Soldiers' berets in WW2

[Brewins girl]

When REME was formed in May 1942, there was debate about the issue of berets to its soldiers. A suggestion that they be dark blue was rejected because there were "three or four million caps FS for issue and therefore it seems that it would be wrong to introduce a beret to REME in view of the raw material situation...' (a handwritten note to the Chairman of the REME Committee - seen at The National Archives). Another note says that "...The FS is a great nuisance when working in or under vehicles...".  In April 1944, still in UK, my REME soldier said "we are getting our khaki berets now". So, my question is, do we know what colour(s) the '3 or 4 million caps' would have been in 1942?

[medpat]

I think it could be black

[Brewins girl]

Thank you. Any idea why they would later issue khaki ones?

[Rockford]

Hello

I'm far from an expert, but I think your quotes are mixing two separate things.

I read it that the question being asked by the army is why a beret could be justified for the REME troops when 3/4 million F(ield) S(ervice) caps were available.  A beret and a field service cap are two different things and presumably with stocks of the latter they were less keen to buy more - also, not every regiment at that time would have worn either beret.

An example of a field service cap is here: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30101085  and it's likely that these were all khaki in the army.  As it sat towards the side of the head, I imagine it would have bee awkward for REME soldiers working with vehicles as your source indicates.

It appears that sometime after 1943 the FS cap was replaced by the general service cap - a baggier beret type cap - which is perhaps when your soldier referred to getting his khaki beret.  All units adopted true berets after the war. 

There is some description of the (current) beret colours here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_beret#U

Hope that's useful.

Rockford

[Brewins girl]

Thank you for this Rockford. The words 'beret' and 'FS caps' were in the same document/series of letters in The National Archives. There is a mix of typewritten and handwritten exchanges, with the initials AG agains the handwritten ones. I wondered if this was an actual person's initials, or if it was shorthand for Adjutant General? (Would the Adjutant General have been involved in debates about uniform for a new Corps?). It astounded me how much lengthy debate there was about uniforms at a time of war - the wasteage of materials in just buttons was amazing (I have the figures which I extracted from the Archives when I was there). And now in 2020/2021 we have similar issues with PPE!