Custom camouflage airborne caps (part I)

[Étienne]

[As I mentioned elsewhere, if anybody finds any errors please say so, as I am not an expert nor am I too proud to have what I write corrected. Thanks!]


Rather late into the French or First Indochina War, several airborne units had unit-specific headgear locally made to replace or supplement the Model 1949 bush hat. The airborne units that are known to have the headgear made for them were: The 2nd Battalion of the 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment (II/1RCP), the 6th Colonial Parachute Battalion (6BPC), and the 8th Colonial Parachute Battalion (8BPC).

II/1RCP had short-brimmed bush hats (modelled on the Mle. 1949) produced out of U.S. camouflage material, 6BPC had their “Bigeard cap” (based on WWII Japanese caps) produced from U.S. and/or British camouflage material, and 8BPC had their caps produced also from U.S. and/or British camouflage material. Airborne support units also had berets produced from U.S. camouflage material, and there were non-airborne units (like the Legion’s 5REI) that had locally produced hats made of camouflage material.

These caps were “mass-produced” locally by Vietnamese tailors, although some individual soldiers had private purchase caps made for them. The types of camouflage used were the U.S. “leopard spot” or "frogskin" camouflage (as used in the U.S. Army M-1943 and USMC P-1942 and P-1944 HBT uniforms) and U.S. camouflage parachute material. The British camouflage used was the “windproof” brushstroke camouflage material, and some Denison smock camouflage material (also brushstroke, but of a heavier fabric) may have also been utilized. I’m guessing the material utilized was surplus World War Two as supplied to France through post-war military assistance programs, and were made from “spare” uniforms (perhaps from XXL and other lesser-issued sizes) and extra fabric from the tailoring/modification of uniforms (from the removal of the hood on the British windproof jacket, for instance).

[lew]

A word of note: While much of this activity was handled by non-military tailleurs, the Legion, as well as some other units, had their own clothing factories. I think there was a depot for the colonial airborne units that would have handled such requests.

II/1e RCP's bush hat was olive drab and based of of the US WW2 "Daisy Mae" bush hat. Some copies were made in camo, but the olive drab variant was predominant.

While originating within 6e BPC in early 1952, the "Bigeard" cap quickly spread elsewhere. For example, caps in that style cut from whatever variety of fabrics that were at hand were popular from the unit's inception in 1951. I'll have to figure out my scanner situation (one at work was buggered) and get the picture I have up. But, yes, you are mostly correct: 6e BPC is the unit most associated with the cap in Indo, and rightly so.

[Étienne]

Cool! Excellent additions. I didn't think about the various units having their own depots for manufacturing specialty items, but it makes sense, especially as I know of (for instance) riggers in airborne units making specialty items for the unit from WWII until the present time. Also, the FFL book about Indochina has some photos of French/Vietnamese operated companies that made items for the military.

I'd love to find out more details of the origination of the "Bigeard cap," as it would be cool to figure out when and where it came about exactly. I've never read any of Bigeard's writings or biographies, so maybe it's in one of them. I e-mailed the guy who runs "Mister Freedom" (in L.A., CA) awhile back about making some caps, and he has some interesting insight on the Bigeard. He was born in France and has had several family members serve in the French military.

[lew]

Happy to help. A glass of Dewar's White Label makes a tpyin' and a recollectin' a might bit easier.

Michael Kaponya mentions in his book his promotion to caporal and a new position as qaurtermaster at 13e DBLE's depot at Gia Lam airfield. The Legion had a tailoring facility just to the north of Saigon.

As for thespecifics of the cap, I think yer gonna have to be fluent in French and get an in with one or more of the various French military archives. I have the book "Bataillon Bigeard" by Erwan Bergot. My French reading abilities are primitive as of yet, but it has lots of info about his commands of 6e BPC 1952-1954 and 3e RPC 1955-1957. M. Bergot also authored a book titled "Bigeard" that is a more in-depth biography of the man himself.