The tradition
has always been to portray the left hand patch in illustrations where
only a single patch is shown. The problem of 'handedness' in AIF colour
patches must have arisen early in the First World War. While the issues
did not concern the First, Second, Third or Fourth Infantry Divisions at
all, and while the Fifth and the (stillborn) Sixth Infantry Divisions
needed only to turn one patch upside down to produce a matching pair,
other units, most significantly Artillery and Light Horse, required
further consideration.
- The artillery tradition (not always
adhered to) is that red (the
colour of the flash of the gun) should
always precede blue (the
colour of the smoke from the gun).
In the case of Light Horse Regiments,
the leading and lower colour on any shoulder should be the Brigade
Colour (i.e. white for 1 ALH Brigade). In order for the brigade colour
to lead on both sleeves, the two patches must be mirror images of each
other.
- The crux of the matter is that, in
1st AIF colour patches,
- the Brigade
colour should always be the leading & lower of
the two, and
- in the case of vertical
patches, the rear of the
two,
- no matter which sleeve they
are worn upon.
Thus it will be seen that any patch in
which the colours are separated by a line which deviates from the
horizontal will present an issue of 'handedness'. In the case of a
vertical division, the problem can be easily solved by turning one patch
upside down, but a diagonal division must require the production of two
entirely separate colour patches. Appendix 4 of 'To Benghazi', the
first volume of the Second World War Official History, contains some
interesting notes on the problems which were experienced in this context
during that conflict.
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