Original German WWII Spanish Volunteer 250th Infantry Blue Division Unteroffizier NCO M36 Uniform Tunic with Named Soldbuch Remnant and Spanish Russian Campaign Medal

Original Item: One of a Kind. This is a a fantastic pre-war pattern German WWII Heer Army Infantry Unteroffiziere ohne Portepee (Junior NCO) M-36 Field Uniform Tunic, worn by a member of the Spanish Volunteer 250th Infantry Division, often called the "Blue Division". We have had several items related to the unit previously, but this is the first time that we have had a complete uniform piece! Even better, it comes with the remnants of a Spanish Volunteer Soldbuch that was found in the pocket, showing the name and even the unit! This is contained in a period faux leather sleeve marked Soldbuch WH, along with a post card, and even a tobacco pouch. The sleeve measures 4 3/8" x 6 3/8", and he 3 1/2" x 5 3/8", showing an amaryllis on the front, and even has a DEUTSCHE FELDPOST stamp on it.

The soldbuch shows very heavy wear, and only a few pages of the interior are still present. The front identifies it as a Personalausweis der Spanischen Division Nr. 25[0] (Identification of the Spanish Division No. 250), and on the interior, it indicates that they were a Freiwilligen (Volunteer). A good amount of each page is missing around the edge, but we can see that their name looks to be Jaime Sanches Areval, and their unit is listed as Batallón de Zapadores 250, or the Pionier-Bataillon 250 in German. This is one of the known units of the 250th Infantry Division. It looks like they were born 13-2-913, so they would have been 28 when the division deployed. It even gives information about where they live, though the rest of the book is unfortunately missing.

The tunic itself is equally impressive, showing some service wear and in nice untouched "well-rested" condition. The tunic does look to have been period adjusted for fit by a tailor, but it still has the original maker, size, and depot information on the right side interior by the buttons:

Gg. Schwert
Bamberg
45        45
— 102 —
74        69
M 39

The last line indicates it was issued by the München (Munich) clothing depot in 1939. Additionally, below this is additional information, indicating it was issued to the Spanish volunteer division in 1942:

250. I / DIV
1942

We assume it was a used uniform at the time, and then tailored to fit the Spanish volunteer it issued to. The tunic is made from lovely "doeskin" style weave wool gabardine, in the standard Heer feldgrau (field gray) color. It features four pleated pockets with scalloped flaps and pebbled buttons, which are the single piece non-magnetic type. The front closure features four of the same buttons on the right breast flap meeting an equal number of reinforced buttonholes on the left flap, with a single "hook and loop" closure for the collar. Of interest is that there was a fifth button and buttonhole, but the butt was removed and the eyelet sewn closed when it was modified / shortened. We did not see any maker markings on the buttons, which are sewn directly to the fabric.

The interior of the tunic is partially lined with gray brown light canvas, and close examination shows the alterations that were done when it was put back into service, most of which seem to be for making it a slimmer and shorter fit. There are no pockets on the interior, and other alterations are noted, such as the addition of belt hooks facing both upwards and downwards.

The tunic is adorned with the usual rank and branch insignia used on German tunics. The attractive Army breast eagle is the correct 1939 Pattern BeVO embroidered type, gray threading on a flaschengrün (dark bottle-green) backing, and and is very neatly machine stitched to the chest in a fashion typical of wartime German tailor work. The right sleeve has a correct Spanish Volunteer Shield with ESPAÑA at the top. The second buttonhole from the top has ribbons for both the Iron Cross 2nd Class 1939 and the Eastern Medal. There is also a Spanish Medalla de la Campaña de Rusia (Medal of the Russian Campaign) above the left chest pocket, with some thread loops on the pocket itself, so possibly the soldier received other awards not included.

The collar is wrapped in flaschengrün (dark bottle-green) "badge cloth" style wool, and there are EM/NCO litzen collar patches on each side, which are very the early 1935 pattern, made from machine woven stripes attached to a dark green background matching the collar. These still retain the corps color stripes, which are Weiß (white), the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) for Infanterie (Infantry) and Motorisiert Infanterie (Motorized Infantry. The button attached style Unteroffiziere Schulterklappen (NCO shoulder straps) attached to the tunic have a dark bottle green "badge cloth" wool base, with a strip of NCO diamond-woven tresse around the edge, open at the end, and have white piping matching the litzen. There are no pips or tresse strips, across the straps, indicating the lowest NCO rank of Unteroffizier, equivalent to a U.S. Army Sergeant. Each strap has a 250 cypher on it, for the 250th Infantry Division.

We did note that the if the soldbuch matches the uniform, technically the piping and stripes should be black, for the pioneer corps, however it may be that as the uniform was used, it was left as is. The soldier may also have moved from the pioneer battalion to one of the infantry regiments. Unfortunately as almost all of the soldbuch pages are missing, there is no way to tell. We have attempted some preliminary research, but there appears to be little to none to find on members of the Blue Division.

The uniform presents beautifully, showing some great wear from service but no major damage. There is some mothing in areas, particularly on the left shoulder strap, but there are no major holes, tears, or other damage. The color is relatively well retained, showing light to moderate overall wear. Really a fantastic example of a VERY hard to find German WWII M36 Tunic used by the Spanish Volunteer "Blue Division"! More than ready for further research and display!

Approximate Measurements:-
Collar to shoulder: 10"
Shoulder to sleeve: 26”
Shoulder to shoulder: 15"
Chest width: 19”
Waist: 17.5"
Hip: 20"
Front length: 28.5"

The 250th Infantry Division (German: 250. Infanterie-Division), better known as the Blue Division (Spanish: División Azul, German: Blaue Division), was a unit of volunteers from Francoist Spain operating from 1941 to 1943 within the German Army (Heer) on the Eastern Front during World War II. It was officially designated the Spanish Volunteer Division (División Española de Voluntarios) by the Spanish Army.

Francisco Franco had secured power in Spain after the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), during which the Nationalists received support from NSDAP Germany. Franco's authoritarian regime remained officially non-belligerent in World War II but sympathised with the Axis powers. After lobbying by the Spanish Foreign Minister Ramón Serrano Suñer and by senior figures within the Spanish Army following the 22 June 1941 launch of Operation Barbarossa, Franco agreed that Spanish people would be permitted to enlist privately in the German Army and undertook to provide tacit support. An infantry division was raised from Falangist and Spanish Army cadres and was sent for training in Germany. The unit fought on the Eastern Front, in the 1941–1944 siege of Leningrad, notably in the Battle of Krasny Bor. They eventually withdrew from the front after Allied political pressure on Spain in October 1943 and returned to Spain shortly afterwards. Several thousand non-returners were incorporated into the 121st Infantry Division, the short-lived Blue Legion, and eventually into the Waffen-SS.

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.

SS field uniforms were of similar appearance externally but to fit their larger patches had a wider, feldgrau collar, and the lower pockets were of an angled slash type similar to the black or grey SS service-dress. The second button of an SS Feldbluse was positioned somewhat lower, so that it could be worn open-collar with a necktie. Due to supply problems the SS were often issued army uniforms.