Question about British officer shoulder plates and a question about a metal bar

[Dave1346]

I'm working on a graphic novel and came to this site for some help. This is a 1/6th scale action figure that's produced by a company called DiD. I understand that this is a lt. colonel. I have some questions:

1) What is that metal line that's perpendicular to his cuff? What does it mean? Would there be a matching bar on the other sleeve? 

2) This figure does not have shoulder plates that show his rank. Were such shoulder plates not worn by British officers? Given the level of detail shown by this company, I would assume that the answer would be no but thought I'd check to be sure. 

In terms of my graphic novel, I pose 1/6 scale action figures which I digitally edit prior to putting them in a digital setting. I have included one of my pictures below this DiD marketing photo.

After switching out he heads, I created this photograph.

 

 

[mancpal]

Wound stripe on left sleeve .

Simon

[tankengine888]

Hello and welcome to the forum. 

The metal line on his arm above the cuff is a 'wound stripe'. It was worn by soldiers who had been wounded [i.e gassed/shot]. If he was wounded twice, he'd have two and so on. In this case, he's only been wounded once hence the singular stripe

The 'shoulder plates' is actually on his arm on the cuff. He wears the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in all pictures. 

The question of why some officers wore cuff and epualette rank has been asked before by others [including myself]..
When I asked, FROGSMILE answered with this
General officers (i.e. those above the rank of full colonel) and the Foot Guards regiments (Grenadiers, Coldstream, etcetera) were excluded from the cuff rank that was introduced as part of the new service dress, in 1902, and never used it. 

There was a perception that officers with cuff rank were too distinctive and being picked off by German marksmen and snipers and some (not all) battalions opted to wear the Guards style shoulder rank, with the approval of their commanding officers.  After the 1916 Somme battles especially the shoulder rank became increasingly more common, not least due its popularity with war-raised units and battalions from the Dominions.  

By 1917-18 there was a great mix of the two methods within infantry divisions and by the end of the war even within the same unit. Shoulder rank continued to be ‘optional’ until the early 1920s, when cuff rank was finally abolished.  A number of line infantry battalions of the regular army never approved the wear of shoulder rank.

 

Zidane

[Dave1346]

Thank you all for your replies. I appreciated your prompt response. 

[FROGSMILE]

tankengine888 has provided the information that you requested.  The only thing I would wish to add is that the wound stripe was issued on a scale of one for each occasion wounded rather than the number of wounds.  So if on e.g. July 1st 1916 an officer was wounded in the arm, foot and head during the same action/incident, thus totalling three wounds, then he would nonetheless only receive the one wound stripe.

Edited 14 June , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[Dave1346]

6 hours ago, FROGSMILE said:

tankengine888 has provided the information that you requested.  The only thing I would wish to add is that the wound stripe was issued on a scale of one for each occasion wounded rather than the number of wounds.  So if on e.g. July 1st 1916 an officer was wounded in the arm, foot and head during the same action/incident, thus totalling three wounds, then he would nonetheless only receive the one wound stripe.

That's an important distinction. Thank you for the clarification.