Australia shoulder title

Australian soldiers and non-commissioned officers wore an “Australia” title at the base of their shoulder straps. Each serving soldier also wore unit titles above this which indicated the units to which they belonged.

While the “Australia” titles continued to be worn throughout the war, these other badges were eventually replaced by a system of colour patches. Each division, brigade and unit had their own unique colour patch and Australia’s official war historian, C. E. W. Bean, said that “the men became intensely attached to these colours.”

Why do you think colour patches were so important to the soldiers?

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