Original German WWII Luftwaffe Division Hermann Göring Panzer Signal Battalion Enlisted M40 Fliegerbluse Flight Blouse Tunic Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This WWII German Luftwaffe Division Hermann Göring Mannschaften (Enlisted man’s) M40 Two Pocket Fliegerbluse (Flyer’s Blouse) Service Tunic is in very good service used condition. This great piece is produced in Luftwaffe Fliegerblau (flyer’s blue) blue grey wool and shows light wear from use, as well as age and light exposure. There is also overall loss to the fuzzy “nap” of the fabric, either due to wear of from light mothing. The interior is partly lined with light blue / gray rayon on the reverse, and the insides of the pockets and other interior components are made from the same material. There are two aluminum belt hooks installed on the straps on the interior.

The front closure features 4 patinated zinc buttons, with a 5th smaller button for the collar. The buttons have “hidden” button holes under a flap, so it has a very streamlined look when fastened up, especially without the chest pockets. The waist pockets are closed by painted pebbled aluminum buttons, which are faintly maker marked on the back. The tunic is adorned with the usual rank and branch insignia used on German Luftwaffe tunics. The attractive Luftwaffe breast eagle is the correct late war embroidered type, and hand stitched to the right chest.

The right sleeve has a navy blue HERMANN GÖRING cuff title, which has white embroidery. It is not piped along the edge, correct for an Enlisted man. It is hand stitched in black thread to the sleeve around the entire circumference, and we have compared it to period examples, and it matches the pattern exactly.

This tunic does not have any installed Collar Tabs, and does not look to ever have had any. The button attached enlisted man’s Schulterklappen (Shoulder flaps) are piped in faded saddle brown (braun), the Luftwaffe Waffenfarbe (corps color) for the Air communications corps (Luftnachrichtentruppe), usually referred to as “Signals”. There is a single silver chevron on the left sleeve, which indicates the enlisted rank of Gefreiter, equivalent to a U.S.A.A.F. Airman. The wearer would have been a member of the 1st Hermann Göring Panzer Signal Battalion.

The left interior pocket of the tunic is marked with the following size information:

41     43
84
63     61

Torso Length: 41cm = 16.14″
Neck: 43cm = 16.93″
Chest: 84cm = 33.07″
Total Length: 63cm = 24.80″
Sleeve Length: 61cm = 24.02″

These appear to be accurate based on the measurements we took.

A great chance to pick up a very nice condition Luftwaffe Signals Flight Blouse tunic from the legendary Division Hermann Göring. This would display great as is, with a lovely clean look, or could be dressed up a bit with some additional insignia.

Approx. Measurements:
Collar to shoulder: 8.5″
Shoulder to sleeve: 24.5”
Shoulder to shoulder: 15”
Chest width: 16″
Waist width: 16″
Hip width: 16”
Front length: 27″

The Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. Hermann Göring (1st Paratroop Panzer Division Hermann Göring – abbreviated Fallschirm-Panzer-Div 1 HG) was an elite German Luftwaffe armoured division. The HG saw action in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and on the Eastern Front. The division began as a battalion-sized police unit in 1933. Over time it grew into a regiment, brigade, division, and finally was combined with the Parachute-Panzer Division 2 Hermann Göring in 1944 to form a Panzer corps under the by then Reichsmarschall. It surrendered to the Soviet Army near Dresden on May 8, 1945.

With the NSDAP seizure of 1933, Hermann Göring was appointed as Prussian Minister of the Interior. In this capacity, all Police units in Prussia came under Göring’s control. On 24 February 1933, Göring authorized the creation of a police battalion. Working in conjunction with Göring’s secret police, the Gestapo, the unit was involved in many attacks against Communists and Social democrats. In January 1934, under pressure from AH and Himmler, Göring gave Himmler’s SS control of the Gestapo. To reinforce the position of his remaining unit, Göring increased its size and instituted a military training program. During the Night of the Long Knives, the unit and Leibstandarte SS Adolf AH executed many SA leaders, removing the formation as a threat to the NSDAP.

In 1935, Göring was promoted to command of the Luftwaffe and ordered the unit transferred to the Luftwaffe, renaming it Regiment General Göring in September 1935. Two sub-units were separated from the regiment in March 1938 and redesignated German 1st Parachute Division, the first of the Fallschirmjäger (airborne) units. In 1936, the regiment was assigned for Göring’s bodyguards and as flak protection for AH’s Headquarters. The regiment participated in the annexation of Austrian (Anschluss) and the invasion of the Occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938, and then in March 1939. During Fall Gelb, this force took part in the invasion of the Netherlands and Belgium.

During Operation Barbarossa, the regiment was attached to the 11th Panzer Division, a part of Army Group South. The regiment saw action around the areas of Radziechów, Kiev and Bryansk. In July 1942 the regiment was upgraded to brigade status, and then to full division in October 1942 as a Panzer division. While the division was in formation, the Second Battle of El Alamein had forced Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps to retreat to Tunisia. The division was sent to Tunisia piecemeal, where it eventually surrendered with the rest of Panzer Army Africa.

The reformed division was designated Panzer Division Hermann Göring and sent to Sicily. After the Allied invasion of Sicily was launched on 10 July 1943, the division was engaged at the Amphibious Battle of Gela and the Battle of Centuripe, retreating to Messina afterwards. When the armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces was signed, the division took part in the Operation Achse to disarm Italian troops. The division participated in the fighting following the Allied landing at Salerno in Operation Avalanche on 9 September. It then retreated towards the Volturno–Termoli line, and then to the Gustav Line, where it was pulled out of the line for rest and refit.

The Corps size Fallschirm-Panzerkorps Hermann Göring was created in 1944 through the combination of the unit with the Fallschirm-Panzergrenadier Division 2 Hermann Göring. After the start of the Allied offensive, Operation Diadem, on 12 May, the division retreated towards Rome and then abandoned the city. The division arrived in Poland in late-July and fought alongside SS Division Wiking and the 19th Panzer Division on the Vistula River between Modlin Fortress and Warsaw. In August, its counter-attack against the Magnaszew bridgehead, defended by the 8th Guards Army, failed after heavy fighting. Between August and September 1944, the division used captured Polish non-combatant civilians as human shields when attacking the insurgents’ positions during the Warsaw uprising. Following the destruction of the town, the division was attached to the newly formed Army Group Vistula formed 24 January 1945, defending the ruins of Warsaw in what AH termed “Festung Warschau”, or Fortress Warsaw. During the Vistula-Oder Offensive, much of the division was broken in battle.

In April, the remnants of the Hermann Göring Panzerkorps were sent to Silesia, and in heavy fighting were slowly pushed back into Saxony. On April 22, the Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. Hermann Göring was one of two divisions that broke through the inter-army boundary of the Polish 2nd Army (Polish People’s Army or LWP) and the Soviet 52nd Army, in an action near Bautzen, destroying parts of their communications and logistics trains and severely damaging the Polish (LWP) 5th Infantry Division and 16th Tank Brigade before being stopped two days later.

In early May, units of the corps attempted to break out towards the American forces on the Elbe, but were unsuccessful. The corps surrendered to the Red Army on 8 May 1945.

The Luftwaffe, the air force of the German military during the Third Reich, was established in 1935. Over the next 10 years, Luftwaffe troops wore a huge variety of uniforms. Enlisted men generally wore uniforms issued from military depots. Most enlisted soldiers had wool trousers and a short jacket with two internal lower pockets, called a Fliegerbluse, as well as a dressier 4-pocket tunic, the Tuchrock. Officers wore the same general uniform styles, but as officers had to supply their own uniforms, they usually wore tailor made versions. There were also myriad varieties of specialized uniforms worn by certain units or in specific situations, from the tuxedo-style “gala” formal wear uniform of the pre-war period, to the plain coveralls worn by crews of anti-aircraft cannons. There were work uniforms, tropical and summer uniforms, and camouflage clothing for airborne troops and other Luftwaffe soldiers in ground combat. Flight crews had their own specialized gear, including leather jackets and warm, electrically heated suits. Most but not all Luftwaffe uniform jackets bore the Luftwaffe emblem of a flying eagle holding a swas.