Theatre Made Regimental Shoulder Titles 1943-1945

Were Canadian Regimental shoulder titles locally made in Italy? Is yes, how common are they? Does anyone have examples they could post photographs of? Any input on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hello Adam, Yes, embroidered shoulder titles / patches were theatre made in Italy. The best example is the 1 CAB Assault patch. There were shortages of shoulder titles at various times and titles were acquired. I have not come across any documentation of units getting an entire issue. They are not easy to document, but I will dig into the research.
The FSSF had an Italian made spearhead as well.

Bill:

I wasn't thinking so much on a unit level, as I was on an individual level. Didn't any Canadian soldier have a set of shoulder titles locally made in Italy for his BD? Didn't one Canadian officer have a nice set of shoulder titles made in bullion? I realize things were different in the Canadian Army then the US Army, but still soldiers will be soldiers. I have seen wartime British BDs with Italian made and Indian made insignia.

Hi Adam, The practice of acquiring theatre made shoulder titles happened in all major theatres. There are titles that are attributed to the Italian theatre, like the Ontario Regiment bullion wire titles and the Three Rivers Regiment bullion wire titles. Individual soldiers were always dressing up their BD, and it was cheap and easy to get an Italian tailor to make up titles.
A note about seeing Italian made insignia on BD. In the case of the Canadian army, 1 Corps had moved from Italy to NW Europe and were under the command and policies and practices of the 1st Canadian Army by the end of the war. Most BD that we see today were the coming home uniforms of the soldiers. Most field uniforms were condemned at the end of active field service and withdrawn, with new BD being issued. The practice in NW Europe upon repatriation was to issue one or two new BD, and then issue the appropriate insignia which the soldier put on his tunic. As the Canadians were all in Holland at the end of the war, they either had the printed issue insignia or acquired melton insignia. (Some units experienced shortages of printed insignia and had melton shipped over from Canada, but that was only a handful of units.) There were also melton titles being provided by other makers, but by private purchase, and not at government expense. As the Canadians had left Italy around 6 months before, there was no chance to draw upon local tailors for insignia.

Bill:

Are there any known studio portraits showing the 1 CAB ASSAULT patch being worn?

Hi Adam, Not sure. The patch is documented in several places. Dwayne Hordij from Ottawa did the research on these at LAC and found approvals.

Does anyone have photographs showing the 1 CAB ASSAULT patch, Ontario Regiment bullion shoulder title or Three Rivers Regiment bullion shoulder title actually being worn? Does anyone know of the existence of an original wartime BD with any of these insignia on it? If yes, could you please post pictures of the photograph or BD.

Respectfully Bill, LAC records showing the approval of the 1 CAB ASSAULT patch is one thing, actual evidence (i.e. photographs, BD, etc.) of it being worn is another. Yes, I have seen original 1 CAB ASSAULT patches, but I have yet to see evidence of there being worn. Michael Reintjes posted his 1 CAB ASSAULT patch (see below) on this forum. As we both know, photographs showing rare insignia being worn are usually rarer than the actual insignia.

Hello Adam, Dwayne Hordij has posted a reply at the B&CMBF. http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13147

Bill wrote:Hello Adam, Dwayne Hordij has posted a reply at the B&CMBF. http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13147

Thanks Bill.