British Army
Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS)
World War II Issue Brassieres
OVER THE PAST 85 PLUS YEARS, Kaufman’s has bought and sold thousands of Military Surplus items of all kinds. While many of these were considered rather common at the time, today some of them have become quite rare and collectible.
Other military surplus items have a fascinating story to tell from the very beginning. Mrs. Kaufman purchased just such an item decades ago from ‘across the pond’ in England. Even then she recognized just how special they were and set them aside as she would do with other unusual military surplus items. Today, many of these rarer surplus gems comprise the Kaufman Military Uniform Reference Collection, our own extensive collection of United States and foreign militaria.
Great Britain 1939
As Nazi tyranny spread across Europe during the late 1930s, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s assurance of “…peace in our time…” with Herr Hitler was replaced by a growing sense of foreboding among Britons that England would soon be engulfed in a second war with Germany. Following the Blitzkrieg attack on Poland ordered by Hitler on October 1, 1939, Great Britain together with France declared War on Germany two days later.
Although the Brits were poorly prepared for all that was happening just across the English Channel on the mainland, they answered the call at once to defend their beloved country. While enlistments swelled to beat back the Hun, it wasn’t only the men who joined the Royal Army and Royal Air Force in great numbers. Tens of thousands of women from every corner of Great Britain also answered the call ‘to do their bit’ as patriotic fervor soared!
This overwhelming influx of women, primarily into the ATS, the Auxiliary Territorial Service*, led to a problem that the War Department (WD) had not anticipated, for it soon became apparent that the women’s branch of the British Army lacked sufficient military uniforms for all the new recruits! Among the items in short supply were undergarments, which had to meet a strict military standard.
*The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS, often pronounced as an acronym) was the women’s branch of the British Army during the Second World War. www.forces-war-records.co.uk
As a point of interest, in 1945 at the age of 18 as Princess Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth volunteered and joined the ATS, becoming the first female member of the Royal Family to join the British Armed Forces!
With so many women requiring regulation uniforms, the War Department began a nationwide search for manufacturers that could supply the ATS during the National Emergency. Its efforts led to My Lady and SYCO, two manufacturers of women’s undergarments, which were able to supply these same olive brassieres that met the War Department’s exacting standards!
Still, one major issue remained…
Getting it right—
The responsibility for getting all the details right as it related to a soldier’s uniform rested with the War Department. Towards the completion of every garment manufactured for His Majesty’s Government was the addition of a cloth label, which according to uniform regulations, was to be sewn-in on all four sides.
The label listed the specific name of the garment in military terms followed by the name of the contractor and the year of manufacture. Printed at the bottom of the label or stamped on an item other than fabric was the Broad Arrow, the official mark used by the War Department to identify every article of a soldier’s kit as British Government Issue.
So, with absolutely no time available to print an official label, let alone to have it sewn-in on all four sides as regulations required, the War Department, under the wartime conditions it was faced with, instructed My Lady and SYCO to either stamp the Broad Arrow onto its existing label or had it drawn by hand instead to indicate that the brassieres were now indeed officially British Government Issue!