Original German WWII Heer Panzer Tank Oberleutnant’s M36 Field Grade Uniform Tunic with Bullion Breast Eagle

Original Items: Only One Set Available. This is a great German WWII Heer Army Panzer Tank Oberleutnant Officer's M-36 Tunic with a lovely bullion breast eagle. The tunic shows light wear from service and is in very good display condition. We checked the interior, and there are no maker markings we can see, and there is no tag in the pocket. Almost certainly a bespoke example made at a local tailor for an officer.

The tunic looks to be made from a cotton twill outer shell, not the usual wool material. It features four pockets with scalloped flaps and silvered pebbled aluminum buttons, and has a six button front closure (two are missing), with a single "hook and loop" fastener for the collar. The buttons on the tunic are sewn directly to the fabric, not attached with metal circlips, and all are maker marked on the back, showing light wear. The interior is unlined and is just the same material throughout. There are no internal pockets on this example.

The collar is wrapped in flaschengrün (dark bottle-green) wool, and has the correct officer's litzen on each side of the collar opening, which are on the correct early war dark green backgrounds for the field uniform version. The piped central stripes are Rosa (Rose-pink), which was the Waffenfarbe (corps color) during WWII for the Panzers (Armored Troops) and Panzerjäger (Tank Destroyers). The two litzen themselves are woven from a fine silver flatware thread. The button attached style shoulderboards each have two rows of fine silver flatware "Russia Braid" double piping and have the correct Rose-pink base material on the bottom and the edges. Each features a single silver "pip", which denotes the rank of Oberleutnant (First Lieutenant).

The attractive Army breast eagle is the correct early pattern officer's silver bullion hand embroidered type on a dark bottle green background, and is stitched to the outer layer of fabric only. The eagle does however show some fraying, as well as overall "white rust" oxidation from the aluminum material.

Overall condition is outstanding, with a small amount of wear consistent with service. There is some staining in spots across the uniform. The shoulder boards also show some wear, particularly to the pink backing which appears to have a bit of moth damage.

An outstanding German Panzer Officer’s tunic, 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.