Original German WWII Heer Army Pioneer Feldwebel NCO Summer Weight Tunic with Krim Shield and Ribbon Bar Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice example of a German WWII Army Unteroffiziere mit Portepee (Senior NCO) battle field tunic or Summer tunic. Since the heavy wool feldgrau uniform proved to be oppressively hot in summer weather, especially in southerly latitudes, soldiers took to wearing their lightweight green fatigue uniforms in the heat.

This example is made using stiff olive green canvas, which has faded to tan over the years. The front closes with five pebbled buttons, which are sewn directly to the uniform. The tunic features four pockets with scalloped flaps and pebbled aluminum buttons, and is adorned with the usual rank and branch insignia used on German tunics. The attractive Army breast eagle is a BeVo embroidered example, with gray thread on a dark green base. It is very neatly hand stitched to the chest in a fashion typical of wartime German tailor work.

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. They do not have Corps Color stripes, as in 1938 they were removed from EM/NCO collar insignia to save time. The collar and its insignia show light wear consistent with service in the field, showing some staining and loss of the “nap” of the fabric.

The button attached style NCO shoulder straps (Unteroffiziere Schulterklappen) attached to the tunic have a field gray wool base, with silver diamond-woven tress border all the way around. ONE rank pip is present on the shoulder boards, indicating the rank of Feldwebel, an NCO rank equivalent to a U.S. Army Technical Sergeant. The piping around the shoulder straps is Schwarz (Black), the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) for Pioniere (Pioneer Troops / Combat engineers), as well as Assault, Armored, Fortress, and Railway engineers.

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. The second buttonhole from the top on the tunic has the ribbons for the EKII and Eastern Front medal installed. 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. The left sleeve has a 1942 Crimea Shield (Krimschild) award attached to the uniform with a green badge cloth backing.

This is truly a lovely example of a genuine German NCO summer tunic that definitely saw use in the field! Comes more than ready for further research and display.

Approx. Measurements:
Collar to shoulder: 8.5″
Shoulder to sleeve: 26.5”
Shoulder to shoulder: 15”
Chest width: 19”
Waist width: 19″
Hip width: 23”
Front length: 27.5″