Funny parallel to today: In 1974, due to the oil crisis of 1973, gas prices soared to 41-43 Eurocents per liter early in the year. People were shocked. Which, adjusted for inflation (2,10-2,65 Euros), is comparable to what we pay in the Netherlands now.
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Similar crisis, similar results …
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Also added to Jay’s post re his Leopard, but here to keep fans - if any(!) - of the GVT-70 up to date.
Sylly’s range of figures are remarkable in the sheer breadth of poses available - all those stances that will never appear in the mainstream, and are difficult to convert. I mean, a soldier tucking his shirt in? Or reaching inside his pockets for his cigarettes? Brilliant. He only produces one figure sporting the long hair look of the 70s and that’s a sort of tribute to himself I suspect as it’s a rendition of him! A useful figure but a singleton. So, to put that right I’ve attempted to add long hair to the figure I’m using as HRH’s Driver, a first for me. It has to cure overnight, then I can set to with the paints, and hope it works. We’ll see.
Some of his figures appear to be lacking the epaulettes on the combat jacket but that’s an easy enough fix. Ditto the lower leg pocket, which is there, just not especially pronounced.
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And to round up the weekend’s figure work, HRH, just about finished - I realised too late that I hadn’t added any epaulettes, so there’s still that to do; anyway, in primer, though also awaiting sunglasses:
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They do? In the 1950s, sure, when the Dutch Army wore British (or Canadian) battledress. In the 1970s, uniforms were much more American-looking but with a very distinctive field jacket with slant pockets (see Brian’s figures). Web gear was essentially British Pattern 37 with a row of grommets along the bottom edge of the waist belt to hold American-type canteen, bayonet scabbard and entrenching tool, though. Not sure if the large British-type ammo pouches were still standard issue in 1974, though — they were soon relegated to mobilisation-only issue, with soldiers in the 1980s just having a couple of magazines in their pockets.
The dagelijks tenue (“daily dress”) was much more a formal uniform, and included a jacket that is very much like the battledress blouse. This, I think, is what Brian is going for for Prince Bernhard. There was also a longer jacket, with skirt and skirt pockets.
The standard work for Dutch Army uniforms of the 20th century is this:
Van grijsgroen naar camouflage: De (gevechts-)kleding van de Koninklijke Landmacht 1912–2000 by M. Talens (Delft: Legermuseum, 2007; ISBN 978-90-70793-30-2)
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I remember seeing (in HQ Northern Army Group) my esteemed Dutch colleagues in their “Battledress blouse” and a very neat and smart uniform it is too. Having worn the British version, it is amazing how trim and squared away one can feel in such a jacket. Of course, the Dutch variant was leaps and bounds ahead in the material used compared to the 1949 pattern serge I wore, but they did look smart, despite the sometimes shaggy locks(!)
And “Yes”, the Prince will be thus clad - which is also why I selected the Patton figure in the first place; it lends itself to a relatively easy conversion.
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Hmmm; the sort of book I can’t live without, but it seems hard to come by (after a brief trawl around the electronic bazaars), and at 700 pages probably fairly expensive.
So Jakko, and any others come to that – feel free to chip in - what I really need is a guide to the beret badges and whatever arm of service colour is what - ie the backing behind the badge, I understand that berets are coloured thus:
Khaki - Infantry, Artillery, Engineers, and other combat support arms.
Black - Armoured Corps and Cavalry units (e.g., Tank and Reconnaissance units).
Green - Commandos.
For this dio I think only khaki and black berets will be required.
As I’ve marked my tank up in the markings of what I believe is 43 Armoured Battalion (courtesy of Esci’s efforts for their Leo 2) I will need a crew that belong to said unit; an Osprey book (NATO Armies Today) assures me that the 43 Battalion (aka Huzaren van Sytzama) sport blue patches behind a silver beret badge. If that’s OK for 1974 then all well and good. The excellent illustration in the book shows a crewman in the tank coverall, which I’ve yet to modify on to one of Sylly’s figures. Osprey’s book of course, is far later being published in 1987.
The accompanying Commanding Officer figure will obviously wear the same beret as the tank crew.
That leaves me with the crew of the M113 C & V; I do not know how Dutch recce assets are organised, whether or not they’re part of a MBT battalion, or not. I’m assuming that they wear black berets and silver badges, but have no idea of the patch colour behind the badge.
I envisage the lowly driver (and vehicle come to that) as coming from a pool at HQ 1 (NL) Corps, so conceivably he would be from a supporting transport battalion. That would mean I think a khaki beret but am unsure as to the backing of the gold beret badge.
The only other details I need are those of the KM contingent – I plan to have 3 of them grouped around their own DAF. I am assuming, based on not very much at all given the scarcity of mid-70s info, a dark blue/black beret, blue MP brassard, and that’s about it. Badge and backing unworn at this stage. White shoulder straps and pistol holster. The aiguillettes they normally wear do not appear to have been worn in the field with combat dress.
So, to sum up:
MBT crew – black beret – 43 Battalion if viable for 1974 – blue backing to silver beret badge. Accompanying Commanding Officer ditto.
M113 C & V black beret, silver badge but backing colour unknown.
VIP DAF Driver – khaki beret – gold badge – backing colour unknown
KM – black/dark beret? Possibly silver badge – backing to badge unknown.
Any help would be much appreciated; no hurry, I’ve got a fair bit of modelling to do just yet(!)
Of course, it would help greatly if I spoke Dutch, but sadly a tad late in the day for this somewhat aged callsign.
I must just add that as this is a What If, it’s not a deal breaker, but I would like the resultant dio to be as plausible as it could be.
Thanks in advance.
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I paid €49.90 for my copy in the shop of the National Military Museum in Soesterberg ten years ago (the receipt is still in it), but I gather it goes for about twice that second-hand …
Beret badges etc. are not my area of interest, so I know next to nothing about them, unfortunately. Same with unit organisation, emblems and so on. I usually research what should be on a model I’m building, but the knowledge doesn’t tend to stick around because I frankly don’t really care which regiment is which or which division it belonged to 
43 Tank Battalion
I think you mean KMar KM is the Navy (Koninklijke Marine), just like the Air Force is the KLu (Koninklijke Luchtmacht) to distinguish it from the Army (KL, Koninklijke Landmacht).
Uniforms in the 1980s were pretty much the same as in the 1970s, except that the 1940s American folding shovel and ditto carrier had been replaced by the bifold ALICE type in a plastic carrier (shovel produced in Germany, carrier in the Netherlands, but both visually identical to the American one). And, as I mentioned before, in the 1970s infantry may still have had Pattern 37-style ammo pouches, which they didn’t have in the ’80s anymore. With which I want to say that you can use 1980s pictures of soldiers to get the details right if you keep the above in mind.
If you need details of the tank overall, I have a real, unissued one I can take pictures of.
Translator apps on phones and tablets help a lot with that
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The book is correct about the color of the patches. Here is the one for the Regiment Huzaren van Sytzama.
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Somewhat fitting for this thread, here’s HRH Prins Bernhard Leopold Frederik Everhard Julius Coert Karel Godfried Pieter, Prins der Nederlanden, Prins van Lippe-Biesterfeld with the regimental standard. He’s wearing the longer jacket as described earlier by Jakko.
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Well, thanks for that.
I’ll go for the blue-beret backing for the tank crews and CO figures.
Recce elements: Currently a vaccuum.
That Koninklijke Marechaussee figures I’ll do silver badge on navy blue beret I think. Blue armbands I think with white “MP” and white accoutrements - so that’s that taken care of.
Still need info on the Driver’s likely beret backing then then; Goggle - with or without translator apps will have to be my friend here. Another contrasting colour would be nice.
Any other Dutch modellers out there - feel free to chip in!
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Right Folks, stand down; Well, there’s an hour of my life I won’t get back. I’ve discovered the following re berets and badges and my figures will be accoutred thus:
Driver – khaki beret with yellow backing, and gold badge.
Recce units, tank crew, and CO figure – black berets with silver badges and blue backing, such as this recce unit:
Marechaussee – dark blue berets and silver badge with blue backing:
So, that’s that particular problem solved.
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Thanks for that; I think I’m covered in that I found these pics - if they’re not right for 1974 let me know and I’ll gladly take you up on your offer:
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As far as I know, this overall was used in both the 1970s and 1980s. A slightly different one was used in the 1950s/’60s, but I can’t get out my copy of Van grijsgroen naar camouflage to double-check because there’s currently a cat asleep in the basket that’s in front of the bookcase, in which it’s on the bottom shelf
Forgot to mention, too, that this morning I checked a 1972 and a 1983 copy of the Handboek voor de soldaat to see what they say about beret badges etc., but they only have black-and-white drawings of those, no colour information.
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Thanks for that Jakko; all grist to the mill.
I’ll go with what I’ve got for the figures; I mean what the hell? It’ll never get built otherwise. I don’t think I’m too far adrift in any case.
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No cat in the way now, so I looked up the overall. The official name is overall, gevechtswagenbemanning, legergroen, M-66 — “overalls, fighting vehicle crew, army green, M-66”, the number presumably referring to the year it was adopted. Before that, the overall used was the overall, tank-, gevoerd, khaki, M-1944 (gevoerd means “lined”, the rest should be obvious) which was the British oversuit, tank crew, AKA “pixie suit”, and the very similar Dutch M-1952, which was a slightly modified version of the same design made in army green fabric. Neither of those would be in use anymore in 1974, but I’m mentioning them for completeness’ sake. There were also M-82 and systeem KP overalls in the 1980s and ’90s, respectively, but those are not relevant here either, of course.
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What I have noticed is the variety in uniform colours; some combat jackets being very greenish in shade, others almost olive drab. Certainly the tank coveralls lean towards the OD shade I feel. Anyway it’ll ring the changes on the diorama; can’t have uniforms being, well, too uniform can we?
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The unissued overall I have is a dark olive green, but the used M-58 field jackets (the ones with the triangular upper pocket flaps) that used to be fairly common to see in daily life into the ’90s were usually a much lighter shade, tending towards grey-green I would say.
Personal equipment in the ’70s would still have been blancoed webbing, I think, and usually a moderate shade of OD. In the ’80s many items were replaced by PCV-covered canvas (especially the packs and canteen carriers) that were a different shade, with a slight sheen to it because of the material.
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Wow - I can’t see the conscripts agreeing to blanco their equipment; one for the union straightaway I would have thought!
It’s probably going to be a challenge that’s for sure. Whilst Sylly’s Model’s efforts regarding poses are just fine, some of the details will have to be added the old-fashioned way with plastic card and much else. Still, that’s modelling!
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My father, who was a conscript sergeant in 1967–’68, mentioned once or twice how much he hated blanco. However, 1980s web gear I own is generally dyed army green through and through. Not sure about the 1970s, though.
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