Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice unissued condition early-war pattern German WWII Heer Army Infantry Unteroffiziere mit Portepee (Senior NCO) M-40 Field Tunic, a more rugged and simplified version of the M-36, intended for real combat use. Gone is the "bottle green" collar, and the overall construction is more rugged, using a rougher weave feldgrau wool on the exterior, and canvas on the interior, instead of the earlier rayon. This example is truly spectacular, the most excellent example we have offered.

The tunic features four pockets with scalloped flaps and pebbled non-magnetic buttons, which look to be zinc alloy, and were painted green, which is still very well-retained. The closure features 5 of the same buttons on the right breast flap meeting an equal number of reinforced buttonholes on the left flap. There is also a hook and loop collar securing fastener, which is in good working order. The buttons are marked J.F.S. / 40 and are in great condition with most of the paint retained. The interior of the tunic is lined with olive canvas, which is fairly standard for Depot issued tunics. The collar stiffener/protector is still intact and in place, and appears to be original to the uniform.

The interior still retains its maker & size markings,

Wilh. Bleyle K.G. 
41    41
90
68    61
F41

This indicates manufacture by Wilhelm Bleyle K.G., a well-known maker dating back to 1889. F41 indicates issue by the Frankfurt Depot in 1941. The markings are clear and well-retained. The lining is in fantastic condition, and the bandage pouch still retains a 1942-dated bandage!

It is adorned with the usual rank and branch insignia used on German tunics. The attractive Army breast eagle is an early war 1940 pattern BeVO embroidered type, gray on a green background, and is correctly and very neatly hand-stitched to the chest. The collar is plain feldgrau wool, correct for the M-40 combat pattern.

It is decorated with a strip of 9mm flat silver-grey woven rayon braid (Unteroffoziers-Tressen), sewn around the collar border. There are EM/NCO litzen collar patches on each side, which are woven from gray and green threads, and are installed on green backgrounds. They do not have Corps Color stripes, as in 1938 they were removed from EM/NCO collar insignia to save time.

The button attached style NCO shoulder straps (Unteroffiziere Schulterklappen) attached to the tunic are in great condition, each affixed with a 16-embossed button, which likely indicated the Company number, but could possibly indicate regiment. They each have a single rank pip attached onto the shoulder boards, indicating the rank of Feldwebel, a senior NCO rank equivalent to a U.S. Army Technical Sergeant. The piping around the shoulder straps is Weiß (white), the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) for Infanterie (Infantry) and Motorisiert Infanterie (Motorized Infantry).

Overall condition is excellent, showing very little wear. There is some very light mothing but nothing that is noticeable, and the color is very well-retained throughout. There is very little rusting if there is any at all.

A very nice and hard-to-find unissued Early War German WWII Infantry Feldwebel’s M40 combat tunic, ready to display!

Approximate Measurements:-
Collar to shoulder: 9.5"
Shoulder to sleeve: 25.5”
Shoulder to shoulder: 15.5"
Chest width: 18”
Waist: 17.5"
Hip: 19"
Front length: 29.5"

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.

Field Tunic (Feldbluse) Model 1936
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.