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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Battle Patch or Tactical Sign ?


Lachlan

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Dear All

I've just bought the DVD set of the excellent 1964 BBC series The Great War. I watched it every week on TV as a boy and it was eerie seeing it again !

During the Somme segment of the story, there was a short bit of film showing a kilted unit taking a roll-call, possibly after an action. The men were facing with left arm exposed, except the nco taking the roll, who faced them with right arm exposed. The men wore a large (white ?) cut-out cloth letter "C" which took up most of their left upper sleeves.

It was not possible to see if they wore it on their right sleeves too, however, the nco facing them, whose right arm was in view, wore no letter C on his sleeve.

Any ideas who or what this represented ?

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If it's the same photo that I've seen on numerous occassions then it's the "Seaforth Highlanders", with a large white "C" on their upper arms. This was later reproduced as a colour plate in Mike Chapell's book on WWI uniforms for the Osprey - "Men at Arms" series.

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Any thoughts on what the "C" signified ?

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"C" = Seaforth's (Highlanders). It was a play on the letter and the the title of the unit.

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