Original German WWII Heer Infantry Leutnant Officer’s Summer Weight M36 Field Tunic Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice early pattern German WWII Heer Army Summer Weight M-36 Tunic, showing moderate wear from service and in very good display condition. We usually see these made from canvas or some other “lower grade” material, but this example is made using very nice gray / tan cotton twill fabric, which is relatively soft. 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 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 are in great shape, showing just a bit of oxidation.

The interior is lined with lovely gray rayon, with lightweight white striped rayon in the sleeves. There is an interior slash pocket right next to the button closure on the inside left breast. There are a few tears and some light staining, but the interior is really in good shape otherwise. There is the usual slot for the officer’s dagger to hang out of the lower left pocket, and there is even a hanger clip installed above this.

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 Weiß (white), the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) for infantry and motorized infantry. The collar is in good shape, tough there is a bit of wear around the top edge, 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). 

Overall condition is very good, with just a bit of light wear and staining consistent with service. We cannot see any major mothing or other issues with the wool components of the uniform. The body of the tunic was originally gray, but has faded / toned to a tan color over the decades. This is a uniform tunic that that saw light service during the war, and overall it displays very nicely.

Ready to out fit with medals / decorations and display!

Approximate Measurements:
Collar to shoulder: 9 “
Shoulder to sleeve: 25.5”
Shoulder to shoulder: 15”
Chest width: 17″
Waist width: 17″
Hip width: 20”
Front length: 30″

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.