Original Item: Only One Available. This is a high quality tailor made earth brown wool/rayon blend RAD Officer Field Uniform tunic with a fine whipcord weave. It features a seven button front closure with a chocolate brown collar, secured by two hook and loop fasteners. Tunic has two pleated patch breast pockets with straight edged button down flaps and two slanted hip pockets with similar button down flaps. All of the buttons are have pebbled aluminum tops with maker marked magnetic backs, and are sewn directly to the fabric. The left waist pocket has the large eyelet near the top for use with a dagger / hewer, and there is an internal strap to attach to the hanger. The tunic's reverse features a vertical tail skirt vent.

The interior is fully lined in gold/tan rayon, and the sleeves are lined with black striped white rayon. The lining has a horizontal slash pocket on the left inner chest, and there is a maker label just  below the opening, which reads August Dickinger / REGENSBURG. There is also a name tag on the inside of the pocket, which reads: 

AUGUST DICKINGER
REGENSBURG
Herr Oberfeldm. ????
No. 2411 Dat. 11. 8. 42

We are unfortunately not able to make out the last name of the owner, which looks to start with a B or E.

Condition of the tunic is very good, with only light wear to the exterior, while the interior shows a bit more use and wear. The left sleeve has a lovely silver flatwire embroidered RAD shovel logo on a chocolate brown background, which has a red 298 unit marking. Below this is an early war felt NSDAP armelbinde (armband) with a multipiece rayon swas on a white moire material circle. This has been hand stitched to the arm with red thread along both edges.

The collar is wrapped with chocolate brown wool, and has matching silver wire woven RAD Officer style Kragenspiegel collar tabs, somewhat similar to Heer Litzen, which have a hand embroidered silver bar, referred to as "double filling" on them. The black velvet and aluminum type of collar tab was used by ranks Unterfeldmeister (Oberfeldwebel) through Oberstfeldmeister (Hauptmann). The tabs have a forest green velvet plush material background, the branch of service color for "Administrative Services" in the RAD.

The "sew-in" style schulterklappen (shoulder straps) are constructed with a double row of fine silver flatware "Russia Braid" double piping with black chevrons woven in, with both rows going around the button hole on the other end. There is a single gold rank "pip" present, indicating the RAD rank of Oberfeldmeister (Senior Field Master), equivalent to a Heer Army Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant). The bases of the shoulder straps have the same green plush material on them for "Administrative" as well.

Above the left pocket is a four award medal bar with ribbons from the WWI, Interwar, and WWII era, showing that the soldier received the following awards:

- German WWI Iron Cross 1914 2nd Class EKII.
- German WWI Kingdom of Baden Service Medal
- German WWI Honor Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (Hindenburg Cross) with Swords (for combat)
- German WWII Western Wall Siegfried Line Medal

One of the buttonholes has a War Merit Cross 2nd Class KvKII ribbon installed, and there are also two thread loops on the pocket itself, for one of the many awards that uses that type of attachment.

A fantastic RAD National Labor Service Oberfeldmeister's uniform tunic, complete with insignia and armband! Ready to add to your collection!

The basis of the RAD, Reichsarbeitsdienst, (National Labor Service), dates back, at least, to 1929 with the formation of the AAD (Anhalt Arbeitsdienst) and the FAD-B (Freiwillingen Arbeitsdienst-Bayern).  Shortly after AH’s appointment as Chancellor in Jan 1933, the NSDAP consolidated all labor organizations into the NSAD (Nationalsozialist Arbeitsdienst), a national labor service, under the control of Reichsarbeitsführer Konstatin Hierl. It served as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarize the workforce and indoctrinate it with NSDAP ideology. It was the official state labor service, divided into separate sections for men and women.

On June 26 1935 the NSAD was officially re-designated RAD, and from then onward, men aged between 18 and 25 may have served six months before their military service. During World War II compulsory service also included young women and the RAD developed to an auxiliary formation which provided support for the Wehrmacht armed forces.

In April 1934 Hierl had developed a uniform, including the distinctive "Robin Hood" style service cap. The design of the cap was based on a cross between a traditional style peasant cap and the traditional hunters cap. Originally the caps were issued with rank distinction piping with black piping for the EM/NCO ranks of Arbeitsmann to Truppführer, silver piping for company and field grade Officer’s ranks of Obertruppführer to Oberstarbeitsführer and gold piping for General Officer’s ranks of Generalarbeitsführer to Reichsarbeitsführer. In 1940 the use of the black piping for the EM/NCO ranks was discontinued but the silver and gold Officer’s piping remained in use until the end of the war.