Gaitors or Putties

[Mark]

Don't know if I have spelt it right but what is the difference between the British and American Gaitors or Putties, again the spelling is probably wrong.

If anyone can help please do, it's important :-)

[paul connor]

Putties... wool and wrap around, and tuck in, gaitors are clipped or zipped up..

[Mark]

Putties... wool and wrap around, and tuck in, gaitors are clipped or zipped up..

 

 

Thank you, but which ones are British and which is American please :?

[Mark]

These are the ones British or American

 

 

 

 

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[john wheatley (R.I.P.)]

Hi Mark,

Putties were made of cloth and wrapped around the ankles whereas gaiters were made of canvas, the American type had a strap which went under the boot just in front of the heel and the British type went around the ankle and were secured by two straps much the same as the straps on the back of a British lorry canvas only smaller. if I had a shilling for every time i've had to clean a pair I would have a fleet of lorries instead of just Bertha. :wave:

[Larry Hayward]

Prior to WW1 and throughout the inter wars years till about 1939, the British Army used putties that wrapped around the leg to about 6 inches below the knee. Then with the newer style Battledress in use in WW2 the British Army adopted the short web anklets. When Battledress died out in the early 1960s ankets were gradually replace with putties - but this time they only went round and round the ankle and the top of the boot for support and in turn these were considered unnecessary when the Army got new high boots in 1980s. Incidentally Ankets and 37 webbing were still in use by Training Regiments RE until at least 1978

 

As for Gaiters I never remember the word being using in the British Army - so I always think of the US Army when I hear that word!

[AlienFTM]

As a trainee MP in 1975 I had to wear bleached white gaiters (Anklets if you prefer). Horrible things.

 

After telling them where to stick them, taking discharge then re-enlisting in the cavalry as originally planned, I was issued with (IIRC) Puttees, Man's, 4", Short. Four inches wide and about four turns round the ankle over the top of the DMS Boot - depending on the thickness of your ankle, obviously. The tie was maybe 3/4" wide and went round the ankle another four times or so, then folded through 90 degrees and wrapped round itself where the tie met the main part of the puttee to secure it. The puttee was wrapped round the back, inside, front, outside of each leg - opposite directions on either ankle - with the triangular end to the main puttee finishing on the outside, facing backwards. ISTR that the line of stitching just inside the triangular end of the puttee was supposed to line up with something - must have been the stitching outside the laces on the DMS Boot.

 

Gaiters were a real pain. I had the impression that contemporary puttees were a Royal Armoured Corps thing because of the dangers of wearing buckles in an A vehicle that might catch during an emergency exit, but I could be wrong (having read this thread).

 

In NI, it was normal to be issued NI Patrol Boots, like DMS but higher, obviating the need for puttees. I arrived on my Omagh tour too late to be issued with NI boots (and gloves - which grated - something similar was issued a few years later as combat gloves) so I wore DMS and puttees. There were also jungle boots, like DMS but with more-breathable uppers and IIRC high-legged like NI Boots. In places like Cyprus it wasn't unusual to have DMS boots extended by a local cobbler by a couple of inches at very low cost, but since the boots only ever lasted me six months, I never saw the value. Such boots were tolerated in the field, in which case puttees were not required, but officially, DMS were the boots and puttees were worn as appropriate (not with No. 1, No. 2 or Barrack Dress). I acquired a pair of sheepskin-lined ex-Bundewehr Panzerstiefel (think Jackboots) for wear in my Ferret - nice and warm, thank you. My commander wore Helicopter Pilot Boots, very comfortable. Many of us bought US boots from a PX but their boots are typically much narrower than ours and I simply couldn't wear them. In Cyprus, I visited the cobbler in search of the ultimate motorcycle boots and noticed that he had samples of a DMS boot clone with extended ankles and a zip up the inside.

 

Puttees became obsolete when Boots, Combat, High were introduced about 1983.

 

On my Class 3 Scorpion Gunnery course at Catterick, 1976 was a COH from the Life Guards undergoing 76mm conversion training. I was drawn to his wierd and wonderful boots. He told me the LG were trialling a new combat boot. It had been in development for seven years and there was as yet no sign of their coming into service.

 

When we lost more casualties to trench foot in the Falklands than to enemy fire, the DMS Boot was quickly sunset and after 14 years' development, Boots, CH were rushed into service. Disastrously. The tough ankle material could ruin your Achilles tendon. (I used to break in a new pair of DMS - every 6 months - by running 3 miles in them. Sorted. First time I was issued combat boots I ran three miles in them to break them in and I still have the scar tissue around the achilles tendons. And the boots were still tough as new boots.)

 

The tongue and uppers were sealed to waterproof the boot. It also meant that unlike previous boots, the uppers didn't meet at the lace holes. They looked ramshackle from the front. The shape of the boot was such that the traditional straight laces didn't work (so Ghurkas couldn't tell you from Japs in the dark and slit your throat) and a wierd and wonderful lacing-up pattern was devised and announced in a Defence Council Instruction to ease the pressure on the front of the ankle. Those of us who overtightened the upper leg were unknowingly exposing ourselves to the risk of life-long shin splints as a result. (I was lucky - by then I was in a shiny-arsed role so didn't stress my legs.)

 

The leather was so waterproof that you still got trench foot even in the dry, when the sweat from your feet couldn't escape.

 

The sole was glued to the leather. But if you were pulling your boots off, it was easy to pull the sole off. Cue long queues for replacement boots until another DCI came out telling us how to pull our boots off.

 

By the time I left in 89, Boots, Combat, Mark 2 were apparently being issued to the combat arms. I never saw them.