Original German WWII Heer Artillery Leutnant Officer’s M36 Field Tunic with Medal Bar – Untouched Since WWII Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice early pattern German WWII Heer Army M-36 Tunic, showing moderate wear from service and in very good display condition. There is no maker mark on the interior, or other markings, so this was most likely custom made for the officer at a local tailor. The tunic features four pockets with scalloped flaps and green painted pebbled aluminum buttons, and has a six button front closure, with two “hook and loop” fasteners for the collar. The buttons on the tunic are sewn directly to the fabric, not attached with metal circlips, and all show wear to the paint. There are also small snaps on the corners of the pockets, so that they do not stick up, further indicating that this is a nice early bespoke example.

It is adorned with the usual rank and branch insignia used on German tunics. The attractive Army breast eagle is the correct officer’s silver bullion hand embroidered type on a green background, and is very neatly hand stitched to the chest in a fashion typical of wartime German tailor work. It is only stitched to the outer layer of fabric, indicating installation when the uniform was made, so it has never been replaced.

The collar is wrapped in a dark-green wool, has officer’s field litzen collar patches on each side, which are woven from silver bullion thread with a dark green background matching the collar. The colored stripes on each are Hochrot (Deep Red) wool, the Waffenfarbe (Corps Color) during WWII for Artillery, as well as General Level Officers. As this is a company grade officer tunic, this is definitely for artillery. The collar is in good shape, tough there is a bit of wear around the edges, which is usually one of the first places to show damage from use.

The “sew-in” style company officers schulterklappen (shoulder boards) of this tunic are constructed with two rows of fine silver flatware “Russia Braid” double piping and have the correct red piping around the edges. There are no rank “pips” installed, indicating the lowest officer rank of Leutnant (Lieutenant). Above the left pocket is a small three award medal bar, showing that the soldier received the Iron Cross 1939 2nd Class EKII, the War Merit Cross with Swords KVK, and the Eastern Front Medal. There are also some thread loops on the pocket underneath, so there are awards that the German soldier removed, probably to put on another uniform.

Overall condition is very good, with just a bit of light wear and staining consistent with service. There is mothing in areas, such as on the right shoulder board, which now shows the original metal and cardboard stiffeners on the front and underside due to missing red felt. There is also scattered damage on the back and sleeves.

This is a uniform tunic that that saw some real service, and overall it displays very nicely. Ready to out fit with additional medals and display!

Approximate Measurements:
Collar to shoulder: 10″
Shoulder to sleeve: 25”
Shoulder to shoulder: 15”
Chest width: 18”
Waist width: 17″
Hip width: 19”
Front length: 28″

Terms 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.

Field Tunic (Feldbluse) Model 1936
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.