Talk:Battle of Ginnis

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Military history: African / British / European

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Myth from Fact

Did the British not fight in red uniforms during the Siege of Peking in 1900? They are wearing scarlet in the movie. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.162.2.82 (talk) 00:36, 7 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have seen the movie, too. In 55 Days at Peking, the British do wear red uniforms but I don't think they would have in real life. They would have been wearing khaki. DCI2026 (talk) 23:54, 7 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have seen 55 Days at Peking also. This says the British army adopted khaki for campaign dress in 1897 so you are right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaki —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessica Gordon (talk • contribs) 00:04, 8 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Khaki Drill was officially adopted by the British at different times in different places: The Indian Army in 1885, the Army at home for hot weather service in 1897. In 1902, following its introduction during the Boer War, khaki serge Service Dress was adopted for universal use in temperate zones. JF42 (talk) 08:40, 3 November 2009 (UTC)JF42[reply]

The battle of Ginnis was the last one in history in which British soldiers fought in red uniforms on the battlefield. Thereafter they wore khaki uniforms as combat dress. Red uniforms had become too easy a target for machine guns that were developed in 1884. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:16B8:555D:1700:8598:3AF8:45B1:8664 (talk) 23:40, 24 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Myth from fact: red coats & Maxim guns (II)

"although a maxim battery from the Connaught Rangers may have fought in red at the Battle of Ferkeh in 1896".

In fact, in Kitchener's Sudan campaign of 1898, the Maxim sections of the Connaught Rangers and North Staffords placed in battery were reported wearing their scarlet serge frocks at the battle of Omdurman. This would seem to have been the last recorded occasion that British troops wore red coats in action. See 'The River War' by W.S Churchill

"The gunners of the Maxim battery had donned their tunics so that the lines and columns of yellow and borwn were relieved by a vivid flash of British red"

This quote comes from p269 of the first edition of volume 1 of The River War in a section of the book describing "The Recovery of the Dongola Province" rather than the later battle of Omdurman. https://archive.org/details/1899RiverWarVol1/page/n301/mode/2up?q=maxim&view=theater — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:C7C:A84A:5100:8186:57DE:531E:E036 (talk) 10:04, 14 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Obviously British soldiery ran little risk of exposure to Maxim gun fire in the 1880s, given that none of their likely opponents in colonial warfare were armed with the weapon, nor indeed in Europe either. However, British troops had increasingly been campaigning in some form of drab clothing since the 1850s. JF42 (talk) 18:09, 19 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]