Description
In the first part of 1943, the Army began flirting with a two-piece (jacket and pants) herringbone twill (HBT) camouflage uniform. Now, one thing to note is that this differed from the Marine HBT “duck hunter” or “frog skin” camo that was introduced around the time of the invasion of Tarawa as the Devil Dog kit was based on their P41 design while the Army’s was a slightly different variant based on Big Green’s M1942 fatigue uniform.
Unfortunately, the preponderance of camouflage worn by the Germans led to a large number of “friendly fire” incidents, and the uniforms were withdrawn around the end of August. A veteran of the 29th Infantry Division commented, “those guys should have known better than to wear camouflage like damned Germans. We shot the hell out of them.” Apparently, troops in neighboring units were not advised of the “new” uniform being worn by their comrades and they reacted accordingly. Most information indicates that troops of the 41st Armored Infantry Battalion (2nd Armored Division) were the primary recipients. Some evidence indicates that a few units of the 2nd and 30th Infantry Divisions also participated.
This example is textbook in everyway and shows clear signs of being period worn. The jacket has army (initial/serial number) so strong possibility of identifying the original wearer. This jacket is in a nice large size and has all of the original buttons attached, no major damage or repairs.
