Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob Abbott
The Assault Jerkin was a great piece of load bearing kit, enabling troops to increase carrying capacity and had superior weight distribution characteristics. However it's key drawback was the inability to fight light - it was an all of nothing type of garment. Its pobably why the units issued with the jerkin almost completely reverted to standard webbing once the assault phase was over.
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Yes, the trials documents all mention that the garment lacked ventilation making it warm to wear and that the fixed pouch arrangement did not allow for any changes. Although the designer, Col. Rivers-Macpherson, did envision that pouches could be removed by the wearer and we see this was done by RCN Beach Commando "W" when they replaced the front pouches with webbing Lanchester 50-round magazine Pouches.
As for D-Day use, the Battle Jerkin was issued in limited numbers to the British and Canadians for Op NEPTUNE - mainly the assault formations. The idea was that Battle Jerkin could easily carry the required 24 hours worth of rations and ammuniton required by these units to sustain them during the initial phase of the invasion. Once the beachhead was secured, these units would again be issued 1937 Pattern Web as this was the standard set of webbing for the army. Documents show that the assualt formations liked the Battle Jerkin and prior to D-Day were requesting more then could be supplied for their needs.