Where Are Our Uniforms?

DESCRIPTION: "Where are our uniforms? Far, far away. When will our rifles come? Perhaps, someday. All we need is just a gun, For to chase the bloody Hun. Think of us when we are gone, Far, far away."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Nettleingham-TommysTunes)
KEYWORDS: soldier clothes hardtimes derivative
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver, p. 50, "Where Are Our Uniforms?" (1 text, tune referenced)
Nettleingham-TommysTunes, #31, "The Wail of the New Armies" (1 short text, tune referenced)
ADDITIONAL: John Mullen, _The Show Must Go On! Popular Song in Britain during the First World War_, French edition 2012; English edition, Ashgate, 2015, p. 206, "(Where are our uniforms?)" (1 excerpt)
Roud #10790
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "There Is a Happy Land" (tune) and references there
cf. "My Tunic Is Out at the Elbows" (subject: World War I supply problems)
NOTES [159 words]: Early in World War I, when new recruits were being brought in at a great pace, there simply weren't enough military supplies -- uniforms, tents, weapons. Hence this song. Some of the shortages -- notably of artillery shells -- would last until well into 1915 or even 1916.
The issue of logistics in World War I has gotten a fair bit of ink since. I can list the following books, although I haven't seen any of them:
Phillip Harding, The British Shell Shortage of the First World War, Fonthill Media, 2015
Leo P. Hirrell, Supporting the Doughboys: US Army Logistics and personnel During World War I, (unknown publisher), 2017
Janet MacDonald, Supplying the British Army in the First World War, Pen & Sword, 2019
Catherine Price-Rowe, First World War Uniforms: Lives, Logistics, and Legacy in British Army Uniform Production 1914-1918 Pen & Sword, 2018
Matthew Richardson, The Hunger War: Food, Rations & Rationing 1914-1918, Pen & Sword, 2015 - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: AWTBW050

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