Original Item: Only One Available. The Ordnungspolizei, abbreviated Orpo, meaning "Order Police", were the uniformed police force in NSDAP Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo organization was absorbed into the NSDAP monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction was removed in favor of the central government ("Reich-ification", Verreichlichung, of the police). The Orpo was controlled, nominally by the Interior Ministry but its executive functions rested with the leadership of the SS until the end of World War II. Owing to their green uniforms, Orpo were also referred to as Grüne Polizei (green police). The force was first established as a centralized organization uniting the municipal, city, and rural uniformed police that had been organized on a state-by-state basis. Eventually the Police were divided into eight assorted branches of service, with each branch having a distinguishing truppenfarbe, (Branch of service color) that was displayed on the uniforms including the piping on the visor caps.

The Schutzpolizei des Reiches or the Schupo was the state (Reich) protection police of NSDAP Germany and a branch of the Ordnungspolizei. Schutzpolizei is the German name for a uniformed police force. The Schutzpolizei des Reiches was the uniformed police of most cities and large towns. State police departments were in charge of protection police, criminal investigation divisions (Kripo, short for Kriminalpolizei), and administrative police. The state protection police comprised a patrol branch, barracked police, traffic police, water police, mounted police, police communications units, and police aviation. Policemen had to have previous military service, good physical and mental health, be of Aryan descent, be members of the NSDAP and also members of the SS. Policemen were promoted according to a regulated career system. Promotion for officers was determined by merit and seniority. Pay for policemen was higher than the average industrial worker and was more in line with the average privately employed white-collar worker.

The German Police in general had no enlisted ranks, with the lowest rank being an Unterwachtmeister (Junior Watch Master), which was equivalent to the German army rank of Unteroffizier. The highest NCO rank was that of the Meister (Master), or Warrant Officer, which did not have an armed forces equivalent, but was higher than an army Oberfeldwebel (Master Sergeant).

This lovely Schutzpolizei Wachtmeister NCO's Field Service tunic is made of fine quality police-green wool gabardine twill, and in form is more or less identical to the Army Heer tunic except for the colors used. The right interior has what looks to be a maker or depot stamp, under which are the the tunic's sizes as well as a large IIIA, which could be a district marking. This indicates that it was most likely a department issued tunic, and not private purchase. The tunic features four pleated pockets with scalloped flaps and pebbled magnetic buttons, which look originally to have been painted green. The front has an eight button front closure using the same buttons, 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 all are in very good condition. They all look to have issue markings stamped onto the back.

The interior is partially lined with lovely olive tan cotton & rayon twill blend, and the sleeves are not lined at all. The only interior pocket is the bandage pouch on the lower right interior. There is definitely some wear to the interior, including some fraying and pilling, as well as light overall staining. It does not have any slot for a dagger, but does have the hangers to attach belt hooks to the interior, all of which still have steel hooks installed.

As this is a field service tunic the design is a bit simplified compared to the usual police tunic, and in this case as with the Heer Army M-36 pattern tunics, the "badge cloth" wrapping around the collar and cuffs was omitted. In the Army this was "dark bottle green", but in the police this was a chocolate brown color. The collar on this tunic is the same "police blue green" wool that the rest of tunic is, and is outfitted with field uniform style NCO litzen collar patches on each side. These are BeVo embroidered much like early war Heer examples, and have stripes that are Police Hellgrün (light green), the Truppenfarbe (Troop Color) of the Schutzpolizei. The collar shows some light wear around the top, and there is a big of staining to the tunic.

As this is a Police tunic, there is no Wehrmachtadler breast eagle, and instead the uniform has a high quality machine embroidered Civic Police Eagle badge sewn to the left sleeve. The insignia is sewn using the same Light green color thread, with a black swas. It is only sewn to the top layer of fabric, indicating that it was installed when the uniform was being fabricated. As there is no district name embroidered on the sleeve eagle, it was made after November 1941, when the names were ordered removed.

The button-attached style NCO schulterklappen (shoulder boards) of this tunic are bordered with a single row of of fine silver flatware "Russia Braid" double piping around the edge, with police chocolate brown chevrons woven into the design. Inside this is a row of brown double piping. The sides and bottom, as well as the attachment straps, are the order police light green. As the outer row of braid is open on the end, these are shoulder boards for the police rank of Wachtmeister (Watch master), equivalent to an SS-Unterscharführer or U.S. Army Sergeant.

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

- German WWII War Merit Cross 2nd Class KVKII with Swords (for Combat).
- German WWII Eastern Front - Winter Battle in the East 1941–42 Medal 
- German WWII Western Wall Medal - we are not sure on this one.
- German WWII Romanian "Crusade Against Communism" Eastern Front Service Medal.

Overall condition is very good, showing light to moderate wear overall. There is definitely some loss of the fuzzy "nap" of the police blue green wool exterior, as well as staining and other signs of use. We do not however see any major damage such as holes, extensive moth damage, or anything out of line with wear from service.

This is a great example of a genuine WWII German Schutzpolizei Wachtmeister’s field service uniform!

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.