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For the Walt Disney Company film, see Trenchcoat (movie)


A trench coat is an enduringly popular item of , US Army Air Corps , and US Marine Corps .

During the Second World War, the trench coat was still used by the military forces of nations like Great Britain, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union on the battlefield in cold weather. During the course of the Second World War, the trench coat was removed from battlefield use in favour of smocks (e.g. the Denison Smock used by British commandos, paratroopers, and snipers during World War 2) and field jackets (e.g. the M-1941 field jacket and the M-1943 field jacket used by the soldiers of the US Army during World War 2) due to the advantages of the smock and the field jacket being shorter in length than the trench coat and the very mobile nature of the Second World War which saw the removal of the trench coat from the battlefield.

The typical trench coat is a ten buttoned double breasted long tan, khaki, beige or black coat with cuff straps on the sleeves, Epaulette s (originally used to hold backpack straps in place and commly to hold gloves and folding service caps, such as the Glengarry Bonnet ), and a belt that may also have two small brass D-rings as a salute to its Military heritage; the rings originally were used to secure grenades, sidearms and/or swords.

Trench coats have remained fashionable over the years. Their genesis as clothing for army officers lent the trench coat a businesslike respectability, whilst fictional heroes as diverse as Dick Tracy , The Phantom , Humphrey Bogart 's Sam Spade and Peter Sellers ' Inspector Clouseau have kept the coat in the public eye ( Columbo , who usually is said to have worn a trench coat, actually wore a raincoat). The Matrix trilogy has also influenced many teens into adopting the trench coat. On a darker note, black leather trench coats were adopted by the Nazi SS as a means of inspiring fear and respect, and the subsequent Hollywood image of the black-clad, trenchcoated Gestapo officer has entered popular culture. The Columbine High School Massacre was widely blamed on the '' Trench Coat Mafia '' to which its perpetrators were erroneously said to have belonged, and in the wake of the incident several schools in Denver went so far as to ban pupils from wearing trench coats.


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