A toggle rope was part of the standard equipment of British commandos[1] and the Parachute Regiment during World War II. It was 6feet long, and had a toggle at one end in a tightly fitting eye splice, with a larger eye at the other end.[2] [3] This enabled them to be fastened together to create an ersatz rope ladder, or to secure around a bundle for hauling, among other uses as well as an ad-hoc truncheon. The ropes were carried around the commandos and paratroopers waists while not in use.[4]
The toggle rope was also used by US Army Rangers[5] and Australia in the Vietnam War as the fibre rope assembly, single leg, polyester fibre, 1in circ. 9ft long[6] [7] Later variants of the nylon rope lacked the toggle and was 10mm x 4m long and was stored in a 1 ft long coil when stashed away. Modern day issued variants are the Platatac toggle rope. The South African Defence Force (SADF) issued a modern version of the toggle rope widely to its soldiers in the 70's and 80's, it was generally referred to by soldiers by its Afrikaans name "tokkel-tou". The toggle was manufactured of anodised aluminium and a spliced nylon rope 190 cm long was used. [8]