H037994 M38 "BLURRED EDGE" CAMOUFLAGE SMOCK. (Tarnjacke)
BACKGROUND: The development of SS, Schutz Staffel, (Protection Squad), camouflage items was initiated by Reichsführer SS, (National Leader of the SS), Heinrich Himmler in 1935 when he tasked the Reichsführung SS, (National Leadership of the SS), to begin research of new camouflage patterns and garments for use by the fledgling SS VT, SS Verfugüngstruppe, (SS Special Purpose Troops). In late 1936 and early 1937 the first SS camouflage garments were issued to personnel of the SS VT Standarte Deutschland, (Regiment Germany), for field testing and evaluation. The first items evaluated were the Quarter shelters/ponchos, followed by steel helmet covers, face masks and smocks which were first delivered in late 1938. Originally the smocks were manually screen printed and due to the time consuming task of the manual printing only minimal quantities were issued until early 1940 when the machine rolled printing process was developed. By June 1940 over 32,000 camouflage smocks had been issued and distributed between four Waffen SS, (Armed SS), units and another 30,000 smocks were expected to be issued by September of that year. The original M38 style smock underwent minor modifications in 1940 and twice in 1942.As the war continued the SS developed and introduced no fewer then ten assorted new camouflage patterns including the, "Blurred Edge", camouflage pattern as developed in 1941, and reworked through to 1944. Of Note: Production of the camouflage smocks was discontinued in early 1944 and were to be replaced with the newly developed M44 dot pattern camouflage uniform. Although contrary to regulation it was not uncommon for personnel to alter garments according to their personal preferences and a myriad of unofficial modifications can be seen in period photographs.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: First pattern, waterproofed, cotton duck construction, three quarter length, M38 pattern, pullover smock with the distinctive, machine rolled, screen printed, reversible, "blurred edge" camouflage pattern. The camouflage pattern has distinctly different colorations to the summer and autumn sides, with the summer side being in shades of browns, tans and greens and the autumn side in shades of browns and orange/tan. The colorations to both side are still fairly strong. The smock features a low, oval, boat style neckline, with a fully tunnel looped elastic and an opened, vertical, lace up front plaquet. The plaquet runs vertical down the front center of the smock from the neckline to the mid breast and has five stitched eyelets to either side for the closure tie string. The smock comes with its original tie string. The plaquet also has a dual ply, horizontally rectangular, stitched on, reinforcement panel at its bottom edge and an overlapping, internal, vertical wind flap. The smock has a vertical slash with a straight edged flap, positioned at each side of the lower breast panels designed to allow access to the underlying uniform pockets. The smock has a tunnel looped elastic at the waistline and a lower tail skirt with a dual ply hem at the bottom edge. The raglan style sleeves also have tunnel looped elastics at each cuff with the cuffs extending beyond the cuff elastics. The collar, waistline and cuff elastics are all still fairly taunt. The smock is in overall good condition showing the expected wear and one small sewing repair just below the left pocket opening. The smocks were designed large enough to fit over the standard field uniform and this example is roughly a size 58" chest. Nice!
GRADE ****1/4
PRICE $ 
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