Battle Dress

With war looming it was desired to eliminate the colourful and unfortunately descriptive look of the Army's shoulder sleeve insignia, for security reasons. Many of these insignia were left over from recognizable Great War insignia. The idea was to devise a totally different set of geometric, monotone symbols to say what division or regiment the soldier was in, and to eliminate arm-of-service insignia, to confuse enemies who see them. At the same time, the widely varying uniform types used by the many units and arms of services were to be eliminated, and the officers were required to wear the same garments as the other ranks. Scottish regiments were forced to give up their kilts and trews. So the long, four pocket Service Dress tunics gave way to the short-waisted battledress jacket and high waisted trousers with large left thigh pocket and a field dressing pocket. 

But the troops did not like the changes. Esprit de corps suffered. So by 1940 the War Department had given in to pressure, and the colour returned to the British Army uniform. By 1943 it was possible to look at a soldier's best battledress and know his arm of service, division, and brigade in the case of infantry, and regiment. Scottish highland regiments were allowed to wear their specific kilts in the rear areas, and lowland regiments their tartan trews (slacks). Officers were allowed to wear traditional service dress, sometimes in regiment-specific cut, in the rear areas. 

The 'battle dress' of the British Army was approved in April 1939, and was worn by both men and officers. It was a two-piece garment of khaki serge, it consisted of a blouse and trousers buckling at the wrists and ankles* (*until June 1941).