Battle Dress Battledress was the specific title of a military uniform adopted by the British Army in the late 1930s and worn until the 1960s . Several other nations also introduced variants of Battle Dress during the Second World War , including Australia , Canada , India , New Zealand , South Africa , and the United States of America ( the E . T . O . uniform ) and after the Second World War , including Argentina , Belgium , Norway , the Netherlands , and Greece . Battledress ( BD ) , or later No . 5 Uniform , was the combat uniform worn by British Commonwealth and Imperial forces and many Free European Forces through the Second World War . It was worn mostly but not exclusively in temperate climates . In some armies it continued in use into the 1970s . During the Second World War and thereafter this uniform was also used for formal parades ( including mounting the Queen ' s Guard at Buckingham Palace ) until the re - introduction of separate parade uniforms in the late 1950s . Introduction . From the early 1930s , the British War Office began research on a replacement for the Service Dress that had been a combined field and dress uniform since the early 1900s . Initially conducted on a small scale over several years , some of the ideas tested included deerstalker hats and safari jacket s . After extensive field trials of other uniforms , Battledress , Serge ( often referred to as 1937 Pattern , albeit wrongly ) was adopted just before the Second World War . The uniform was designed with the needs of mechanized infantry in mind , and was inspired by contemporary wool ‘ ski suits ’ that were less restrictive to the wearer , used less material , were warm even while wet and were more suited to vehicular movement than Service Dress . Attempting to create a more standardized uniform across much of the British military , it was composed of a fairly streamlined short jacket of wool serge that buttoned to the outside of high - waisted wool serge trousers . The jacket ( or blouse ) was copied by the U . S Army and was christened the Ike jacket . The sleeves of the British blouse had a forward curve built into them so that they were more comfortable to wear prone shouldering a rifle , or seated holding a steering wheel for instance , although they tended to show multiple wrinkles near the inside of the elbow when the soldier ' s arms were held straight at the sides . On the trousers , there was a large map pocket on the front near the left knee and a special pocket for a field dressing near the right front pocket ( on the upper hip ) . The mixed green and brown fibres of the British battledress fabric matched the colours of heath and forests of the United Kingdom fairly well without having to be a single muddy olive green colour like American uniforms . One problem often developed , the gap between the blouse and trousers would open up in extreme movement and buttons popped , so braces were issued , in some cases a sweater was worn . A woolen shirt was typically worn under the wool blouse , wearing an open collar blouse ( with tie ) was initially restricted to officers , other ranks buttoning the top button of the blouse and closing the collar with a double hook - and - eye arrangement . Short canvas anklets ( gaiters ) or puttees typically covered the gap between the trousers and the ankle boots , further adding to the streamlined look and keeping dirt out of the boots without having to use a taller , more expensive leather boot . Battledress was issued widely beginning in 1939 in the British Army ( as well as the Canadian Army , who produced their own , almost identical , copy of Battledress after the outbreak of war ) , though shortages meant that some units of the British Expeditionary Force went to France in Service Dress . Variants . Battledress , Serge being the original pattern of battledress uniform commonly referred to as ' 1937 Pattern ' , the blouse had a fly front , pleated pockets with concealed buttons and an unlined collar , the trousers having a large map pocket on the left leg front with a concealed button and a small , single pleat dressing pocket on the front of the right hip with a concealed button . 1940 Pattern Battledress introduced as the name suggests in 1940 saw some small changes to the original design , a lined collar and slightly closer cut to the blouse and a new dressing pocket on the trousers with two pleats and an exposed shank button . Utility Pattern Battledress ( still labelled 1940 Pattern ) was introduced in 1942 ; it deleted the fly front , and the front buttons , as well as the pocket buttons , were now exposed . Pocket pleats to the blouse were removed , as were box pleats to cuffs , early manufacture included two inside pockets but this was soon reduced to a single inside pocket . Plastic buttons were introduced , rather than the brass dished buttons of Battledress , Serge . The trousers retained the features of the 1940 pattern but the pocket button was now exposed and made of brown or green plastic like those of the blouse . Officers were permitted to tailor the collar of their blouses so as to wear a collared shirt and tie . Battle Dress , Olive Drab , War Aid was made in the U . S . A . for the British Army and was widely seen in the Mediterranean theatre . Note the American use of ' Battle Dress ' as two words . The blouse featured exposed buttons on the outer pockets , which also bore no box pleats . The fly front of Battledress , Serge was retained . Cuff bottons were exposed , and there were two inside pockets . A small , internal hanger loop was introduced to the collar . The collar was closed by double hook - and - eye arrangement . Tailoring was of good quality and the wool blend tended to be finer than British - made blouses . Type - specific plastic buttons were inroduced . Canadian Battledress never had a 1940 - type pattern introduced , though the collar closure did change from a set of hooks and eyes to a flap and button in about 1943 . The Canadian version was also a much greener shade of khaki than the standard British version . It was greenish with some brown , rather than brownish with some green . Buttons were green painted steel , with a central bar across the middle for the thread to hold in place . New Zealand Battledress was almost identical to British Battledress , Serge but the wool tended to be much darker brown , while the stitching was a contrasting light colour . The NZ blouse had a six button fly front , rather than the British five . Australian Battledress blouses were almost identical to British Battledress , Serge . The trousers were closer to British 1940 Pattern . Both tended to be a much greener colour than British BD . Australians didn ' t wear BD , but their own verson of Service Dress , meaning their BD was for export to other Commonwealth nations , such as the British . Buttons were in sheradised steel or plastic resin . Battledress trousers known as " Trousers , Parachutist " were issued to men in parachute and glider units , though the majority still wore standard Battledress around the time of the Normandy landings . Supply increased as the war progressed but even by May 1945 , standard Battledress trousers were still common in Airborne Divisions . ' Trousers , Parachutist ' had two field dressing pockets in the rear , a voluminous map pocket lined with chamois leather , and an integral knife pocket on the right hand side . They were for ' combat ' use only and as such , were not used for parades , or going on leave , etc . A version of Battle Dress intended for working clothing was produced from denim with several manufacturer ' s variants . It was issued a size larger as it was intended to be worn over the regular uniform . Buttons were fixed through small holes in the denim material and kept in place by a split ring . Consequently , the buttons could be easily removed for laundering which , due to Denim Battledress being workwear , was more frequent than for serge battledress . Battledress in shades of postman blue and navy blue were also produced for the Royal Air Force ( and Commonwealth flying services ) and Royal Navy / Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve ( and Commonwealth naval services ) . The Civil Defence Corps were issued dark blue battledress with the same colour issued to post war prisoners in the United Kingdom . German U - Boat crews were also commonly issued with British Army battledress ( with German insignia added ) . Large stockpiles had been captured by the Germans after the fall of France in 1940 . Post war . After the Second World War , individual Commonwealth nations developed their Battle Dress uniform into both a parade and a field uniform . Legacy . Battle Dress inspired the military combat uniforms of other nations such as the United States , which copied the Battle Dress Blouse directly with the M1944 " Ike " Jacket ( also known as the E . T . O . ( European Theatre of Operations ) Jacket , though a similar pattern was produced in Australia for US personnel in the Far East ) , Germany ( whose copy of Battle Dress was called the " Felduniform 44 " ) and France ( Modèle 1945 , 1946 and 1949 patterns ) .