Original Item. Only One Available. This is a lovely Kriegsmarine Navy Blue Wool Jumper & Trousers Uniform set belonging belonging to a an enlisted man (Seaman), as indicated by the rating insignia on the left sleeve. The Kriegsmarine was the navy of NSDAP Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war Reichsmarine (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches, along with the Heer and the Luftwaffe, of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945.

This beautiful Navy Blue Wool Kriegsmarine jumper belonged to a Maschinenobergefreiter (Machinist Senior Exempted) an enlisted rank roughly equivalent to a U.S. Navy Seaman 2nd class, or a Heer Army Obergefreiter. His “rate” or career path was that of a Maschinist, indicated by the gold embroidered gear on the left sleeve patch. Below this are two gold tresse chevrons, which indicate the basic rank of Obergefreiter (Senior Exempted). There are not any specialist badges present on the left, so the owner did not have any specialized training completed. However, there is a lovely Kleinkampfmittel Bewährungs und Kampfabzeichen 2.Stufe (Small Combat Units Proficiency and Combat Badge, 2nd Class) on the right sleeve. This shows a sawfish inside a rope tied with a reef (square) knot at the top, superimposed over a single sword, indicating 2nd Class.

The Small Battle Units (Kleinkampfverbände) were formed in April 1944 under the command of Konteradmiral Heye. Probably best known for their use of the small midget submarine types such as Neger, Biber, Molch, Seehund etc, the K-Verbände also used diverse other weapons systems such as the Sprengboote, small speedboats packed with dynamite and driven directly to their targets. These qualification badges are quite rare, and we have never had one previously, and at first did not recognize it. We have checked it thoroughly with a UV light and have compared it to other known examples, and we see no reason to doubt that it is genuine. We have seen other examples where the reef knot is offset to the right on this class, but there looks to have been signfigant variation in how these were made. The stitching pattern on the sawfish is distinctive, and a match to other period examples.

The patches are of wool construction and appear to have been machine stitched on by a unit tailor. The rank and rating patch does have the stitching pulling out on the rear, which we have made no attempts to repair. The insignia have a great aged look, showing no major damage from mothing or wear. On the right breast of the jumper there is the correct Kriegsmarine Wehrmachtadler Eagle, machine embroidered in gold yellow on a navy blue background, which was then sewn to the jumper. The insignia shows no sign of being added later and is all of the period. 

We checked inside of the jumper, but we were not able to locate any type of manufacture markings. It is in very good condition, with the navy blue "whipcord weave" wool showing only light wear, though there is some scattered mothing present. The "tar flap" on the rear is still present, and the jumper has buttons on either side of the collar, which we assume were used with a separate strap to close the collar. These uniforms were often worn during colder weather, so having the ability to fasten up the collar was definitely a plus.

The included navy blue wool trousers are in very nice shape, and like some others we have seen are made with a front "flap" that is secured to the waist with four buttons, with waist pockets underneath. The inner left side waist band lining has faint maker and size markings present, which we are unfortunately not able to make out, though the size looks to be 82 / 80. The sides of the trousers have size adjustment straps with "fire blued" adjustment buckles. They are a bit of a smoother weave than the jumpers, and are a good match for the amount of age toning and wear. They shows a bit of mothing in areas, very common for WWII wool uniforms.

This is a lovely uniform set that doesn’t often come up together like this, especially with the rare combat badge, which we have never had before! Ready to research and display!

Approximate Measurements:-
Collar to shoulder: 9"
Shoulder to sleeve: 28”
Shoulder to shoulder: 13"
Chest width: 18”
Waist: 15.5"
Hip: 17"
Front length: 27"

Pants:-
Waist: 16"
Inseam: 28"

More on the Kriegsmarine
In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, the Kriegsmarine grew rapidly during German naval rearmament in the 1930s. The 1919 treaty had limited the size of the German navy and prohibited the building of submarines

Kriegsmarine ships were deployed to the waters around Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) under the guise of enforcing non-intervention, but in reality supported the Nationalists against the Spanish Republicans.

In January 1939, Plan Z, a massive ship-building program, was ordered, calling for surface naval parity with the British Royal Navy by 1944. When World War II broke out in September 1939, Plan Z was shelved in favour of a crash building program for submarines (U-boats) instead of capital surface warships, and land and air forces were given priority of strategic resources.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine (as for all branches of armed forces during the period of absolute NSDAP power) was AH, who exercised his authority through the Oberkommando der Marine ("High Command of the Navy").

The Kriegsmarine's most significant ships were the U-boats, most of which were constructed after Plan Z was abandoned at the beginning of World War II. Wolfpacks were rapidly assembled groups of submarines which attacked British convoys during the first half of the Battle of the Atlantic but this tactic was largely abandoned by May 1943 when U-boat losses mounted. Along with the U-boats, surface commerce raiders (including auxiliary cruisers) were used to disrupt Allied shipping in the early years of the war, the most famous of these being the heavy cruisers Admiral Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer and the battleship Bismarck. However, the adoption of convoy escorts, especially in the Atlantic, greatly reduced the effectiveness of surface commerce raiders against convoys.

Following the end of World War II in 1945, the Kriegsmarine's remaining ships were divided up among the Allied powers and were used for various purposes including minesweeping. Some were loaded with superfluous chemical weapons and scuttled.