WW2, British, RARE, Prophylactic Condom.

Essential for stopping the spread of ‘Venereal Disease’ (VD) throughout the ranks, Prophylactic; a medicine or course of action used to prevent disease, no tunic pocket or wash roll is complete without one.
For example, the rate of venereal VD encountered by the Eighth Army in Italy was more than twenty times that found in Britain. Dire warnings of the dangers of VD were published in the "Health Notes" issued by the director of medical services. As VD was considered a "self-inflicted wound," a soldier admitted to the hospital with this condition lost trade and efficiency pay, which, in the case of a married soldier, would show up as a lower pay allotment sent to his wife. Largely for cultural reasons, the Eighth Army had much more serious problems with VD in Italy than it had encountered in North Africa. In one sample month (December 1943), 80,000 man-days were lost. At the Allied Conference on War Medicine in March 1944, the vexing question as to whether brothels should be licensed continued to prove controversial. Attempts to control venereal disease in this way had not been successful. This might have been because, as was revealed at the conference, prostitutes could take on as many as thirty men per day. Treatment with penicillin began in earnest in September 1944, and following this the bed state fell dramatically.
Soldiers soon found a number of non-sexual uses for condoms because they were readily available. Anecdotal evidence states that soldiers used condoms to protect their “other weapons” by covering the muzzles of their gun to prevent mud and other material from clogging the barrel. It is known that they were issued to ‘Chindits’ to keep objects such as matches and fuses dry during river crossings.

With an ‘un-branded’ packet this was probably issued to other ranks prior to leave or a night on the town.

Priced to reflect the RARE nature of this often-overlooked item of personal kit. When will you find another?

Note: the posters are for illustration and are not part of the sale.

Code: 373