m36 gebirgsjager tunic

[jacquesf]

I recently aquired this very interesting enlisted\man's gebirgsjager tunic. It is heavily worn and the nap to the fabric is gone across the tunic, except where the pockets and flaps protectected it.

The shoulder straps are the first feldbluse pattern, the interesting thing is that on of the numbered shoulder straps button were lost and then replaced with another one (same number, but different style). The belt hole loops have seen heavy duty and has been period repaired.

There is also evidence through the shade and stitchmarks that a Narvik shield was on the tunic before. The nap wear behind the eagle and the edelweiss shows that both were replaced at some stage. The interesting thing however is that the wear on the insignia is heavy and both match the tunic and the stitching is very old. It most definitely is a heavily used combat jacket.

My first question is should one restore the Narvik shield to the tunic, secondly would the early style shoulder straps be worn, say up to 1941/42 and thirdly would this guy have been an officers candidate. Jacques.

[jacquesf]

wwww

[jacquesf]

aaaaa

[jacquesf]

ttttt

[phild]

That tunic reflects the kind of wear that one that was actually worn in a lot of field wear actually would look. I doubt that more than 1 in several hundred surviving pre-war era issue tunics saw this kind of field wear.

I can not answer your questions except to say that I ouwld leave off replacing the Narvik shield, although displaying one with it would be a great idea.

I have similar condition GBJ M-36 that came from a family south of Munich about 25-30 years ago. The eagle was in the pocket and I had that re-sewn by hand. The boards on mine are feldgrau circa 42/43 and were wartime replaced and are slightly mis-matched..just what I would expect. The tabs are also wartime replaced and very worn and aged to the tunic, the outline of the original green backed tabs can be seen, but these later ones have been worn on the tunic for years before the tunic was "retired" near or at the end of the war.

I mention the above details only to demonstrate that hard worn (as opposed to hardly worn!) uiforms can and often do show all manner of field repair, insignia change out and alteration.

One FACT that I have never seen mentioned on this or any other forum is that when uniforms were replaced during the war, the old unifoms were generally striped of insignia, washed and turned in by the previous owners. The collected uniforms were then sent back to rear area repair facilities to be classified as repairable or to be shredded into wool for "new" fabric.

If repairable they would be repaired and new insignia added (tabs and eagle) and generally re-issued within the "replacement army". This is only one of several reasons that a given tunic would have period replaced insignia.

This was done in WWI and in between the two wars as well.

[phild]

I should add that the "1" button is for company 1 and that the "I" button is for the 1st Bn staff. At least I believe that I am correct. If the thread looks old on both buttons they may well be period mis-matched. 1st company was in Bn I, by the way.


The strips on the straps denote NCO candidate I believe. Can you post some pics of the backside of the collar, ie the backing underneath where the tabs are sewn?

[Glenn McInnes]

Certainly an original tunic and cap,you did well.

If the Narvik shield was stripped off the tunic you can certainly bet that the eagle was too.


Glenn

[BergführerKiser]

Grüß Gott Jäger Jacques,




Excellent Gebirgsjäger Tunic and Bergmütze!!! Phild hit the nail on the head...your tunic shows this Jäger as a NCO candidate. His other information is on the money too.




To answer your questions, first, it's up to you if you want to reapply a NARVIK shield to the tunic. It's probably possible that all the other insignia has been reapplied also. And since you tunic shows that it once had the shield, I don't see why you couldn't restore this tunic back to it's former glory. You would just need to find a shield with similar wear as the tunic and other insignia...plus find someone who can reapply it in period fashion.


As to your second question, the early style shoulder straps seem to show up throughout the war. Here are a few wartime photo examples:









And here is an example of the #1 button being worn:

[jacquesf]

Some great information and advice guys.

Glenn, the edelweiss and eagle were off and the reaplied, as I said that was done ages go. The collar has had repairs done in some places, restiched to the tunic, other places the orignal stiching still holds it. Tthe litchen is 100% factory applied.

Phil, the explanation you provide ties in with the story the tunic tells itself. If one looks at a tunic that was issued in 1936 and continually worn for five years this is what is should look like.

The fact that the tunic had a Narvik shield makes it possible to trace the tunic to either the 2nd or more likely the 3rd GB division.

[jacquesf]

Phil, here are some additional picutes of the underside of the collar and the eagle. Note the repairs to the collar alongside the original stitching and the nap on top of the eagle.

Another interesting thing is that the cap (early version) show the exact same amount of wear as the tunic. The owners name is faintly visible in the lining "Leeb". It propably be longed to the same soldier. Jacques

[jacquesf]

eagle

[Greg B]

Hello Jacquesf, first of all lovely combat tunic exactly how I like them, I found myself in the same predicament myself a couple of years ago when I acquired this m4O In almost identical condition and with the same issues weather to restore or leave alone. Mine was missing both breast eagle and a krim/kuban shield. but tress and tabs were totaly untouched interestingly where the krim shield had been were 4 loops sewen to the tunic, this was the locating points for the prongs on the backing of the krim and which held it in place(very unusal). There was a definate shade difference where the krim had been and holes where the backing had been sewen to the tunic.

Anyway I decided to restore and did my very best to match both the condition of the breast eagle and the krim to the condition of the tunic. Once I had done this I found it very satisfying as It took a while to find a perfect eagle and krim sheild and my wife did a great job sewing the breast eagle exactly through the existing holes with original thread. I think its a shame when you see a mint replaced eagle on a worn tunic or a worn eagle on a mint tunic better not to do it at all unless your going to do a nice job.

Anyway here's some pics of my combat m40 and I just love this tunic certainly not my most valuable but one that just talks to me.. very much like your m36

Greg

[Greg B]

pic1

krim

[Greg B]

pic2

breasteagle

[Greg B]

pic3

collars