In 1939, the Battle Dress uniform was adopted as a field uniform; made of wool and patterned after British BD, Canadian uniforms were darker in color with a distinctive green tinge to the dark khaki color. Officers had the option of having BD tailored from better material, but in the field most wore "off the rack" BD, perhaps with a modified open collar.
Service Dress was worn in 1939 and into 1940 by soldiers in Canada as field dress, and afterward was no longer issued except to a select few. While a new pattern of Service Dress was introduced for Other Ranks in this period, it was reserved for dress wear only. Battle Dress completely replaced SD as a field uniform beginning in 1940 as enough of the new uniforms became available.
A new pattern of BD was introduced in 1949, with an open collar matching that of British Pattern 1949 BD. The garment was worn as a field dress throughout the Korean War, and into the 1960s until replaced by the Combat uniform. Some Militia units used BD as a dress uniform until the early 1970s