Original Item: One-of-a-kind. In early 1941, the German military began their conquest of southern Europe. Due to the warmer climates of these areas, the German Army needed to equip its troops with a more suitable form of dress, and replace the standard wool based feldgrau uniforms. The new "tropical" uniforms were lighter in weight, and dyed in colors ranging from light tan to dark olive.

This 100% authentic German World War Two M43 Heer Tropenbluse Tropical Tunic is in very good lightly used condition, looking "well-rested" with no signs of post war alterations, just how we like to see them. The tunic is made out of medium weight cotton twill weave denim-like material which has been dyed a darker olive/tan. It features four flat front pockets with square flaps, which identifies this as the later M43 model, also called the "Third Pattern". The first model, the M41, had pleated pockets with scalloped flaps, the second model, the M42, had flat pockets with scalloped pocket flaps, and the third and final model, the M43, switched to square pocket flaps. There are also variations to this, but in general both the Luftwaffe and Heer tunics conform to this.

The tunic is unlined, though it does have reinforcements under the sleeves, as well as the straps for belt hooks, which currently do not have any hooks installed. There is the usual bandage pocket on the bottom inner right, which even has a 1943 dated bandage inside! There are no other pockets on the interior, which is standard for these tunics. It has the complete size and issue markings on the reinforcement under the left sleeve, which is still fully legible:-

62    85
69    99
E43

RB-Nr. 0/0314/0010

The E indicates processing through at the Erfurt Clothing Depot, while the 43 indicates a date of 1943. The RBNr. indicates the manufacturer, however unfortunately almost all of these numbers are unknown.

The tunic features a BeVo tropical Heer Breast eagle, with the correct blue threads on a tan background, along with the correct tropical EM/NCO BeVO litzen on each side of the collar opening, woven from the same colors. The collar is further decorated with a strip of 9mm flat golden diamond woven rayon braid (Unteroffoziers-Tressen), sewn around the collar border. There are also three pairs of thread loops on the left chest pocket for the attachment of awards, which were removed long ago.

The button attached style Unteroffiziere ohne Portepee Schulterklappen (Junior NCO shoulder straps) attached to the tunic are in great condition, made from the correct tropical tan fabric and featuring a row of golden tropical NCO tresse going around the entire perimeter. There are no rank "pips" installed on the shoulder straps, indicating the rank of Unterfeldwebel, an Unteroffiziere ohne Portepee (Junior NCO) rank equivalent to a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant. The piping around the shoulder straps is Rosa (Rose-pink), the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) during WWII for the Panzers (Armored Troops) and Panzerjäger (Tank Destroyers).

The front of the tunic has six original pebbled buttons for the main closure, and four pocket buttons, all of which were originally a nice green color, but now only a few buttons still have some of the original finish present. The majority show a gray oxidized zinc patina. The two shoulder buttons for the rank insignia are identical, and all look to be made from non-magnetic zinc or aluminum, and are maker-marked on the back to two different makers. All of these buttons are held in place with steel circlip retainers, except for the shoulder buttons, which are sewn on directly.

Overall condition is very good, showing light wear from service, but no major damage or repairs.. A fantastic totally genuine Afrika Korps Panzer MCO M43 tunic in great service used condition. Ready for further research and display!

The Crimea Shield (Krimschild or KRIM Shield) was a World War II German military decoration awarded to military personnel under the command of Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein who fought against Soviet Red Army forces and captured the Crimea region (Krim in German) between 21 September 1941 and 4 July 1942. It was instituted on 25 July 1942. The shield is headed by the German eagle clutching a laurel wreath surrounding a swas. Flanking the eagle are the dates 1941 and 1942, which represent the start and end dates of the campaign. This sits on the backdrop of the Crimean peninsula, where the fighting took place, which has the word KRIM stamped across it.

The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (Deutsches Afrikakorps or DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of their African colonies, the formation fought on in Africa, under various appellations, from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943. The term "Afrika Korps" is pseudo-German (so-called "cod-German"), deriving from an incomplete German title. The German term referred solely to the initial formation, the Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK), which formed part of the Axis command of the German and Italian forces in North Africa. The name stuck, with both news media and Allied soldiers, as the name for all subsequent German units in North Africa. The unit is known for having been commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.