Australian and Canadian colour patches of World War 1--a comparison.

There is a tendency in Australia to regard the colour patch system of the First World War Australian Imperial Force as unique. While such patriotic devotion is laudable it is not entirely correct. The AIF's great Dominion counterpart in the First World War, the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), also wore a system of unit colour patches which consisted of combinations of specifically coloured geometric shapes. It is of interest to note, in light of the above comments about Australian views of the AIF colour patch system, that I have read at least one Canadian source which refers to the CEF's colour patch system as `unique.' Not only is this not true, an examination of the CEF system and comparison with the AIF system reveals that the Canadian system was nowhere near as extensive and all encompassing as the Australian system.

The aim of this short article is to introduce readers to the CEF colour patch system and to compare the Canadian system to the AIF system.

The Australian System

The AIF wore a common hat/cap and collar badge as an almost universal standard, the only variations being general officers, chaplains, members of the RAN Bridging Train and members of the Siege Brigade (who were Permanent Military Force soldiers and wore the cap badge of the Royal Australian Garrison Artillery). All others wore the AMF badge, the so called `Rising Sun' badge.

The earliest method of unit identification was metal shoulder titles and numbers. For example, in the early days of the war, members of the 1st Australian Infantry Battalion wore a straight oxidised title `INF' on the epaulette with the numeral `1' above. Other titles which existed were `LH' (light horse), `ENGR' (engineers), `RAE' (Royal Australian Engineers), `ASC' (Army Service Corps) and `AAMC' (Australian Army Medical Corps).

This system was not very satisfactory as the oxidised brass titles and numerals did not show up well against the drab coloured Australian uniforms and were not in any case popular with the troops. During the early days of the forming and training of the AIF in Egypt, a system of coloured flags was adopted to denote the lines of the brigades and battalions of the force. In 1915, orders were issued directing that miniature versions of these flags should be worn on the upper sleeve as battalion, unit or brigade identification. It was from this that the AIF's colour patch system evolved.

The AIF system was based on a variety of geometric shapes combined with identifying colours. The basic shapes were triangle for corps and army troops, rectangle for 1st Australian Division, diamond for 2nd Division, horizontal oval for 3rd Division, circle for 4th Division and upright rectangle for 5th Division. Various other shapes eventually came to be used but these were the basis.

The shapes were in various colours to denote specific formations or units. Black and white were the colours for corps and division patches, the patches consisting of a smaller white version of the unit shape superimposed on a larger black version -- for example, the patch of the 1st Australian Division was a black rectangle with a smaller white rectangle superimposed on it.

At the next level down, that is brigade, patches were in the shape of the division with the brigade's position within the division denoted by its colour -- the colour for the 1st brigade of each division was, theoretically, green, the 2nd brigade red and the 3rd brigade light blue. Thus, the patch of the 1st Australian Infantry Brigade, 1st Australian Division was a green rectangle while the patch of the 5th Australian Infantry Brigade, 2nd Australian Infantry Division was a green diamond. For battalions, again theoretically, the colour patch was divided in two, the lower half being the brigade colour and the upper half being either black, purple, brown or white for the first, second, third and fourth battalion of the brigade respectively. Brigade Light Trench Mortar Batteries wore the brigade patch with a small blue grenade beneath it.

This was the theory of course and, unfortunately, it did not take the system long to break down. The reasons for this break down are largely beyond the scope of this article but, suffice it to say, from the creation of the 4th Australian Division onwards, brigade and battalion colour patches paid little heed to the theory.

Divisional troops wore patches of the divisional shape in corps or service colours. For example, 1st Australian Division medical units wore a beech brown rectangle while medical units of the 4th Division wore a beech brown circle. Beyond the infantry divisions, the various fighting and support units wore a bewildering array of shapes and colour combinations for their shoulder patches.

The Canadian System

The CEF differed markedly from the AIF in the field of insignia in that each of the battalions and regiments of the CEF had its own cap and collar badges and, in some instances, their own unique shoulder titles (metal or cloth). Many cap badges, especially those of the 260 infantry battalions raised by the CEF, were based on a common maple leaf pattern with unit identity shown by the unit number on the badge. Just as many, however, if not more, wore specifically designed and totally unique badges. Collar badges, on the other hand, at least for the infantry battalions and later on in the war, were largely of a common pattern, made of brass and consisting of the letter `C' over the battalion/unit number.

As a result of the above, in the earlier years of the war, the CEF saw no need for colour patches as units were immediately identified by the cap and collar badges. As the war progressed, however, Canadian soldiers began to remove their shiny cap and collar badges when in the front line as they were seen as being just another means of attracting the unwanted attentions of German snipers. In addition, from early 1916, the Canadians began to be issued with the new steel helmets which of course made cap badges redundant. With no cap or collar badges, it became necessary to devise another method of identifying units. The method devised was the so-called `battle patches', the CEF's colour patches.

The system was in some ways simpler than the Australian system but at the same time more complicated. The basic patch, worn at the top of each sleeve, was a coloured rectangle 3 inches long by 2 inches high to identify the division. The 1st Canadian Division wore red patches, the 2nd blue, the 3rd turquoise (French grey) and the 4th green. These patches were worn by all Divisional HQ staff and by all other troops serving with or attached to the division who did not have their own patch. Variants of the basic patch were those for the divisional MG battalion which had a beech brown arrow placed horizontally in the centre of the patch with the arrow point forward; divisional medium and heavy trench mortar batteries who wore the divisional patch with a blue cloth bursting grenade placed above the patch; and the divisional engineers who had the letters `CE' in purple on the centre of the patch surrounded by a purple frame. Apart from the infantry brigades and battalions, the only other patch worn was that of the divisional labour company who wore a small triangle in the divisional colour at the top of each sleeve and, in the 1st, 2nd and 4th Canadian Divisions, a special patch for officers on the divisional HQ. For the 1st Division, this consisted of the red divisional patch with a white rectangle set on it; for the 2nd Division it consisted of the dark blue divisional patch with large gold letter `C' on it with the Roman numeral `II' in the curve of the C; while for the 4th Division the patch consisted of the green rectangle with (surprise, surprise) a gold maple leaf on it. One additional oddity was the patch worn by champion platoons, sections, etc of the 3rd Division. This patch consisted of the divisional turquoise rectangle with what appears to be a dark blue `dumbbell' or hand weight placed diagonally upon it; the higher end of the weight is to the viewer's right. The 3rd Division does not appear to have had an `officer's patch'.

Brigades wore the basic divisional patch with a coloured strip of cloth 1/2 inch high and 3 inches wide placed just above the patch (approximately 1/4 inch above). The strips were green for the 1st Brigade, red for the 2nd Brigade and blue for the 3rd Brigade. Brigade light trench mortar batteries wore a blue cloth grenade above the patch with the ball of the grenade centred on the brigade coloured strip.

As with the AIF and indeed the British Army, the brigades of the CEF contained four infantry battalions. These battalions wore a geometrical shape at the top of the basic brigade/division patch to identify their order of precedence in the brigade. The 1st battalion in each brigade wore a circle, the 2nd battalion a semicircle, the 3rd battalion a triangle and the 4th battalion a square. These shapes were in brigade colours -- thus the 1st Battalion (which happened to be the 1st Western Ontario Battalion, CEF) of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division wore as its `battle patch' the red rectangular patch of the 1st Canadian.

Division with a green circle above. For comparison, the first Battalion (18th Western Ontario Battalion, CEF) of the 1st Brigade (4th Canadian Infantry Brigade) of the 2nd Canadian Division wore the blue rectangular patch of the 2nd Division with the green circle of the 1st battalion/1st brigade. Besides wearing cloth patches on their sleeves, in the last two years of the war, it became common practice within the CEF for battle patches to be painted onto the steel helmet. (1)

From this it is obvious that, unlike the AIF system, the CEF system, for the infantry at least, was designed to denote a unit's place in a formation rather than to identify the unit itself. Theoretically, a battalion could be transferred from one brigade to another or even from one division to another and would not take its colour patch with it. In practice of course, this did not often occur but the point is there.

One formation where individuality of expression occurred in regard to patches was the Canadian Cavalry Brigade. Each of the major units of the brigade wore a distinctive patch as follows: the Royal Canadian Dragoons -- dark blue four sided lozenge with a red horizontal bar at the top and bottom and gold horizontal bar through the middle; Lord Strathcona's Horse -- red over green diamond; Fort Garry Horse -- dark blue diamond with smaller gold diamond superimposed; Royal Canadian Horse Artillery -- four sided lozenge, scarlet over dark blue; brigade MG squadron -- four sided lozenge, dark blue over white; 7th Field Ambulance -- beech brown diamond (apparently identical to the colour patch for 2nd Australian Division medical units).

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Other patches were worn by lines of communications, Army and Corps troops as follows: Canadian Light Horse (Corps cavalry regiment) -- four sided lozenge, light blue over dark blue, separated by a central horizontal red bar; Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion -- triangle divided equally into three smaller triangles, dark blue (top left), light blue (top right), red (bottom); Army Troops units Canadian Engineers (Army Troops Company (Coy) CE, 1st and 2nd Tramway Coy CE, Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Coy CE) -- red rectangle with narrow dark blue horizontal bar in the centre, placed on the centre of the bar a small dark blue rectangle with the letters `CE' in red; Canadian Corps Heavy Artillery -- dark blue rectangle with a jagged, horizontal red stripe across the centre (apparently identical to the patch of the Australian Corps' 36th Heavy Artillery Group); Canadian Garrison Artillery Brigades -- identical to the Heavy Artillery Group with a brigade identifying bar set above (green for 1st Bde, red for 2nd Bde, dark blue for 3rd Bde); Canadian Corps Survey Section -- as for the Heavy Artillery Group but with a large capital letter `0' superimposed; Canadian Corps Siege Park -- black triangle with an upright artillery shell in red with a black driving band, a small letter `C' in white in each corner of the triangle; Motor Machine Gun (MMG) Brigades -- a narrow rectangle, red for 1st MMG Bde, dark blue for 2nd MMG Bde, with a beech brown arrow set just above the patch; 1st Tunnelling Coy -- red square with a large black capital letter `T' set on it; 2nd and 3rd Tunnelling Coy -- both wore a large red capital letter `T'; Railway Troops -- red square with a small white triangle in the centre; 58th (Canadian) Broad Gauge Operating Coy -- red triangle with smaller purple triangle superimposed with the base of the smaller triangle level with the base of the larger; 8th Army Bde Canadian Field Artillery Park Section -- light brown triangle; Canadian MMG Motor Transport (MT) Coy -- beech brown triangle with a beech brown arrow above it; Canadian Engineers MT Coy -- scarlet triangle with capital letters `CE' in gold superimposed; Canadian Corps Troops MT Coy -- triangle equally divided horizontally black/white/black; HQ Canadian Corps Clerks -- scarlet triangle with small letter `C' in white in each point. The patch of the Canadian Labour Group HQ was a red square with three horizontal white bars on it. The Infantry Works Companies were identified by horizontal red bars placed beneath the Labour Group HQ patch, one red bar for the 1st Coy, two bars for the 2nd Coy, three bars for the 3rd Coy and four bars for the 4th Coy.

A final group of patches were authorised for the Canadian contingent to the North Russia Expeditionary Force. All of the patches for the units of this contingent were based on the purple rectangle of the never raised 5th Canadian Division. Patches were as follows: B Squadron Royal North West Mounted Police -- purple rectangle with a large red star in the centre; HQ 16th Canadian Infantry Bde -- purple rectangle with a red stripe set above the patch; 259th Canadian Infantry Bn -- purple rectangle with a red circle set above; 260th Canadian Infantry Bn -- purple rectangle with red semicircle set above; 16th Field Coy CE -- purple rectangle with the red capital letters `CE' set on it; and, 20th Canadian MG Coy -- purple rectangle with a horizontal beech brown arrow above it.

Comparison of the Systems

The main distinguishing feature between the two systems was the extent of the systems. The CEF system consisted of less than 140 patches while the AIF system eventually totalled over 300 patches with far more patches being worn by units down to company equivalent size than in the CEF.

The CEF system was unquestionably simpler and in general more logical than the AIF system. While it takes some time and effort to become an expert on AIF colour patches, anyone with a reasonably good memory could master the CEF divisional patches system in less than half an hour. (2)

The major difference between the two systems, however, is the underlying philosophy behind the systems. The CEF system was designed simply to identify what position a unit occupied within the CEF rather than the unit itself. On the other hand, for the AIF, the colour patches became closely identified with individual units and jealously guarded as the very symbol of unit pride and cohesion. The strength of attachment to the colour patches can be judged from the reaction of the various battalions identified for disbandment in the last year of the war. One of the reasons for the so-called `mutiny' of these battalions was the fear that the men would lose their colour patches. To counter this fear, the Australian authorities were required to guarantee to the men that they would be permitted to continue wearing their old patches.

A further proof of the difference in the philosophies behind the Australian and Canadian systems was what became of the colour patches after the war. At the end of the war when the CEF demobilised and the Canadian army reorganised into a small regular component supported by a large part time militia, `battle patches' fell into immediate disuse. Units went back to relying entirely on their regimental, corps and service cap and collar badges as the outward sign of unit pride and history.

In Australia, on the other hand, while regimental and corps badges were reintroduced on the establishment of the Citizen Military Forces (CMF) in 1921, the decision was made to grant to the newly organised CMF the `privilege' (note the word) of wearing the colour patches of the corresponding unit in the AIF. In addition, former members of the AIF were permitted to wear a miniature version of the colour patch of the last AIF unit in which they had served. (3) Not only were war time colour patches preserved in wear, new patches for both permanent and part time units and formations continued to be authorised right up until the outbreak of the Second World War. (4) This latter development led to the most extreme example of how far the system could be stretched when, in the 1920s, a miniature colour patch, featuring an anchor, was authorised for wear by members of the PMF or CMF who had served in the RAN during the late war!

Thus while in Canada the battle patch system quickly passed into oblivion with the cessation of hostilities, in Australia colour patches continued to be an outward sign, and a very jealously guarded one, of unit identity and pride. No less an authority than General Sir John Monash stated that `the private soldier valued his battalion colour patch almost more than any other decoration'. (5)

Which system was better? That's easily answered -- both (or neither). Each system evolved totally separately under two different military organisations with two entirely different ways of looking at what might be referred to as `battlefield heraldry'. Both were developed to fulfil a specific need and both did the job admirably well. As an Australian I will always have a great deal of pride and fascination in the AIF colour patch system. On the other hand, as a person with a wide ranging interest in military heraldry, I will always also have a great deal of interest in and respect for the Canadian battle patch system.

Sources

Babin, Lenard L., Cap Badges of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces 1914-1919, published by the author, 324 Court St, Rochester, New York.

Commonwealth of Australia, 1992 Army Colour Patch Register, Director of Publishing, Defence Centre, Canberra.

Garnier, Jocelyn, 1995, `The Black Watch of Canada During the Great War Uniforms and Insignia of the 13th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Parts 1 & 2', Militaria Magazine, No. 16, May-June pp.44-46 and No. 19, September, pp.45-47.

Morange, Jean-Phillipe & Sauvage, Eric, 1995-1996, `The Canadian Expeditionary Corps in France and its Badges, 1914-1918. Parts 1, 2 & 3', Militaria Magazine, No.21, November, pp. 17-23, No.23, January, pp. 16-22, No.25, March, pp. 17-23.

(1) A majority of the photographs of troops of the CEF in the field that I have viewed supports the concept that the CEF preferred to wear the steel helmet uncovered. This is in direct contrast with the Australians who always covered the helmet with hessian and where the sight of an AIF member wearing an uncovered steel helmet in a contemporary photograph is the exception, rather than the role. I have theorised that this may have resulted from the Australians learning very early on in the war the value of camouflage and concealment while fighting the Turks at Gallipoli -- hut this is only a theory and totally unsubstantiated.

(2) The Australian colour patch system for the Second World War is extraordinarily complex and complicated. Colonel Chinn (retd), the acknowledged expert on the subject and the author of the Army Colour Patch Register once stated to the author that as much as he admired the AIF, he fervently hoped they would never be raised again.

(3) Military Order (M0) 206/21.

(4) Both the Australian and Canadian Armies resurrected their colour patch systems during the Second World War but once again the Australian system was far more comprehensive than the Canadian one and Australians looked to the colour patch as their sign of unit identity and pride while the Canadians looked to their regimental and corps cap badges, collar badges and newly introduce embroidered shoulder titles. The Australian system lasted until 1949 when it was scrapped in favour of the British system of shoulder titles and lanyards. The system has been readopted in a very much modified form since the 1980s.

(5) Quoted in Australian Victories in France 1918.