Reconnaissance Cap Badge 1941 – 1946

The Reconnaissance Corps was raised in 1941 and disbanded in 1946.  The brass cap badge shown here, features a spear flanked by two flashes of lighting, the scroll underneath reads Reconnaissance Corps.

A variation to this badge was one struck in white metal.

Original designs for the unit badge included one with a pointer dog but there were concerns it would earn them the nickname ‘dogsbodies’. Other animal designs, including a cheeter and hawk were also rejected.

More military cap badges can be found at capbadges.net

The Reconnaissance Corps were established to cover vital tactical information in battle for infantry divisions.

The skills these soldiers had to have were impressive, they were a highly intelligent group of soldiers, who had to think and act with lightening speed (hence their cap badge), move fast and aggressively and be able to act on their own initiative.

They initially trained at Winchester, then set up training posts at Lochmaben in Scotland and Scarborough in Yorkshire before finally moving to Catterick in Yorkshire.

They were an elite group of soldiers and although disbanded after WWII, their role was of critical importance.

There is no formal museum for them but a book ‘The British Reconnaissance Corps in WWII’ by Richard Doherty and Rob Chapman is available on Google Ebooks

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