Higgins LCP(L) in British use

[Lang]

I think a lot of people have said before regarding anything military "Never say never!"

So many people look at official documents and regulations for everything from clothing, weapons and equipment to methods of operations and tactics and pronounce them as final proof that something did or did not happen.

Look at any photo of any group of soldiers, sailors and airmen (not on a formal parade or guard duty) of any nationality on active service and you will find dozens of variations in weapons, clothing and equipment, even in the same platoon, almost none of which is regulation. People doing a job develop the most convenient, comfortable way of doing it. Supply systems may not keep up or provide substitutes for "official" equipment. The troops get their hands on something better - even enemy equipment.

Of course there is always fashion. In a modern day large military exercise regular troops can be instantly identified from reserve/home guard troops beside them, issued with exactly the same equipment and uniforms by the way they talk, wear and carry their gear and the way they behave between themselves and with their officers amongst other pointers.

It is a brave man who says that troops on active service behaved or were equipped in a uniform way just because some official document or regulation prescribed those actions or equipment.