Original German WWII Land Police M35 Sports Shirt – Landespolizei Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. During training for the various branches of the armed forces, German Soldiers in WW2 were often issued the M35 sport shirt, which was used during sporting competitions, recreation and basic training. These would have an embroidered insignia that was attached to the front of the shirt, specific to the branch they were a member of.

Embroidery was not easily accomplished on shirts, and it was much more economical to produce the insignia separately, and sew them on later as a completed patch. These were embroidered onto rolls of fabric, and then cut out before being attached.

This is an original Landespolizei (Land Police) embroidered insignia sewn on an original M35 sport shirt. The insignia is machine woven in green and black threads over white cotton base, eagle measures 185mm (7 1/2 inches) wing tip to wing tip, and is in excellent condition. The green color indicates Land police, while a blue insignia would indicate Water police.

Shirt size is approximately large (44 inch chest) offered in overall very good condition. There is some light staining in areas, and also some small holes towards the bottom of the shirt, so it does look to have seen some degree of use during WWII service.

Will make a great addition to any German WWII collection!

Physical fitness and competition were two concepts that were highly valued in the ideology of the Third Reich. All kinds of sports clubs and organizations flourished in the years before WWII, with larger Reich level organizations supervising athletics, promoting events and issuing awards for sport achievement. The various NSDAP era civil, political, military and paramilitary organizations also promoted or even mandated exercise and sports for their members. To facilitate this, these organizations instituted sport uniforms, which typically included sport shoes, and for warm weather, shorts and a knit tank top with a woven emblem specific to that organization. In cold weather, the sport uniform generally included dark colored knit trousers and a sweatshirt, usually also with the sports-specific organizational emblem. The woven organizational emblem patch used on the sports patch was often a rather large patch, making these appealing souvenirs for Allied troops as they swept into Germany. Some types of the sports patches are very common today, though intact sports clothing is rarer, and some sports emblems for smaller organizations, made in limited numbers, are very rare.