Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very interesting early war pattern German WWII Heer Army Artillery EM/NCO M-36 Field Tunic, made by the highly desirable W. Michovius K.-G. firm, often seen on uniforms and caps of the NSDAP Forestry Service, as well as high ranking officers. It is in excellent condition, looking to have seen very little use in service, and is maker marked with W. MICHOVIUS K.-G. at the bottom of the bandage pouch, though the second line cannot be read. Above this on the lining for the front closure are the size measurements for the tunic, which read as follows:-

41      44

99

68      63

Below this is a B 41 stamp, indicating that the tunic was processed through the Berlin depot in 1941, which is definitely a bit strange, as we almost always see this maker on private purchase items, but it looks like they also did receive military contracts.

The tunic is made from lovely "doeskin" wool gabardine, in the standard Heer feldgrau (field gray) color. It features four pleated pockets with scalloped flaps and painted pebbled non-magnetic buttons, and features five of the same buttons on the right breast flap meeting an equal number of reinforced buttonholes on the left flap. There is a bit of oxidation on the back of the buttons, which look to be made from zinc, so we cannot see any maker markings present. There is an additional hook and loop closure at the collar to keep it tightly fastened.

The interior of the tunic is is partially lined with what feels like gray brushed cotton or a cotton - rayon blend, and aside from the bandage pocket does not have any other internal pockets. It does however feature four long straps for the belt hooks, which go under the lining and actually up to the shoulder. This would have allowed a significant amount of weight to be carried on the belt, which would be very useful for an artillery soldier. There are even some internal hooks to keep the longer front straps secured, so the hooks would not pull through the exterior shell.

The tunic is adorned with the usual rank and branch insignia used on German tunics, though they are interestingly the early pattern. The attractive Army breast eagle is a pre 1940 pattern silver bullion machine embroidered type, used for NCOs and officers, and is very neatly machine stitched to the chest in a fashion typical of wartime German tailor work. The background is flaschengrün (dark bottle-green), used prior to 1940, and seen on many of the other insignia.

The collar is wrapped in the same flaschengrün color "badge cloth" style wool, and there are EM/NCO litzen collar patches on each side, which have backgrounds matching the color. Each features an attached double litzenspiegel machine-woven tresse insignia, however in this case they actually still have the pre-1938 colored stripes (mittelstreifen), which are Hochrot (Deep Red), the Waffenfarbe (Corps Color) during WWII for Artillery, Assault Gunners, and Heavy Flak, as well as General Level Officers. As this is an enlisted Tunic, this is definitely for artillery.

The button attached style Enlisted shoulder straps (Mannschaften Schulterklappen) attached to the tunic have a dark green "badge cloth" wool base, which would be changed in 1940 to be field gray. They are piped in the correct deep red color, and feature no ciphers or rank devices, and neither does the left sleep. In the Heer Army Artillery this indicates the lowest enlisted rank of Kanonier, an artillery rank equivalent to Soldat, or a U.S. Army Private. However given the early pattern insignia and NCO type eagle, these may have been "placeholders" until the owner got his correct insignia in line.

Overall condition is very good, showing only light wear from service, and just a few areas where we can see some repairs on the back, which look to be more related to age and storage than any damage sustained in service. They possibly are stitch repaired moth damage, which is very common on WWII wool uniforms. The interior is in similar condition, showing light wear with some areas of small holes and repairs. Otherwise it is solid and looks great, still retaining the original colors very well. We do not know why a tunic from 1941 has the early style insignia, but given the maker, they may have taken an order for it, or had old insignia left over from their more upmarket examples.

A very interesting German WWII Artillery EM/NCO M36 Field tunic with great markings and early pattern insignia. Ready to display!

Approximate Measurements:-
Collar to shoulder: 9"
Shoulder to sleeve: 25”
Shoulder to shoulder: 16"
Chest width: 18”
Waist: 18"
Hip: 21"
Front length: 29"

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.