Original Items: Only One Set Available. This is a very nice early pattern German WWII Heer Army Infantry Oberleutnant Officer's M-36 Tunic, complete with some great awards and a ribbon bar. The set shows moderate wear from service and in very good display condition. We checked the pocket, and there is not any name or tailor label, though that could have been removed over time.

The tunic is made from lovely "whipcord weave" wool gabardine, in the standard heer feldgrau (field gray) color. It features four pockets with scalloped flaps and pebbled magnetic buttons, which look to be made from pebbled stamped steel with aluminum backings and eyelets. The front closure features six of the same buttons on the right breast flap meeting an equal number of reinforced buttonholes on the left flap. We do not see any green paint on these buttons, so we assume they were unfinished originally, and now some show wear and oxidation. All look to be marked with EXTRA FEIN. on the rear, and the buttons are sewn directly to the fabric, which does make them a bit more prone to tearing off, however these all look to be original. There are also two hook and loop collar securing fasteners, which are fully functional.

The interior is lined with with a very nice light blue gray colored rayon cotton blend twill fabric, while the sleeves are lined with striped white rayon. There are some repaired seams near the collar as well as staining to the interior, and we can see some tears and past repairs as well. The internal belt buckle has oxidized, and this wore through the lining in several areas, also staining others with rust. There is also a large eyelet that connects to the exterior under the left waist pocket for the dagger to hang through.

It is adorned with the usual rank and branch insignia used on German tunics. The attractive Army breast eagle is the correct early pattern officer's silver bullion hand embroidered type on a dark green background, and is stitched to the outer layer of fabric only. There is just a bit of fraying and oxidation on the eagle due to wear. The collar is wrapped in flaschengrün (dark bottle-green) wool, and has officer's field litzen collar patches on each side, which are woven from silver bullion thread with a dark bottle green background matching the collar. It is in good shape, tough there is wear and some holes around the top edge, which is usually one of the first places to show damage from use. The collar stiffener has also cracked through around the top, and has been repaired.

The colored stripes on the litzen are age toned Weiß (white) Silver Bullion, the Waffenfarbe (Corps Color) during WWII for Infanterie (Infantry) and Motorisiert Infanterie (Motorized Infantry). The collar is in good shape, tough there is wear around the top edge, which is usually one of the first places to show damage from use. The “sew-in” style company grade officers schulterklappen (shoulder boards) of this tunic are constructed with two rows of fine silver flatware "Russia Braid" double piping and have the correct white piping around the edges. There is a single rank "pips" installed on both, indicating the rank of Oberleutnant, equivalent to a U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant.

The left chest pocket has two thread loops on it, which would usually hold an Iron Cross 1st class, however there is none present, However there are three additional pairs of thread loops underneath, which have an Infantry Assault Badge, Silver Grade Wound Badge, and a Panzer Assault Badge, which may be the bronze version. The latter two are maker marked, while the IAB is not, and has repair around the top catch. There is also a medal ribbon bar above the pocket, which indicates that he received the following awards: WWII Iron Cross 1939 2nd Class EKII, German WWII War Merit Cross 2nd Class KVKII with Swords (for front line combat), and and Eastern Front Medal.

Overall condition is very good, showing wear and staining consistent with moderate service. We cannot see any major mothing or other issues with the uniform, just a few nips around the collar insignia and some scattered small holes, tears, and small repairs. The litzen and shoulder boards also show some wear, particularly to the "Russia braid", which has had the aluminized coating wear off in areas. This is a uniform tunic that that saw moderate service during the war, and overall it displays very nicely.

A very nice German Infantry Officer's Tunic with some great awards, ready to display!

Field Tunic (Feldbluse) Model 1936
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.

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.