The Patauga jungle boot or French Army bush boot (French: chaussure de brousse or chaussure de brousse de l'armée française), commonly known as the "splasher" (Patauga), is a lightweight cotton canvas and rubber boot worn by the members of the French Armed Forces when deployed overseas. First introduced in the late 1940s, the Patauga boot, along with the French M1949 Bush Hat, became an icon associated with France's decolonization wars in Indochina and Algeria throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The Pataugas boots were popular not only among members of the French military, but also among civilians engaging in outdoor activities. Its design was subsequently copied and adopted by several militaries worldwide.
History
In the aftermath of World War II, the French began to reassert their lost influence over their colonies in French Indochina, comprising Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, which had been occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army late in the War and were now vying for independence. The troops of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps (CEFEO) that was sent by the French Army to participate in the reoccupation of the Indochinese territories in September 1945 wore on the field a mixture of French regulation and American surplus footwear, including French M1917, M1941, M1945 brown (or black) leather hobnailed ankle boots (French: Brodequins modéle 1917, modéle 1941, modéle 1945), brown leather US 1941 Type II Service Shoes, 1943 Type III Service Shoes, 1943 Service Shoes Reverse Uppers, dual-buckled M1943 Combat Service Boots, and calf-length US M1942 "Corcoran" paratrooper boots, but they had no specifically-designed footwear for tropical climates.
Variants The Portuguese Army model The Portuguese Army and the Portuguese Marine Corps adopted in the early 1960s the Canvas boot model 1964 (Portuguese: Bota de lona m/964), whose design appears to have been based on the French Army Mle 1954 Patauga boot used during the Algerian War. As per in the French model, the Portuguese Model 1964 boot is characterised by his double colour construction, with the upper and the heel counter being made of olive green canvas and the toe in black canvas. The low-top upper has 5 lace eyelets made of stainless steel and is reinforced by metal rivets at the base of the lacing system. The tongue is not sewn to the top of the boot by side stitches and although this provides better ventilation, it also allows the infiltration of humidity and small pebbles into the boot. In contrast to the French original, the Portuguese version features built-in double round eyelets at the inner shank of the boot, intended for both fast drainage and ventilation, allowing the circulation of air on the inside.Abbott, Rodrigues and Volstad, Modern African Wars (2): Angola and Mozambique 1961–74 (1988), p. 39; 41.Ribeiro Rodrigues, The Overseas Campaigns 1961–1974 – Guinea-Angola-Mozambique – Army (I) (2000), pp. 15–16.
The Italian Army model Introduced in the late 1950s, the Italian Army's version of the Patauga boot consisted of high-top khaki or olive canvas uppers provided with 4 metal lace eyelets and 5 speed-lace eyelets, a toe cap and black rubber outsole, and was produced in two variants: one basic model lacking built-in ventilation eyelets (Italian: Stivaletti) and a second model, designated "landing boots" (Italian: Stivaletti da sbarco, Scalfarotti), in which the outsoles were provided with 5 fast drainage eyelets – 3 on the inner shank and 2 on the outside –, and a slip-resistant "ripple" pattern tread. Also known as the "Amphibians, Lagoon, Italian Army" (Italian: Anfibi Lagunari Esercito Italiano), the landing boots were issued to the soldiers of the Lagunari Regiment "Serenissima", an Italian Army amphibious infantry unit formed in 1957 at Venice, who wore them while operating in the marshy ground environment typical of the coastal lagoons in the northern Adriatic Sea – the Venetian Lagoon, the Marano Lagoon, and the Grado Lagoon. The Landing boots were also provided to the Italian Navy's 1st San Marco Naval Infantry Regiment.McNab, 20th Century Military Uniforms (2002), p. 161.
The Indigenous Combat Boot Developed by the U.S. Army Natick Laboratories in Natick, Massachusetts in the early 1960s, the Indigenous Combat Boot was an American-designed jungle boot derived from the French Patauga boot for use in Vietnam. It consisted of high-top black canvas uppers provided with 8 metal lace eyelets, a toe cap and outsole made of rubber in the same colour that contained an anti-Punji stick metal plate on the inside. Other features that distinguished the Indigenous Combat Boot from the original French model were the two screened drainage eyelets on the inner shank and the plain round rubberized ankle reinforcements lacking the manufacturer's markings. Like the Vibram-soled U.S. Army Jungle boots, the tread gave poor traction and tended to get clogged with mud. In addition, since they were produced in Japan using Japanese foot lasts, most South Vietnamese soldiers often found the indigenous boots to be ill-suited to the local conditions and uncomfortable to wear.ARVN/CIDG Boots.VietnamGear.com
The Bata boot In response to the complaints regarding the indigenous combat boot, the Canadian-based Bata Shoes Company began developing in 1968 a new, improved jungle boot that used anthropometric Vietnamese foot lasts produced by Natick Laboratories, bringing it closer to the French Patauga design favoured by the South Vietnamese. Like its predecessor, the new jungle boot consisted of cotton canvas uppers, sometimes reinforced by metal rivets at the base of the lacing system, and a toe cap and outsole made of black rubber with a horizontal triple-ribbed midsole; it also retained the screened drainage eyelets on the inner shank and the (Bata-marked) round rubberized ankle reinforcements, though the latter was often absent in the high-top version. Made under contract in Canada, the improved Bata Jungle Boots were produced in three sizes (6-eyelets, 7-eyelets, and 11-eyelets), being also available in khaki and olive green versions.Conboy, Bowra and Chappell, War in Cambodia 1970–75 (1989), pp. 39–40.Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), pp. 19; 42.
Chinese and North Vietnamese variants First adopted in 1950 by the General Logistics Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), the Type 50 combat sneaker, best known as the "liberation shoe", is a Chinese-designed canvas-and-rubber low-rise plimsoll-type shoe that was used by both the PLA during the Korean War and the Vietnamese communist Viet Minh regular guerrilla forces fighting in the northern Tonkin region of French Indochina during the First Indochina War, which were trained, armed and supplied since 1949 by the People's Republic of China.Conboy and McCouaig, The NVA and Viet Cong (1992), p. 52. It consists of reed green canvas uppers provided with four aluminium eyelets and a tan or black rubber vertically-ribbed outsole and toe cap; the thick outsole has a simple "ripple" or zigzag pattern tread and lacks a raised heel cap.Lai and Hook, The Chinese People's Liberation Army since 1949 – Ground Forces (2012), p. 18, Plate C1. Simple and cheap to produce, the "liberation shoes" were provided in large quantities to the Viet Minh and its successor, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) throughout the 1950s, 1960s and the early 1970s, eventually becoming their standard footwear throughout the Indochina and Vietnam Wars.Conboy and McCouaig, The NVA and Viet Cong (1992), p. 59.
These plimsoll shoes were not hardwearing, however, and tended to disintegrate through operational use, especially during the long journey from North Vietnam down the Ho Chi Minh trail into South Vietnam. As they marched through the rugged hot and wet jungle terrain of Laos, North Vietnamese soldiers quickly realized that their Chinese-made shoes were not designed for a tropical environment, since they retained humidity and perspiration due to a lack of proper ventilation, took a long time to dry, and if not removed regularly, they were prone to causing malodorous fungal and bacterial infections such as Trench foot and Athlete's foot that ruined the wearer's feet. Moreover, the shoes offered limited ankle support, though most North Vietnamese had grown up barefoot or wearing sandals, so this presented few problems. Eventually, the "liberation shoes" lasted no more than two months in the field, so replacements were constantly sought. One quick solution for PAVN soldiers was to remove the Bata boots, Indigenous Combat Boots and US-style jungle boots from any dead South Vietnamese CIDG militiamen or ARVN regular soldier they encountered and use these to replace their worn-out footwear, although the preferred option taken by most North Vietnamese infantrymen was to exchange at first opportunity their rotten and smelly Chinese shoes for the famous, locally produced Ho Chi Minh sandals (Vietnamese: dép lốp or "tire sandal") made of black rubber soles cut from discarded truck tires and held on by inner-tube straps.Rottman and Delf, North Vietnamese Army soldier 1958–75 (2009), p. 24.McNab and Shumate, US Air Cavalry Trooper versus North Vietnamese Soldier: Vietnam 1965–68 (2020), p. 15.
Despite their shortcomings, the Type 50 "liberation shoes" remained standard issue with Chinese PLA troops and People's Armed Police (PAP) personnel until 2015, when they began to be replaced by a new, better-designed model of anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and odour resistant black combat trainers.