Original German WWII Belgian Made Heer Army Artillery Hauptfeldwebel NCO M36 Field Tunic – dated 1940 Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice Belgian-made early war pattern German WWII Heer Army Artillery Unteroffiziere mit Portepee (Senior NCO) M-36 Field Tunic, showing some service wear and in nice untouched condition. After its capture by NSDAP Germany in May 1940, the occupying forces quickly moved to have its industrial capacity produce war materiel. There is no maker tag, but there are still clear issue stamps on the inside of the right breast, where sizing and maker information is usually stamped on enlisted and NCO tunics. From what we can tell, they read:

41 90 41
68      61
A40

The last line most likely stands for “Antwerp” and 1940, indicating it was issued by the clothing depot in the captured Belgian city in late 1940. There is another faintly stamped marking below this, however we are unable to read it.

The tunic features four pockets with scalloped flaps and pebbled non-magnetic buttons, which look to be zinc alloy or maybe aluminum, and were originally painted green. The closure features 5 of the same buttons on the right breast flap meeting an equal number of reinforced buttonholes on the left flap. There is also a hook and loop collar securing fastener, however the right side is missing. The buttons do not appear to have maker marks, and are oxidized, with much of the original green paint worn away. The interior of the tunic is lined with olive canvas, which is fairly standard for Depot issued tunics.

It is adorned with the usual rank and branch insignia used on German tunics. The attractive Army breast eagle is the correct NCO BeVO embroidered type, and is very neatly hand stitched to the chest, though only to the outer lay of fabric, as is correct. The collar is wrapped in a dark-green wool, and is decorated a strip of 9mm flat silver-grey 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 thread with a dark green background matching the collar. These are made in the 1935 pattern, and have colored stripes inside the grey devices, which are Hochrot (Deep Red), the Waffenfarbe (Corps Color) during WWII for Artillery, Assault Gunners, and Heavy Flak, as well as General Level Officers. As this is an NCO Tunic, this is definitely for artillery.

The button attached style NCO shoulder straps (Unteroffiziere Schulterklappen) attached to the tunic have a field gray wool base, however they are also in the early style, with a green badge cloth top layer. They feature a silver diamond-woven tress border all the way around, with two silver rank “pips”, indicating the NCO rank of Oberfeldwebel, an NCO rank equivalent to a U.S. Army Master Sergeant. The piping around the shoulder straps is the correct red color for artillery. The bottoms of the both arms have two NCO Tresse “Piston Rings”, indicating that the wearer held the position of Hauptfeldwebel (First Sergeant), which was not a rank but an administrative title, meaning they were in charge of helping the commander muster the company. This position was usually given to an NCO of Oberfeldwebel rank, as in this case. There is also a double rank chevron on the left sleeve, most likely left over from when the owner was still an enlisted man, as it for an Obergefreiter.

Overall condition is very good, showing moderate wear from service. There is some light mothing and a few repairs, and the collar is a bit worn, which is one of the first places to show wear on all uniforms. There is also some light oxidation to some of the insignia, which feature aluminum threads.

A very nice and hard to find Belgian-made Early War German WWII Artillery NCO’s M36 Field tunic, ready to outfit with medals and display!

Approx. Measurements:
Collar to shoulder: 10″
Shoulder to sleeve: 25”
Shoulder to shoulder: 16”
Chest width: 18″
Waist width: 18″
Hip width: 21″
Front length: 21″

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.