# What was the last usage of elaborate infantry uniforms in combat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 19, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593 "2004-12-19T02:37:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/1 "2004-12-19T02:37:07Z")
Watching _Alamo_ with a friend of mine, I was reminded that until relatively recently, foot soldiers and (especially) their COs were outfitted with pretty elaborate duds. And not just for going on parade, either: They wore them into the mud and the blood of battle, proving that being the Official Drycleaner to His Majesty’s Royal Army must have been a plum job at the time. Seeing the people carrying the guns wearing bright silver buttons and suits with multiple breasts was nearly as striking as watching presumably sane men stand still as other presumably sane men shot volleys of massed musket-fire at them. Of course, by WWI this was dead. The troops getting trench-foot in Verdun were dressed pretty oddly by our standards (especially with the lower-leg wrappings… what the hell was up with that?) but nobody was polishing a golden epaulette while wating for the ‘over the top’. The troops in the US Civil War tended to dress pretty snazzily, modulo equipment and material shortages, but I don’t know if it was still being done in the Spanish-American War in the 1890s. So I’ve just paramaterized the final conflict as well as I can: Somewhere between the US Civil War and the First World War. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/2 "2004-12-19T03:32:55Z")
If I’ve remembered correctly from the “Guns of August”, the French Army worn their distinctive red trousers in the early months of the war. So I’d think that WWI was likely the last war with spiffy field uniforms. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/3 "2004-12-19T03:36:12Z")
> [@Northern Piper](#): > > If I’ve remembered correctly from the “Guns of August”, the French Army worn their distinctive red trousers in the early months of the war. So I’d think that WWI was likely the last war with spiffy field uniforms. They must have been easy to see from the machinegun nest. Don’t forget that the British lost their ruling class charging those machine gun nests with swords. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/4 "2004-12-19T03:50:03Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > They must have been easy to see from the machinegun nest. > Don’t forget that the British lost their ruling class charging those machine gun nests with swords. You don’t have any cites for that, do you? It sounds suspiciously like the old canard about the Polish charging Nazi tanks with mounted cavalry. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/5 "2004-12-19T04:06:45Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > You don’t have any cites for that, do you? It sounds suspiciously like the old canard about the Polish charging Nazi tanks with mounted cavalry. I think Tuchmann writes about it, along with the French “elan” bayonet charges in red pants. The British officers led charges with a sword and a pistol. They were the well educated, wealthy guys who would have served in government. Their counterparts were killed in WWII flying bombers. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/6 "2004-12-19T09:30:25Z")
Here’s what Keenan has to say about this in his _First World War_ (p. 75): > [@](#): > > Despite much experiment and debate, (the French Army) went garbed for war in 1914 much as it had done in 1870, almost as under Napoleon. The heavy calvary wore brass helmets with horsehair plumes, the light calvary wore “frogged” (?) jackets and scarlet pants. The infantry of metropolitan army wore blue greatcoats, red trousers and calf length boots. All made of heavy wool too… The British learned their lesson on flashy uniforms in the Boer War. The Germans had wisely thought ahead. Surprisingly, the Russians were mostly in the modern style as well. The Austrian calvary was still old-fashioned but the army was kitted out modernly. Most of the rest of the smaller nations involved had kept the flourishes, at the start, at least. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/7 "2004-12-19T09:33:00Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > Here’s what Keenan has to say Kee **g** an that is…oops. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/8 "2004-12-19T14:36:56Z")
Actually, the German cavalry of 1914 was still dressed in quite fancy duds: > [@](#): > > In the early months of the war, the Uhlans were a particularly impressive and soldierly sight. Their distinctive square-topped helmet (the czapca) was worn with a grey cloth cover and, generally, it had the regimental number stencilled in red on the front. The lancer tunic (the ulanka) had a fully- piped plastron, collar, cuffs, rear pleats and shoulder straps in regimental colour…The Hussars still managed to look every inch of the heroic light cavalryman, in their covered busbies (officers wore uncovered grey opossum fur busbies or field caps) and their field-grey braided tunics (the atilla). An exception to this was the 17th (Brunswick) Hussars, whose officers wore bearskin busbies, either with or without its grey cloth cover… [ellipses mine]. And even more interesting, they still carried the lance: > [@](#): > > …importantly, and not a little confusingly, all German cavalry regiments were armed with the lance. This was regardless of the unit’s initial troop type and gave rise to much contemporary Allied assumption that any mounted German with a lance was an Uhlan. Despite this, the actual weapon was the same 1890 pattern for all; being ten feet six inches long, made of tubular steel and with a lance pennon, either carried rolled or open. Until their use fell into decline (in late 1914), these pennants also distinguished the identity of particular states. [Both from this site: [http://www.renegademiniatures.com/article13.htm](http://www.renegademiniatures.com/article13.htm)] Things didn’t go particularly well, as you may imagine: > [@](#): > > Another similar incident, during the battle for Nancy on September 8th, demonstrated the tremendous discipline and bravery of the German cavalry in attack. From a vantage point opposite the Amance plateau, the Kaiser himself had given the order for a ‘grand assault’ on the entrenched French ‘Iron’ Division. Subsequently, massed Bavarian battalions, with their bands playing at their head, had advanced surely upon the plateau but, despite bitter fighting, had failed to secure the position. Eventually, the Kaiser ordered a full cavalry assault to be made by his own beloved White Kurassiers of the Prussian Guard; and they carried out their highly-trained drill to the absolute letter. Again, riding stirrup to stirrup (and according to one source, wearing full cuirass), the White Kurassiers streamed towards the Amance plateau. Against them, the French artillery gunners had perfect targets. Accordingly, they opened fire and the squadrons in their sights were annihilated. In some places, the dead and dying horses and men lay almost six feet high; as the following waves were mown down trying to jump the piles of casualties. Shaken, the Kaiser apparently left the battlefield soon after, ordering the Crown Prince of Bavaria to continue the battle and capture Nancy. [ibid.] ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/9 "2004-12-19T15:55:13Z")
While brightly-colored jackets, feathered plumes and shiny brass epaulets glistening in the sun would mark today’s infantryman out for a sniper round between the eyes, these uniforms were well adapted to the demands of 18th and 19th century European warfare. The firearms of the era had a fairly short range, and were pretty inaccurate even within that. The only way to effectively utilize such weapons were to create concentrations of fire against a target by massing your infantry into units. Each unit had to be constantly positioned and repositioned relative to each other and the enemy throughout the chaos of the battle, without benefit of radios or GPS locators. Distinctive infantry uniforms allowed officers to more easily assertain their troops’ disposition and react to the flow of battle. While this paradigm had slowly eroded over the later half of the 19th century (US Civil War, Boer War), many European military thinkers dismissed these “peripheral” engagements as irrelevant to continental European warfare. World War I finally blew the Napoleonic paradigm to smithereens. The interesting exception, as noted, is the British army. Besides having had the recent lesson of the Boer War, the British Army was MUCH smaller than its continental counterparts and therefore more flexible about experimenting with and embracing institutional changes. And as a final aside, although the French may have marced off to the trenches of World War I looking splendid in their field finery, they didn’t stay that way long. Mud, blood and dust can rapidly transform the most brightly-colored uniform into passable camoflage. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/10 "2004-12-19T18:08:32Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > The British learned their lesson on flashy uniforms in the Boer War. The Germans had wisely thought ahead. Surprisingly, the Russians were mostly in the modern style as well. The Austrian calvary was still old-fashioned but the army was kitted out modernly. Most of the rest of the smaller nations involved had kept the flourishes, at the start, at least. The shift from elaborate to practical field uniforms was due to the colonial experience of the nations involved. The British fought the First Boer War in scarlet tunics and white helmets, but the Second in the khaki they’s developed in India. And while the French Metropolitan army was still in dark blue greatcoats and pantalons rouge, its colonial troops came back to Europe to fight in mustard-brown uniforms. Old Imperial Germany did have experience in colonial warfare, and had sent troops to China in khaki, but kept its European army in wool with fancy piping and Hessian cuffs and decorative buttons on the velt flap over their butts. As mentioned, the Austrian infantry was more practical, since they’s been so disasterously dressed in brilliant white during the Risorgimento and the Seven Weeks War, so they switched to neutral pike grey with tailoring inspired by their long tradition as huntsmen. As for the Russians and their simple, durable gimnasterka pullover tunic: that was due to the anti-western nationalization of Allexander III, who was disgusted by how 19th Century armies dressed in either the French or Prussian style, depending on which had more recently defeated the other (his same Russifaction drive decreed that Russian nobles had to appear at court functions in pre-Catherine the Great costumes with fur trim and pointy hats). As an aside, the old preference for elaborate uniforms was defended as having the practical use of improving morale. Do soldiers fitght better if they have more pride? Do worksers behave more professionally if the men wear ties ant the women skirts? Note the example of the he Canadians, who went to WWI in high stock collars. When these uniforms wore out, the British resupplied them with their own stand-and-fall collars, but the Canadians re-cut them into stock collars again. Anyway, in answer to the OP, my answer it the German army in WWII. Compared to the simple battle dress of the Allies (especially the M1 field jacket of the US Army, adapted from a mechanic’s jacket) the Germans still had outdated ideas about how to dress for combat: look at how much leather they wore. While the Allies used light, maintainable cotton webbing, the Germans had to maintain leather belts and boots and pouches in rain, mud and freezing weather. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/11 "2004-12-19T18:36:16Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > The troops getting trench-foot in Verdun were dressed pretty oddly by our standards (especially with the lower-leg wrappings… what the hell was up with that?) Those wool leg wrappings are called puttees, and they provided insulation during the cold months. They were also useful for sealing the tops of boots when walking through puddles and muddy fields. ---
**Author:** ![Daver914](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Daver914](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daver914)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/12 "2004-12-21T06:53:02Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > You don’t have any cites for that, do you? It sounds suspiciously like the old canard about the Polish charging Nazi tanks with mounted cavalry. I don’t know about cavalry charges, but Keegan tells of a battle early in the war, at Loos, where six British infantry divisions formed up into perfect columns, “as if carrying out a parade-ground drill”, and marched straight across an open meadow towards a line of German machine guns. The defenders had a field day; one gun alone was estimated to have fired 12,500 rounds that afternoon. The Brits kept coming, and the Germans kept firing. Of the 15,000 men who took part in the attack, over 8,000 were casualties killed or wounded. Finally the British columns broke and ran, and the Germans simply stopped firing out of mercy. (The First World War, pp. 201-202) ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/13 "2004-12-21T09:23:51Z")
Possible cite, although against artillery rather than machine-guns: > [@](#): > > On the 24th August [1914], the British 5th Infantry Division, under General Fergusson, was being picked off by murderous shellfire from eleven German guns which overlooked their position. These were entrenched on a hillside, by the edge of a wood, at Andregines on the Cambrai road. The 2nd Cavalry Brigade was ordered to silence them and a disastrous charge, notably by the 9th (Queen’s Royal) Lancers, followed. Initially, only ‘A’ and ‘B’ Squadrons were ordered to attack, however, ‘C’ Squadron appeared as they were lining up and the entire fighting force of the regiment, some 400 men, charged towards the guns. However, they only managed to get as far as a thousand yards before they were ripped to pieces. One corporal recalled that as he rode across the fields, at about 200 yards from the guns, he could only see three troopers and an officer alongside him. Then, at 150 yards from the gun position, twenty concealed machine-guns opened fire. The result was utter carnage. As the rest of the Brigade wheeled to the right and obliquely onto their objective, the Lancers ploughed into the guns and the wire defending them. Although the guns were eventually neutralised, at the rallying point (a nearby railway embankment) only 72 Lancers formed up; at roll-call the next day the regimental strength was only 220 men. Whilst the charge of the 2nd Cavalry Division at Andregines saved the 5th Division from extinction, it was an ominous warning on the use of massed cavalry in modern warfare. From [this website](http://www.renegademiniatures.com/article16.htm). Also: > [@](#): > > one of the most terrible slaughters of German cavalry occurred at Haelen, a town lying directly on the path between Brussels and Liege. In an attempt to outflank the Belgian army by by-passing Tirlemont, a German force, mainly consisting of cavalry, horse artillery and infantry support, wheeled against the town. Under heavy Belgian artillery fire, German Uhlans, Dragoons, Hussars and Kurassiers tried to force their way down the Steevorn-Haelen road but met with only shrapnel and shell fire. Undaunted, they tried again, this time actually reaching the Belgian barricades, only to be beaten back at the last breath by sustained infantry rifle fire. Having regrouped, the massed German cavalry then charged the Belgian defences even more forcibly. This prompted an equally brutal counter-charge by the Belgian cavalry (notably the Lancers and Chasseurs a Cheval) which resulted in a savage hand-to-hand combat. Again, the Germans were forced to retire. However, they resolved to make a final, all or nothing charge against what they, presumably, believed was the weakest point in the Belgian defences. It turned out to be the costliest decision yet in the battle for Haelen, as the point they chose was bristling with Belgian machine-gunners. The inevitable conclusion was a pitiful carnage of horses and men and was as courageous as it was disastrous. Their casualty figures at Haelen amounted to almost a thousand. One German cavalry officer, in a letter to his wife, recalled that ‘…our retreat was …paralysed by the number of riderless horses roaming about, and by the stragglers of the 2nd Kurassiers and 9th Uhlans who had been cut up by machine-guns.’ [Attr.letter, p.146, N. Flower, History of the Great War, 1917] ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-usage-of-elaborate-infantry-uniforms-in-combat/280593/14 "2004-12-21T13:10:51Z")
If you visit the King’s palace in Copenhagen, you will see a memorial to the 12 soldiers of the King’s Guard, who fell in 1940, as the germans invaed. These me were dressed in full regalia-including the bearskin hats. Unfortunately, their heroism was in vain, as they had only carbine rifles…the germans had machine guns.