Original Item: One-of-a-Kind. This is an exceptional named German WWII general officer’s M36-style service tunic belonging to General der Panzertruppe Georg Jauer, a highly decorated career officer who commanded the 20th Panzergrenadier Division and later became the second and final commander of Panzerkorps Großdeutschland.

The tunic was privately tailored for Jauer in December 1940, when he held the rank of Oberst, and was subsequently upgraded during the war with general officer insignia. It now displays the rank of General der Panzertruppe and carries Panzerkorps Großdeutschland shoulder-board cyphers, a Großdeutschland cuff title, gold bullion general officer insignia, an extensive medal bar, and additional award attachments.

The interior tailor’s label identifies Jauer by name and provides an exact date of manufacture, making this far more significant than an unattributed general officer’s tunic. Its former inclusion in the American Armoured Foundation Tank Museum collection adds another important chapter to its documented history.

Georg Jauer

Georg Jauer was born on June 25, 1896, and entered military service as a war volunteer on August 6, 1914. He served with the 2nd Pomeranian Foot Artillery Regiment No. 15 during WWI and received both classes of the 1914 Iron Cross. He remained in military service after the war, continuing his career in the Reichswehr before advancing through the rapidly expanding Heer during the 1930s.

Jauer was promoted to Oberstleutnant on January 1, 1939, and Oberst on October 1, 1940. At the time this tunic was ordered, he was serving in the Army Personnel Office, where he had worked in artillery-related administrative and personnel positions since the mid-1930s. He later left staff service to command Artillery Regiment 29 and then Artillery Regiment Großdeutschland.

In January 1943, Jauer was assigned to lead the 20th Motorized Infantry Division. He became its formal commander after his promotion to Generalmajor on April 1, 1943, and continued in command when the formation was redesignated the 20th Panzergrenadier Division. He was promoted to Generalleutnant on October 1, 1943, and remained associated with the division through the end of 1944, apart from a brief period temporarily leading the 25th Panzer Division.

Jauer received the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross on May 4, 1944, while serving as Generalleutnant and commander of the 20th Panzergrenadier Division. The award recognized his leadership during defensive fighting on the Eastern Front north of Vinnitsa.

He received the Oak Leaves to the Knight’s Cross on February 10, 1945, becoming the 733rd recipient. This higher award recognized his division’s defensive actions in the Baranov bridgehead and its subsequent fighting during the westward movement of German forces through Poland in January 1945.

Jauer assumed command of Panzerkorps Großdeutschland during February 1945 and was promoted to General der Panzertruppe on March 15, 1945. He remained the corps commander through the final collapse of Germany in May 1945. Sources differ slightly on the exact date he formally assumed command, but agree that he succeeded General Dietrich von Saucken and became the corps’ second and final commander.

Named 1940 Bespoke Tunic

The tunic is a high-quality private-purchase Heer Dienstbluse based on the M36 service-tunic pattern. It was originally tailored for Jauer as an Oberst and later professionally altered to display general officer insignia as his career advanced.

A maker’s label sewn beneath the rear of the collar reads:

KUHN & NUPNAU
MÜNCHEN

A larger label inside the left interior pocket reads:

KUHN & NUPNAU
MÜNCHEN

Herr Obst. G. Jauer
Nr. 366/A Datum 1. 12. 40.

The abbreviated rank “Obst.” represents Oberst, confirming that the tunic was ordered after Jauer’s promotion to Colonel on October 1, 1940. The December 1, 1940, date places its manufacture during his service with the Army Personnel Office.

The direct name, rank, tailor, order number, and date create an unusually strong identification. While photographs may possibly show Jauer wearing this tunic or one of very similar appearance, no photographic comparison is presented as conclusive proof.

Construction

The exterior is made from fine field-gray whipcord wool, a high-quality fabric frequently selected for privately purchased officer uniforms. The interior is lined in an olive-green cotton and rayon-blend material with a smooth, silk-like appearance.

The left interior has a slash pocket and the original hanging clip intended for an officer’s dagger. This aligns with the reinforced opening concealed inside the left waist pocket, allowing the dagger suspension to pass through the tunic while keeping the supporting straps hidden.

The sleeves are lined in white rayon with blue-striped sections toward the cuffs, a typical feature of quality private-purchase tailoring.

The tunic follows the traditional M36 form with four pleated front pockets and scalloped pocket flaps. Its dark bottle-green collar provides a dramatic background for the gold and red general officer insignia.

General Officer Collar and Breast Insignia

The collar carries a matched set of general officer alt-Larisch, or arabesque-style, collar tabs. These are constructed with gold bullion embroidery on red wool backing and were worn by German general officers below the rank of Generalfeldmarschall.

The tunic was originally made for a staff officer, so these collar tabs were installed after Jauer entered the general officer ranks. The work appears to have been professionally executed during the wartime period, and the alteration blends cleanly with the original construction.

A removable white collar insert remains attached by three original pins. This helped protect the dark collar lining from perspiration and wear while providing the crisp appearance expected of a senior officer’s uniform.

The right breast displays a finely hand-embroidered general officer’s eagle. It is made from rolled, twisted, and flat gold-colored bullion thread with green retaining stitches on a dark bottle-green wool backing. The bullion remains bright and provides excellent contrast against the field-gray tunic.

The front is fitted with gold-colored pebbled buttons appropriate for a general officer. The buttons appear maker marked on their reverse surfaces.

General der Panzertruppe Shoulder Boards

Each shoulder carries a sew-in general officer’s shoulder board constructed from intertwined gold and silver bullion cords in the traditional Russian-braid pattern.

Two gilt rank pips are attached to each board, indicating the rank of General der Panzertruppe. This was a specialized branch-general rank broadly equivalent to a three-star lieutenant general rather than the lower rank of Generalleutnant.

Each shoulder board also carries an interlocking gilt: GD Cypher associated with Großdeutschland.

These cyphers connect the tunic visually with Jauer’s final wartime command of Panzerkorps Großdeutschland. Because the tunic was manufactured years before the corps existed, the shoulder boards and cyphers necessarily represent a later wartime upgrade rather than its original 1940 configuration.

Großdeutschland Cuff Title

The right sleeve carries a fourth-pattern Großdeutschland cuff title. It is embroidered in metallic bullion thread on a dark bottle-green background and remains securely stitched to the sleeve.

The metallic embroidery has oxidized with age, making it difficult to determine whether it was originally silver-toned or produced with a more golden appearance.

Jauer had a direct service connection with Großdeutschland well before assuming command of the corps. He commanded Artillery Regiment Großdeutschland from March to November 1942 and later became commander of Panzerkorps Großdeutschland during the final months of the war.

Awards and Decorations

The tunic carries an extensive medal bar representing Jauer’s lengthy military career through both world wars. The bar appears consistent with the tunic and its long-standing display history, although the individual medals should be compared carefully with Jauer’s complete official award record before every position is considered definitively identified.

The second buttonhole carries the ribbon of the 1914 Iron Cross Second Class. Attached to the ribbon is the 1939 clasp awarded to WWI Iron Cross recipients who again qualified for the decoration during WWII.

Additional thread loops are present on and beneath the left breast pocket for the attachment of further decorations and combat badges.

Jauer’s documented awards included:

Iron Cross 1914, Second Class
Iron Cross 1914, First Class
Honor Cross for Frontline Fighters with Swords
1939 Clasp to the Iron Cross, Second Class
1939 Clasp to the Iron Cross, First Class
Panzer Assault Badge in Silver
German Cross in Gold
Eastern Front Medal
General Assault Badge
Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross
Oak Leaves to the Knight’s Cross

He also would have qualified for military long-service decorations based upon his uninterrupted career, although the exact complete arrangement represented by the medal bar has not been independently verified.

Former A.A.F. Tank Museum Collection

The tunic was formerly part of the American Armoured Foundation, Inc. Tank and Ordnance Memorial Museum collection.

The A.A.F. Tank Museum originated from the private collection of William Gasser, who began assembling military vehicles and artifacts before establishing the museum as a nonprofit educational organization in 1981. The collection was intended as a memorial to tank and cavalry soldiers and as a means of preserving military equipment and history for future generations.

After approximately two decades of operation, the museum closed and portions of its collection were dispersed. This tunic was acquired following that closure.

Its former museum history adds important provenance and explains its preservation as part of a larger armored-warfare collection.

Condition

The tunic remains in excellent overall display condition and shows only light wear for a uniform of this age and importance.

The fine whipcord wool retains a strong field-gray color, while the bottle-green collar, red general officer tabs, gold buttons, bullion eagle, shoulder boards, medal bar, and cuff title create an exceptionally striking appearance.

The insignia upgrades are consistent with Jauer’s advancement from Oberst to general officer and ultimately to General der Panzertruppe. Because the uniform was tailored in 1940, the general officer insignia, Großdeutschland cyphers, and final rank configuration were necessarily added later.

We have examined the tunic carefully, and the insignia and tailoring appear consistent with professional wartime alteration. However, without an unbroken chain of documentation recording every modification, no claim is made that every individual decoration or insignia component was installed on a specific known date.

Named general officer uniforms are among the most desirable and difficult German WWII tunics to acquire. Examples belonging to officers who commanded major armored formations are considerably scarcer, particularly when the garment retains its original named tailor’s label and carries insignia reflecting the officer’s final command.

This tunic documents Jauer’s career in a way few objects can. It began as a bespoke Oberst’s uniform made in Munich in December 1940 and was adapted as he rose through the general officer ranks, commanded a Panzergrenadier division, received the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, and ultimately led Panzerkorps Großdeutschland during the closing months of the war.

The named Kuhn & Nupnau labels, senior general rank, Großdeutschland insignia, extensive decorations, fine private-purchase construction, and former A.A.F. Tank Museum provenance combine to create an extraordinary centerpiece-level uniform.

A one-of-a-kind named tunic associated with one of the final commanders of Germany’s armored forces, preserving the wartime progression of General der Panzertruppe Georg Jauer from staff officer to commander of Panzerkorps Großdeutschland.

More on German Uniform 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.