SEE BELOW FOR DESCRIPTION
|
|
H071761 JÄGER/SCHÜTZEN EM'S TROPICAL FIELD BLOUSE. (Tropen Feldbluse)
BACKGROUND: In late 1940, with the impending German entrance into the North African campaign, tropical uniforms and equipment were quickly developed and issued in time for DAK, Deutsches Afrika Korps, (German Africa Corps), personnel’s arrival in Tripoli in February 1941. Eventually these tropical uniforms would be issued to personnel serving in southern areas of continental Europe. The design of the tropical issued uniforms essentially adhered to the pattern of the field-grey continental uniforms, although in a different color and material and they also followed the same, basic, war time modifications. The German army originally adopted a slightly modified version of the NSDAP’s, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (National Socialist German Worker’s Party), national eagle by order on February 17TH 1934, with instructions to have it applied to all steel helmets, visor caps, and tunics by May 1ST 1934. Generally Officer’s ranks utilized hand or machine embroidered breast eagles while EM/NCO’s ranks utilized machine embroidered or machine woven breast eagles. The different branches of service within the army were allocated a specific, identifying, waffenfarbe, (Branch of Service Color), with light green being chosen for Jäger, (Light Infantry), personnel. On the field blouse and service tunic the waffenfarbe was generally displayed on the shoulder straps/boards and the collar tabs. Of Note: Due to the overlapping use of various shades of green waffenfarbe by Jägers, (Light Infantry), Schützen, (Rifles), Gebirgsjäger, (Mountain troops), and Panzer Grenadiers, (Armored Infantry), it is difficult to attribute the branch of service with absolute certainty, however a large portion of infantry serving in the North African theater of battle were Jäger and Schützen units. Officers and certain senior NCO ranks were responsible for purchasing their own uniforms and as a result were allotted a clothing allowance through the army’s Kleiderkasse, (Clothing Account), system. The Officers and certain senior NCO’s could choose to purchase their uniforms from the armed forces clothing depots or to privately purchase garments of higher quality. Although enlisted personnel were issued their uniforms from government supplies they were also permitted to purchase privately tailored uniforms although the price may have been restrictive. Although Officer’s were responsible for purchasing their own uniforms it seems the majority of the tropical field blouses were issued from the military clothing depots as opposed to private purchase items, and as a result Officers quite often wore the same field blouses as EM/NCO’s with the addition of Officer’s insignia. This example is the second tropical model field blouse which would be comparable to the field-grey M42 continental field blouse, with non-pleated, pockets with scalloped, button down flaps.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: The mid-weight, subtly ribbed, khaki/olive, cotton twill construction field blouse features a vertical, five button, front closure with small, opened, fold back, peak lapels and a lay down collar. The field blouse has four, non-pleated, front pockets with scalloped tipped, button down flaps. The breast pockets are the basic patch type while the hip pockets are the saddlebag type with expanding side panels. The right breast has a machine woven, tropical pattern, national breast eagle with out-stretched wings, clutching a wreathed, canted, swastika in it’s talons, in light, blue/grey, rayon threads on a cut-out, woven, coppery/tan, rayon base. The eagle is machine and handstitched to field blouse and may be a replacement. Both the obverse and reverse of the field blouse have dual, vertical, tapering darts and the reverse also has a short, central, vertical, tail skirt vent. The side panels each have three, vertically aligned, stitched eyelets situated at the waistline for the belt support hooks. The belt support hooks are absent. The sleeves each have short, vertical, outside seam slashes at the cuffs with dual fit adjustments buttons to each. The field blouse has ribbed, khaki/olive, cotton twill construction, slip on shoulder straps with mid-green wool waffenfarbe piping to each. The bottoms of the shoulder straps are in mid-brown wool while the slip on retaining tongues are in ribbed, khaki/tan, cotton twill and the slip on tongues have a light weight, tan linen, reinforcement panel machine stitched to the reverse of each. The slip on shoulder strap’s pebbled, alloy retaining buttons and fabric retaining loops are intact. Of Note: Enlisted Light Infantry and Rifle Troop personnel’s shoulder straps signify the ranks of Jäger, Oberschütze, Gefreiter, Obergefreiter and Stabsgefreiter inclusively, with the ranks of Oberschütze and above utilizing specific sleeve rank insignia. The lay down collar has the typical zig-zag reinforcement stitching to the reverse and the obverse of the collar has the general issue, EM/NCO’s collar tabs as introduced in late 1940, for wear by personnel serving in tropical climates. The machine woven rayon collar tabs feature ribbed, bluish/grey litzen with interwoven, copper toned, "branch of service" and center stripes. The collar tabs are machine and handstitched directly to the collar with no backing material. The unlined interior has dual-ply reinforcement patches to each side of the front closure panels and around the armpit openings and short, vertical, cotton twill straps with four stitched eyelets to each, positioned at the waistline, for the belt support hooks. The lower, right, forward, tail skirt panel has a vertical, cotton twill, patch, field dressing pocket with a single button closure. The interior, right, front, closure panel is well marked with faint, white size inkstamps and the inkstamped, manufacturer’s name and location, that appears to be, "Karl Toburen Altenhundem". The lower, left, front, tail skirt has a series of four, additional, purple inkstamps within separate circular, octagonal and rectangular borders which appear to include, a rampant lion, "IS 59 1948", P.K.k", and, "D.Po.". Although the origin and meaning of the series of inkstamps is unknown, they appear to have been post-war applied. The field blouse is in overall very good condition with minor age and usage toning, light chafe wear to the cuff and collar edges and numerous small picks and pulls. The front closure, exterior pocket and shoulder strap buttons are a combination of the field-grey painted, pebbled, alloy and magnetic sheet metal types and all but the shoulder strap buttons are the removable type which are secured by metal "S" rings. The buttons retain assorted amounts of their field-grey paint. The cuff and internal field dressing pocket buttons are the ersatz, pressed grey cardboard type and appear to have their original stitching. The field blouse is roughly size 36", (91.4cm), chest.
New info added Oct21st.
-The rampant lion and "IS 59 1948", P.K.k", "D.Po." are from the Statsni Film works in the Czech republic. (The tunic would have been put into storage there just after the war).
Ryan, thank you so much for the additional information.
Peter
GRADE **** PRICE $3,350.00
To Order this item, please use one of the two e-mail addresses below to contact us. Please make sure to quote the item number in your e-mail
MILITARIA WANTED! If you have items for sale, please contact us. We specialize in selling single pieces and entire collections. Over 3 decades in the business and we do all the work for you. Get the best return for your investment.
-E-Mail Address pawmac@nbnet.nb.ca Or guild@nb.aibn.com
To return to the main page please CLICK below