WW1 surplus in WW2?

[OC Richard]

Does anyone know if unused WW1 uniform surplus was reissued circa WW2?

Good point Steve, and to do so here's the OP itself.

About uniforms specifically, all I know about is the Highland regiments of Scotland. People who know about Dominions regiments can provide that information.

The Highland regiments of Scotland were issued the new Battle Dress starting in 1938. However the old 1908 Service Dress jackets continued to be worn throughout WWII (and afterwards). So rather than the old Service Dress being "WWI surplus" it was, rather, an alternate form of dress (Battledress v Service Dress).

In the Highland regiments the patterns of kilts, sporrans, hose, Glengarries, TOS, etc remained more or less unchanged from before WWI to after WWII.

The web gear worn in WWI was the P08 system, which was superseded by a new system in 1937. The P37 web gear had narrower belts and featured one large vertical pouch on each side.

Time for photos!

WWI Highland soldiers showing the 1908 Service Dress tunics and the P08 web system with the tiers of small pouches on the front. You can see how wide the webbing of the waistbelt and braces is.



Here you can see how the water bottle is suspended



On the other side the Small Pack was worn



A lovely photo excellently showing the 1908 Service Dress tunic both as worn with the kilt and with trousers



This interesting photo of members of the Gordon Highlanders in France 1940 shows the old P08 tunic and the new P37 blouse worn side-by-side. Note that the P08 tunic, kilt, and TOS are generally worn together here completing the WWI impression, while the new Battle Dress is worn with the Glengarry.



After Dunkirk AFAIK the old 1908 Service Dress isn't seen in combat, having been replaced by Battle Dress.



Here you can see Battledress worn by the Gordon Highlanders in North Africa in 1942. Note the two large vertical pouches and narrower webbing of the waistbelt and braces of the P37 web system. It was popular, especially with officers, to wear the battledress blouse with open collar and necktie, and some officers wore bespoke Battledress blouses with open collar and lapels. The popularity of this led to an open-collar version of Battledress being introduced after the war.



But the old Service Dress tunic continued to be worn throughout and after WWII, here in 1947.



Recall that Full Dress was abolished in the Scottish regiments of Scotland in 1914 never to be reinstated, so Service Dress was the most-dressy form of dress until a new Number One Dress was introduced in 1953.