British body armour : Australian Imperial Force, Polygon Wood

Private purchase body armour vest consisting of thin metal armour plates held within khaki coloured cotton fabric pockets. A pair of thin straps with adjustable brass buckles ensure that the armour plates are worn over the front and rear of the wearers torso there providing a modicum of protection from enemy bullets, shrapnel, fragmentation and edged weapons. There are several scratches, smudges and other associated wear marks on various parts of the khaki coloured cover.

During the First World War both the Allies and Central Powers fighting on the Western Front experimented with a diverse range of measures to protect their troops from bullets, fragmentation and high explosives.

This private purchase body armour is an early battlefield example of a British response to provide a form of body armour for their front line troops and those from the British Empire and Dominions is this body armour. An example of this type of body armour can be seen being worn by a soldier in Australian War Memorial image E00482.

The limited level of physical protection afforded to the wearer by these heavy and cumbersome body armour ensembles saw that their use was not widespread. Many soldiers preferred to retain some mobility and ease of movement in the congested and confused fighting on the front line rather than be encumbered with the heavy protective plating and their associated pockets, straps and flaps.

This particular example was used by Australian troops at the attack at Polygon Wood in September 1917. There is physical evidence of its use with associated scuff and wear markings indicating that it was worn in field conditions. It was collected by the Australian Historical Mission during the First World War and added to the then embryonic National Collection.