Question about officers boots

[Sargavius]

Hello everyone,

 

recently I've been reading about the use of tall boots by officers from ww1 until the start of ww2 and wanted to ask what style was preferred by each branch.

I know most of the time officers would use the standard dress brown boots, often imported from Englad and sometimes on the field the ones with laces across the instep. But apparently there were a variaty of models and some individuals also used leather gaiters, however I belive that each branch, for example the pilots, both of planes and airships, had their own preferences.

 

Thank you to everyone who will enlight me on the topic.

 

Alberto

[gunnarthefeisty]

Sorry, but branches really did not have preferences in any manner. The three types you'll see most commonly are the full leather dress boots without laces, the half-lace dress boots with lacing only at the ankle, and then the full lace type. Another variation was ankle boots with gaiters which seems to have been most popular with lower ranking officers like LTs. I have seen the lace up style advertised as aviator's boots, as seen in this 1933 catalog. As far as I can tell it was entirely personal preference. Photos of aviators in WW1 and the interwar period tend to have a mix of both dress and lace-up boots, as do pictures of Army officers in CCC camps. The lace up boots did get more popular in the 1930s, either preceding or alongside the release of the M1931 Cavalry boot.

[Sargavius]

Thanks for posting this gunnarthefeisty