Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice early pattern German WWII Heeresverwaltung (Army Administration) M-36 Dienstrock (Service Tunic), complete with the correct Schirmmütze visor cap. These look to have seen long service during the war, and also have suffered some damage from storage and age, mostly in the form of moth damage to the visor cap. They have a great "salty" look that is impossible to duplicate.

During World War II, officials of the Army administration (Heeresverwaltung, short HV), also referred to as the Wehrmachtbeamte (Armed Forces Officials), wore military rank insignias similar to those of the Wehrmacht. These were separate from any other insignia they would wear while serving in the Wehrmacht, war economy, or in military education facilities, and so forth.

Originally, Heer Army officials normally wore, in addition to their dark green main corps colour (Haupt-Waffenfarbe), a secondary colour (Nebenfarbe) denoting their branch. The Nebenfarbe was worn as piping surrounding the collar Litzen and underneath the shoulder boards on top of the dark green Waffenfarbe. In March 1940 distinct Nebenfarben were abolished and replaced with light grey. As this uniform tunic is post 1940, we are unfortunately unable to tell their exact function and/or branch, we can just tell the relative rank they were in the organization, as compared to military ranks.

This tunic conforms well to the M36 pattern, and features four pleated pockets with scalloped flaps and green painted pebbled buttons, and has a six button front closure, with two "hook and loop" fasteners for the collar. The buttons on the tunic are sewn directly to the fabric, not attached with metal circlips, and two of the front closure buttons are absent, as well as the right waist pocket button. Some are magnetic, while others are not, and they all show wear from age and service. The interior is linted with brown rayon, however it is quite torn in the back, with the stitching around the edges pulling as well. The sleeves are lined with white rayon with blue stripes, which is fairly typical. There are no maker markings that we can see.

It is adorned with the usual rank and branch insignia used on German Army tunics, though it looks like the breast eagle was either removed or tore off long ago. The insignia used by the Heeresverwaltung were for the most part the same as those used by the regular Heer, except that they would have two different Waffenfarbe (corps colors), the Dunkel-grün (Dark Green) of the Army Administration, and then a separate branch color, which linked to what aspect of the army they were worked for. The shoulder boards and litzen collar tabs would both incorporate this aspect, however as noted before, this is a tunic from 1940 and later, after which light gray was used for the branch color by all members.

The collar on this tunic is wrapped in flaschengrün (dark bottle-green) wool, and has Army Administration Höherer Dienst (Higher Service) litzen collar patches on each side, for officials with rank equivalent to Stabsoffiziere (Staff / Senior Officers). These feature a Hellgrau (light gray) background with gold bullion woven designs, and surrounding each litzen is a row of Dunkelgrün (Dark Green) piping for the HV. The collar is in good service worn condition, showing some wear through around the edges, as well as what looks to be moth damage.

The “sew-in” style staff officers schulterklappen (shoulder boards) of this tunic are constructed with two rows of fine silver flatware "Russia Braid" double piping, which a thin row of dark green piping between them. The piping is plaited together and forms a loop around the buttonhole. Under this is light gray piping, with more dark green piping underneath. There are no rank pips, so they held a rank equivalent to a Major in the Army.  There is unfortunately not much information out there regarding the rank structure of the Army Administration, so we do not know what "title" the rank insignia indicate. There is War Merit Cross with Swords ribbon pin above the breast pocket.

Overall condition is definitely worn, with areas of moth damage around the end of the right sleeve as well as around the collar. It shows overall exterior staining and fading from wear and service.

The included Schirmmütze Visor Cap is the correct officers type, with the correct Dunkel-grün (Dark Green) triple piping, and a gold bullion chin strap. It is in rough shape, with the visor completely detached, and it shows wear and moth damage throughout.

A lovely "Salty" Army Administration Field Grade Officials tunic and Visor Cap, well worn during the war and most likely afterwards. Ready to research and display!

Approximate Measurements:-
Collar to shoulder: 9.5"
Shoulder to sleeve: 25”
Shoulder to shoulder: 13"
Chest width: 18”
Waist: 16"
Hip width: 20"
Front length: 30.5"

German WWII Army Tunics:
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.