In many cases, the shoulder straps and the collar patches ( Kragenpatten) featured coloured piping which denoted the wearer's arm of service (for example, white for infantry, red for artillery and black for engineers). Up until very early in the war, these were pointed and featured the regimental number on them but soon after war broke out, they became rounded and the regimental number was taken off. The garment had a turn-down collar with dark bottle green facings, a feature also seen on the shoulder straps ( Schulterklappen) and behind the national emblem ( Hoheitsabzeichen) over the right breast pocket.
The Field Tunic ( Feldbluse) featured four large, pleated, patch pockets ( Aufgesetztetaschen - a major recognition feature), five field gray ( feldgrau) painted buttons and four hooks (attached to inside straps) to help support the main belt. This had replaced the old World War I-style and Weimar Republic-style uniforms (M1920 and M1928) in the mid-1930s, when the German Army expanded massively after Hitler effectively tore up the remaining provisions of the Versailles Treaty.
The uniform variant in use at the start of the war was the M1936 pattern (see Figure 1). Also as the war went on, new weapons and equipment caused modifications to combat equipment when they entered service. In addition to this, the effects of resource and materials shortages, caused modifications to the standard uniform and helmet (see below), generally aimed at making them simpler, cheaper and faster to produce. Typical variations to be seen included rolled up sleeves, open-neck collars, trousers worn outside the jackboots and equipment worn in a non-standard manner or configuration, which applied to the infantry and many of the field arms such as artillery and engineers. Once war had broken out however, soldiers in the field wasted no time in making the uniform even more comfortable to wear and as time went on, standards of dress became evermore casual.
The German Army uniform for temperate wear was a smart, practical and well-tailored piece of clothing. Bibliography and Additional Information Overview