Description
Physical description
Single-breasted jacket of olive drill, featuring a stand-and-fall collar faced with dark bottle green cloth, six button front fastening, detachable epaulettes of flat silver Russia braid with white Waffenfarbe piping, pleated breast and skirt pockets with scalloped button flaps, deep turn-back cuffs and a rear vent. All buttons are of the silver stipple pattern.
Prussian double-litzen collar patches are fitted, while above the right breast pocket is sewn the Army National Emblem in silver wire on a dark bottle green backing. Fitted to each epaulette are two stars, one gilt and one silver.
The breast pocket flaps, side panels and the entirety of both sleeves have been replaced with drill of a noticeably greener shade.
Label
The M1940 tropical uniform associated with the Afrika Korps and the war in North Africa was developed in Hamburg in 1940, clearly reflecting Imperial German forces' experience of colonial service in Africa and the Far East, and was introduced for service towards the end of that year. Echoing the style of the standard M1936 European dress worn by the Army, a tropical helmet, boots and special headdress, based on the mountain cap, were the main departures in terms of style. Initially made of olive-coloured cloth, frequent washing and sun exposure soon bleached the materials, improving the uniform's ability to blend in with the featureless desert landscape of North Africa. In an effort to simplify the jacket and cut costs, from late 1942 the pleats on the pockets of the jacket were discarded (M1942), and the following year pocket flaps were cut square (M1943). The final pattern very likely saw little to no service in North Africa, however tropical dress was known to have been worn by men posted to the Mediterranean theatre and also in southern Russia. Indeed many Afrika Korps veterans of the 21st Panzerdivision continued to wear their tropical clothing with pride in Normandy.
The jacket could be worn with either full-length trousers, breeches or shorts.
This particular example has been modified for wear by an infantry officer, with the collar having been faced with the continental-style 'bottle green' cloth and closed at the neck, the addition of officer-quality insignia, the removal of the internal shell dressing pocket and the replacement of certain sections of the jacket.