by Bury_Dave Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:47 am
Hi Steve, to be honest I think that there were only ever 2 label descriptions ; one being 'Smock Parachutist' and the other being 'Smock Parachutist 1959 pattern'. Lastly, 'Smock Parachutists DPM' (I think. I need to look at my examples in my attic) And technically only ever one official smock designation.
However, there were non-labelled changes.
The so-called first pattern was the setp-in smock. A copy of the German first pattern but in khaki drill. Used at Bruneval and the Tagino viaduct raids and quickly superceded.
Second was the one with knit cuffs and the tail piece that could only be connected to the front and was often either cut off after the jump or left hanging or press studded to one of the tabs to the left or right of the front to narrow the smock. This was the first camo pattern smock.
Third was the one where you could press stud the tail to the rear of the smock and which had a button tightening tab above each wrist.
Post WW2 were half zip with knit cuffs. Then full zip and then later the '59 pattern. In 1976/77 the Regt went to the DPM smock. This was basically a '59 pattern Denison but with internal drawcord at waist and one on the bottom hem - thus removing the need for the two tabs. They also had the pen and ruler pocket on the left sleeve like the '68 pattern smocks that teh Army were using then. These early DPM ones were sized as per the Denisons. Later in around '81/'82 they went NATO sizing. In 1984 they had the field dressing pocket on the right sleeve. Since then there have been no changes other than material type and a massive worsening of the quality of the garments overall.
Where there is confusion is the fact that different makers (and there were several) of the '59 pattern Denisons, interpreted the specs in slightly different ways giving rise to different colour variations. This, along with different wear rates and washing processes, meant that in any given unit that there would be a real hotch-potch of smocks all looking like different patterns.
With the DPM ones there were fewer makers and I think that the cloth may have come from a central supplier who had a contract to supply the MoD as a whole with cloth and the makers just cut and assembled the smocks. Because teh whole Army went camo, the size of teh contracts to print cloth went up. when just the paras and some SF were wearing camo, the print runs of cloth were MUCH smaller.
Each material supplier has seemed to have slightly different colour variations in DPM too.
You also find people washing out labels of post WW2 smocks and trying to pass them as WW2 issue 'officer' smocks. There were no officer smocks issued as such. Some officers used the long zippers from the green, sleeveless smocks to replace their half zips to make donning and doffing the smock easier. Perhaps also officers didn't wear their smocks as hard as the men and so those issued with the 'second pattern' kept them longer than the guys did and so you might see more officers wearing smocks with knit cuffs than enlisted men.
The higher ranking officers would have had all uniform clothing privately made by tailors and they had a Denison type smock made up in a lighter weight gaberdine material. I won't bore you with the details but Monty and Browning were both photographed in such garments as were a couple of others who's names escape me right now.
Remember too that the 'second pattern' smocks had a hand applied camo which quickly faded.
I'm sure i haven't fully answered your question but perhaps now you can see that there was only really a couple of patterns by label but lots of variations by colour or slight mod.
Incidentally, the vertical zips type you mention is not a 'Smock Parachutists'. A photo might be useful as the only one i am aware of that had vertical zips was the French Lizard ones.
Last edited by Bury_Dave on Thu Mar 08, 2012 8:40 am; edited 4 times in total (Reason for editing : Can't spell !)
but I am happy to share what I do know.
I'll dig it out and chuck some photos on when I get a chance.
