear on the left sleeve? Standard U.S. Army practice is the unit that a soldier is currently serving in appears on the left sleeve only. A patch on the right sleeve indicates prior combat service with that or another unit. The current mods I've seen put the same patch on both sleeves.

[imported_WARHAMMER]

Is this going to be on the test?

[Sitzkrieg]

Originally posted by Splinty:

Is it possible for the shoulder patches to only appear on the left sleeve? Standard U.S. Army practice is the unit that a soldier is currently serving in appears on the left sleeve only. A patch on the right sleeve indicates prior combat service with that or another unit. The current mods I've seen put the same patch on both sleeves.

Yes and no.

For infantry units (and armor too I think), the patch is applied to both sleeves because the same BMP file is used for both arms. No way around this.

US airborne only have the patch on the left arm. These have textures for both left and right arm so this is possible.

BTW, I think everyone is really going to like the patch work that Philippe and Darknight have/are doing for the next CMMOS release. That plus the flags Philippe is working. Very cool stuff for both US and Commonwealth. Now I just need to get the uniform rules together and we'll be set.

Keith