BACKGROUND: Originally members of the fledgling SS had no official uniform until April 1925 when they adopted, what was to become known as the, "Tradition Uniform" and personnel were outfitted with the same brown shirt uniform and kepi as the SA. In November 1925 personnel of the newly formed SS adopted a black kepi, necktie, breeches and border trim on their armbands to distinguish themselves from their SA counterparts. On July 7^TH 1932 the black and earth grey service uniforms, for Allgemeine-SS, (General SS), SS-VT, SS-Verfügungstruppe, (SS-Special Purpose Troops), SS-TV, SS-Totenkopfverbände, (SS-Death’s Head Units), and SS-SD, SS-Sicherheitsdienst und Sicherheitspolizei, (SS-Security Service and Security Police), personnel was first introduced to replace the brown shirt, "Tradition", uniform. In 1935 the first field-grey uniforms were issued to personnel serving with the LSSAH, Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler for testing and evaluation and they were adopted as the official color of the field uniform on November 25^TH 1935. In 1937 a slightly modified field-grey uniform was introduced and was worn through-out the war with minor alterations that basically followed the same modifications of the army style uniforms. In 1939 the Waffen-SS adopted waffenfarben, (Branch of Service Colors), with each branch of service being allocated a particular identifying waffenfarbe, which was generally displayed as piping on the shoulder straps with lemon yellow being chosen for Nachrichten, (Signals), personnel. The M42 field blouse was basically a continuation of the modifications of the M33 field blouse which had evolved into the M36 and then the M40 field blouses. Modifications to the M40 field blouse included increasing the front closure buttons from five to six in May 1941 due to degrading quality of the fabric used and the elimination of the pleats on the front pockets to simplify production in late 1942. These alterations resulted in the M42 field blouse. Of Note: The modifications were not always strictly adhered to. In May 1941 personnel from Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler’s Headquarters were recruited to form a special "Begleit-Bataillon Reichsführer-SS", (Escort-Battalion). In February 1943, after proving itself in battle in Corsica, the battalion was upgraded to brigade strength and redesignated, Sturmbrigade Reichsführer-SS, (Assault Brigade). In October 1943 the unit was expanded to divisional status and renamed, 16. SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division Reichsführer-SS and personnel were awarded an honorary cufftitle for wear by all ranks.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Field-grey, wool/rayon blend construction Waffen-SS style, M42 field blouse features a vertical, five button front closure with a single metal hook and eye positioned at the forward neckline and a lay down collar. The field blouse has four, non-pleated, front pockets with scalloped edged button down flaps. The breast pockets are the basic patch style while the hip pockets are the saddlebag type with expanding side panels. The field blouse has four sets of two, vertically aligned, stitched eyelets with one set situated at either side of the front closure and two to either side of the back panel, at the waistline. The eyelets were designed for the belt support hooks. The belt support hooks are absent. The reverse of the field blouse has two, short, vertical tapering darts and a short, central, vertical tail skirt vent. The straight cut, sleeve cuffs each have a vertical slash to the outside seams with a single button to each. The lower left sleeve has a machine woven, black rayon construction cufftitle with BeVo machine woven, Latin script, and SS runes, "Reichsführer-SS", in silvery/grey cotton threads. The cufftitle is bordered at both the top and bottom edges with interwoven, vertically stitched, silvery/grey cotton threads. The cufftitle is machine stitched to the sleeve. The upper left sleeve has a second pattern, machine woven SS sleeve eagle in silvery/grey cotton threads on a cut-out, black wool base which is machine stitched to the sleeve in the typical zig-zag fashion. The upper left sleeve also has an SS-Oberschütze rank insignia consisting of a roughly, 2 1/8" diameter, black wool base with a central, machine embroidered, rank pip in silver/grey cotton threads. The rank pip is neatly handstitched to the sleeve just below the eagle. The field blouse has black wool construction slip on shoulder straps with lemon yellow rayon waffenfarbe piping. The bottoms of the shoulder straps are in field-grey wool while the slip on retaining tongues are in black wool with a ribbed greyish/tan cotton twill reinforcement panel machine stitched to the reverse of the tongues. The shoulder straps fabric retaining loops and pebbled buttons are intact. Of Note: The correct rank designation for Signals personnel holding this rank is SS-Oberfunker. The reverse of the lay down collar is in reed green cotton/rayon blend material with an HBT, (Herring Bone Twill), weave and has the typical zig-zag reinforcement stitching. The collar has a blank, black wool construction, rank collar tab to the left side and a ribbed, black rayon construction collar tab featuring BeVo woven SS runes in silver/grey threads to the right side. Both of the collar tabs are machine stitched to the collar. The interior of the field blouse is partially lined in grey rayon. The lining has had all four, vertical straps for the belt support hook eyelets and the field dressing pocket removed with stitch holes remaining as evidence. The lining has no visible size or manufacturer’s markings. The field blouse is in overall good condition with light to moderate nap wear and age and usage toning through-out and about a half dozen, pinhole sized moth nips. The front closure, exterior pocket and shoulder strap buttons are the field-grey painted, pebbled, alloy type while the cuff buttons are the natural alloy dish type. The pebbled buttons retain various amounts of their field-grey paint and all of the buttons appear to have their original stitching. The field blouse is roughly size 40" chest. Worn, text book example. It should be noted that the "Reichsführer-SS" cufftitle is the early version with "squared" umlats over the letter "ü". The early version is very hard to locate.

GRADE ***1/2                             PRICE $8,775.00