Original German WWII Jager Officer M40 Feldbluse with Breeches Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. A German Army (Heer) M40 officer Tunic for a Jäger (light infantry) regimnet. The Model 1940 Tunic was a simplification of the earlier M-1936 Tunic. The Main difference is that the “Bottle Green” Collar of the M-36 was eliminated. Future uniforms retained the pleated pockets, internal suspenders, and all other features of the earlier M-36. The Model 1940 Tunic was used throughout WWII from the Invasion of France, all the way through to the capitulation of the Third Reich in 1945.
 
The base of the tunic is constructed of a feldgrau wool. Four pleated pockets adorn the front, with each pocket flap being the scalloped cut and fastened with painted pebbled aluminum dish buttons. Bullion embroidered officer collar litzen with light green Jager piping are machine sewn in place, and are original to the tunic.
 
The Field-grade officer Russia braid shoulder boards are piped in light green, denoting Jager. The embroidered Heer breast eagle is in good condition, and is of the earlier M-36 style (Eagle on Bottle Green Field). Very nice Jager patch worn on the upper right sleeve. The pocket and main closure pebbled dish buttons are green painted aluminum, and are in good condition with a few scattered marks from use.
         
The interior of the tunic is lined cotton which is in overall good used condition showing only a few areas of sweat staining. This is a very nice representative of the classic German Heer M40 NCO Tunic which shows signs of true combat use.

Approximate Measurements:
Collar to shoulder: 6.5”
Shoulder to sleeve cuff: 25”
Shoulder to shoulder: 18”
Across front Chest width: 24”
Across front Waist width: 21.5”

Also included are trousers or riding breeches with classic silhouette and suede reinforcement in the crotch.

The Jager patch was worn on the upper right sleeve by Jager (light infantry) Regiments, Panzer-Grenadier Division, known as the Brandenburg Division. For most of the war, this was an elite commando unit specializing in saboteur campaigns. In July 1944, several Division members were implicated in the failed assassination plot on Hilter. It was redesignated as a conventional unit and sent into action on the Eastern Front in December 1944, where the German Army was collapsing under the Soviet advance.

After the First World War, the Jäger units of the Imperial German Army were disbanded, but their traditions were carried by infantry regiments of the 100,000-man Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic. After the Nsdap came to power in 1933 and the rearmament of Germany began, the new Wehrmacht revived the name Jäger for various types of units:

In 1935, the first specialized mountain infantry units were formed; their regiments and battalions were designated Gebirgsjäger (“mountain infantry” – Gebirge is German for “mountain range”). More specialized units, such as the Hochgebirgs-Jäger-Bataillone, for use in high-Alpine conditions, were also developed. The Waffen SS raised a “Karstjäger” Division.

When the Luftwaffe began forming parachute units in the late-1930s, the first parachute regiment was designated Fallschirm-Jäger-Regiment 1. German paratroopers became known as Fallschirmjäger (Fallschirm is German for “parachute”). At first, Fallschirmjäger was applied only to genuine airborne-qualified troops, but the term was retained for Fallschirmjäger regiments and divisions even after they began operating as regular infantry. A number of Luftwaffe Feld-Divisionen (“field divisions”), regular ground combat units raised by the Luftwaffe, also used the term Luftwaffen-Jäger-Regiment for their infantry regiments. Many of these were later taken over by the army but retained the name Jäger-Regiment.

Two Skijäger regiments were formed in 1943 as part of Skijäger-Brigade (later a Skijäger-Division).

Certain infantry divisions were raised as “light infantry divisions” (leichte Infanterie-Divisionen) in late 1940. They were raised to operate in rough terrain, especially in southeastern Europe. Their infantry regiments were called Jäger-Regimenter, and in 1942 the light and light infantry divisions were renamed Jäger divisions.

The antitank units of German divisions, originally called Panzer-Abwehr-Abteilungen (“anti-tank battalions”), began in 1940 to be redesignated as Panzerjäger-Abteilungen, (literally “tank hunter battalions”). These were equipped with towed or self-propelled guns (often the ad hoc mounting of an antitank gun on a captured or obsolete tank chassis). As the war progressed, some Panzerjäger-Abteilungen were fully equipped with specialized tank destroyers, initially known as Panzerjäger (tank hunters), and later by 1943 as Jagdpanzer (“hunting tank”) with enclosed, armored casemate superstructures.

The military police of the Wehrmacht was known as the Feldgendarmerie. In December 1943, a new force of military police, directly subordinated to the Armed Forces High Command, was formed. Its units were designated Feldjäger-Kommandos with subordinated Feldjäger battalions and regiments. These were known collectively as the Feldjägerkorps. The name was taken from the Reitendes Feldjägerkorps, a Prussian Army military police-type unit directly under the General Staff.