Vietminh uniforms and equipment

You ask for them and I really would like to give you more informations about the uniforms, equipment and gear for our figures, especially for the Vietminh. Unfortunately I am desperately short of time to do all that I would like to do (heard that somewhere?).

So I choose here to give you at least the raw material that I have collected for the making of the Vietminh figures so far.

French paratroopers uniform

There are 4 main types of uniform for the French paratroopers in Indochina, often mixed.

The TAP47-52 (TAP is for "Troupe Aéroportée" (Airborne troops)). This uniform is one of the most common for the French paratroopers in the last years of the war (1953-54). However, some units seems to have chosen not to wear it, or only as individuals (6e BPC, 8e BPC).

The British Windproof, also called "peau de saucisson" (sausage skin), were very common. Alongside the original version,  they were also trimmed and adapted in many ways. The most common modification were, for the vest, the removal of the hood, creation of a collar, front opening with establishment of a zipper and, for the trousers, the creation of belt loops in place of the drawstring and the elastic placement on the lower leg.

The TAP47-51 is less common as is camouflage was considered too light and was superseded by the more dark TAP47-52.

Finally the US Marines clothes. They were less common for the last period of the war. Nevertheless some people seems to have continued to wear them to the end of the war. These outfits are also often subject to adaptations and modifications.

Figures 3.1 above wear an USMC camouflaged vest over a French Colonial Paratrooper jump trouser, figure 4.1 an USMC paratrooper jump smock over a French Colonial Paratrooper jump trouser and figures 4.3 and 4.4 an USMC paratrooper jump smock over a British Windproof trouser.