$42.32
$56.71
Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely service used mid-war pattern German WWII Heer Army Pioneer Corps Unteroffiziere ohne Portepee (Junior NCO) M-43 Field Uniform Tunic, a simplified version of the M-40, which was itself a more rugged and simplified version of the M-36. These were often not official designations, just those that collectors like to use, and as the war progressed the Heer Army and other branches switched to uniforms intended for real combat use. Gone is the “bottle green” collar, and the overall construction is more rugged, using a rougher weave feldgrau wool on the exterior, the interior is only partially lined. The tunic features four un-plated pockets with square flaps and pebbled magnetic buttons, which are green finished on the tops, showing wear commensurate with service. The closure features six of the same buttons on the right breast flap meeting an equal number of reinforced buttonholes on the left flap, the correct number for the “M-43” pattern. There is also a hook and loop collar securing fastener, which is in good working order. The buttons are not maker marked on the back, and the finish is relatively well retained, except around the edges. The interior of the tunic is lined on the interior front with rayon, with no pockets present, except for the bandage pocket on the inner right bottom corner. The interior still retains its maker and size markings on the right interior of the front closure:- RB.Nr. 0/0450/001141 419068 61F41 The markings are a bit faded, but still legible, however due to how incomplete the RBNr. records are, identification of the maker is not possible. The front rayon lining is still present, but does show a good amount of service wear, with staining, fraying, and holes present. There are four web straps for the attachment of belt hooks on the tunic, and all still retain non-magnetic hooks. It is adorned with the usual rank and branch insignia used on German tunics. The attractive Army breast eagle is a 1940 pattern BeVO embroidered type, gray on a green background, and is correctly and very neatly hand-stitched to the chest. The collar is plain feldgrau wool, correct for the M-40 combat pattern. It is decorated with a strip of 9mm flat silver woven rayon braid (Unteroffoziers-Tressen), sewn around the collar border. There are EM/NCO litzen collar patches on each side, which are woven from gray and green threads, and are installed directly on the collar. They do not have Corps Color stripes, as in 1938 they were removed from EM/NCO collar insignia to save time. The tresse actually overlaps the litzen a bit, so it’s possible that this was originally an enlisted tunic that was upgraded to an NCO tunic by the addition of the tresse. The button attached style NCO shoulder straps (Unteroffiziere Schulterklappen) attached to the tunic are in very good condition, mande with the correct rough feldgrau wool used later in the war. There are no rank pips attached onto the shoulder boards, indicating the rank of Unteroffizier, a junior NCO rank equivalent to a U.S. Army Sergeant. The piping around the shoulder straps is Schwarz (Black), the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) for the Pioniere (Combat engineers), as well as Assault, Armored, Fortress, and Railway engineers. The second buttonhole from the top has the ribbons for a War Merit Cross 2nd Class and Iron Cross 1939 2nd Class, indicating that they had received those awards. The tunic definitely looks to have seen a good amount of use during the war, and shows wear, staining, and damage to the fabric as expected. The insignia definitely show wear, and there are some repairs around the collar, which look to be glue used to stabilized moth damaged fabric. Some of the stitching also has pulled. A very nice and hard-to-find service used Mid War German WWII Pioneer Corps NCO M43 combat tunic, ready to display! Approximate Measurements:-Collar to shoulder: 10″Shoulder to sleeve: 25″Shoulder to shoulder: 14″Chest width: 19″Waist: 17.5″Hip: 19.5″Front length: 31.5″ Field Tunic (Feldbluse) Model 1936Terms such as M40 and M43 were never designated by the Wehrmacht, but are names given to the different versions of the Model 1936 field tunic by modern collectors, to discern between variations, as the M36 was steadily simplified and tweaked due to production time problems and combat experience. When the NSDAP came to power in early 1933 the Reichswehr, the armed forces of the Weimar Republic, were near the end of a two-year project to redesign the Army Feldbluse (field-blouse). Beginning in that year the new tunic was issued to the Reichsheer and then the rapidly growing Wehrmacht Heer, although minor design changes continued to be made until the appearance of the standardized Heeres Dienstanzug Modell 1936. The M36 tunic still retained the traditional Imperial and Reichswehr uniform color of grey-green “field gray” (feldgrau) wool, but incorporated four front patch pockets with scalloped flaps and pleats (on Reichswehr tunics the lower pockets were internal and angled). The front was closed with five buttons rather than the previous eight, and the collar and shoulder straps were of a dark bottle-green instead of the Reichswehr grey. Compared to the Weimar-era uniforms the skirt of the feldbluse was shorter and the tailoring was more form-fitting due to Germany’s adoption of mechanized warfare: soldiers now spent much time in the confined space of a vehicle and a shorter jacket was less likely to pick up dirt from the seats. It also included an internal suspension system, whereby a soldier could hang an equipment belt on a series of hooks outside of the tunic. These hooks were connected to two straps inside the lining, which spread the weight of equipment without having to use external equipment suspenders. The M36 was produced and issued until the very end of the war, though successive patterns became predominant. SS field uniforms were of similar appearance externally but to fit their larger patches had a wider, feldgrau collar, and the lower pockets were of an angled slash type similar to the black or grey SS service-dress. The second button of an SS Feldbluse was positioned somewhat lower, so that it could be worn open-collar with a necktie. Due to supply problems the SS were often issued army uniforms.
Original Items
