WW2 US CAMO OVERALLS : Help Please

[USBAYONETS]

Hi Guys,

What are your thoughts on these WW2 US Camo Overalls are they original and if ok were they used by the Army or USMC and which campaign.

Thank you

 

[doyler]

Original..they are Army. Some Marines would wear them as well.

 

Seen pictures of then worn in the 37th Div in the unit history. 

 

Friend has a picture of a Liasion pilot in the ETO wearing a set and another friend has a photo of his uncle in Texas in training wearing a set. Also recall seeing a pic of men in Tank Destroyer training unit wearing a set.

 

 

In a nut shell they were basically a work uniform that could find its way issued to a wide variety of places.

 

[doyler]

Marine 105 crew on Cape Gloucester 

 

 

[USBAYONETS]

Thank you very much for the prompt reply, great photo showing combat action.

Much appreciated. 

[Dave T]

Another image. This photo is ETO- Normandy campaign. Officer on the left wears 1 piece camo uniform, officer on the right wears the 2 piece.

Photo quality is low unfortunately. I my PC was up i could post a better res image.

Somewhere, perhaps in a book, i have seen this image with the names and unit of the officers in the caption.

[Dave T]

Trying to link these threads. Lets see if it works.

 

There we go. Also pictured in this thread is a 1 piece camo suit in Europe.

[mdk0911]

nice camo overalls  - are the suspenders inside still present? - they usually got cut out 

[ken88]

There's been a long debate around the use of these camo coveralls in the ETO. A lot of collectors insisted they weren't there and basically laughed at me for suggesting they were. I guess the 2nd ID picture is the proverbial smoking gun. 

 

Following picture was taken during British sniper training in Normandy. The Americans may have handed a few of these over for training purposes as they were mistaken for SS camouflage. 

 

 

[earlymb]

The camo suits were worn in the ETO, but on an extremely limited scale. Their main use would actually come immediately after WW2, when they were purchased and issued on a large scale by the Dutch and French for their respective colonial wars.

[USARV72]

Both styles of camo were used by US Army in Europe ,in and shortly after D-Day. Use was limited to rear area units as it looked like German camo and there were cases of “ friendly fire”.

Years ago found a duffle bag at an auction that belonged to a vehicle maint. GI. He was in a armored recovery unit and there were couple sets of 1 piece camo suits, well worn and stained by grease and oil. By chance one has good reference books this would not be questionable.

[USBAYONETS]

WOW, Guys these pics are real handy to have and I really appreciate your involvement in helping clear up my initial question about being used.

I will have a look and see if the straps are inside and get back to you soon.

Thanks heaps. 

[earlymb]

On 4/27/2021 at 2:19 PM, USARV72 said:

Both styles of camo were used by US Army in Europe ,in and shortly after D-Day. Use was limited to rear area units as it looked like German camo and there were cases of “ friendly fire”.

Years ago found a duffle bag at an auction that belonged to a vehicle maint. GI. He was in a armored recovery unit and there were couple sets of 1 piece camo suits, well worn and stained by grease and oil. By chance one has good reference books this would not be questionable.

 

Most books on Normandy seem to feature these pictures, and while they're not the most focused, I believe all of these men seem to wear the 2-piece camouflage suit, whose use in Normandy is undisputed. A good way to look for a coverall is to look for the 2 snap buttons used on both chest- and thigh pockets.

[63 RECON]

I thought the “friendly fire” reason was a little rumour?
 

Mainly because there was friendly fire incidents across other units without camo. FF doesn’t just happen due to misidentification of uniforms. It can be due to not knowing friendlies are in the area. 
 

I’ve always assumed it was a supply issue and that due to not everyone being able to get the camo suits and there being no replacement suits if worn out it was scrapped. 
 

Cool pics though 

[glenm]

On 4/29/2021 at 11:42 AM, 63 RECON said:

I thought the “friendly fire” reason was a little rumour?
 

Mainly because there was friendly fire incidents across other units without camo. FF doesn’t just happen due to misidentification of uniforms. It can be due to not knowing friendlies are in the area. 
 

I’ve always assumed it was a supply issue and that due to not everyone being able to get the camo suits and there being no replacement suits if worn out it was scrapped. 
 

Cool pics though 

It is a complete myth, the friendly fire reason, it just gets repeated verbatim as people never look back at primary sources, which, when you do, have never been found to state anything about "Corps of Engineer trials in Normandy" or "withdrawn due to friendly fire incidents".