Brown leather and khaki cotton covered body armour vest : German Army

A British manufactured body armour vest that was originally covered with brown leather. The leather covering has been cut away from the front and back panels, near the edges, to reveal flexible armoured panels. The armour is made of numerous 38mm by 38mm by 1mm square metal tiles that are laid out in an inverted 'T' pattern. Each tile abuts its neighbour and is joined at each corner by a smaller square metal tile that overlies the junction of the corner of four tiles. These smaller tiles have a lug on each corner, which passes through a corresponding hole in the corner of the larger tiles, and is folded over behind them. The vest is lined with two layers of khaki cotton drill and the armour is riveted to only the outermost layer. The vest is open down the left side and has two dark brown leather straps with buckles over the left shoulder.

Found in a dugout in the Drocourt-Queant line in 1918 by Major A Sanderson DSO MC, 3 Australian Tunnelling Company, AIF. Presumably captured from a British officer or soldier by a German.