August 11, 1959 - Introduction of the dreaded "Filzlaus"

[Guardian 5]

Team - The last of the AP wire photos that I received last week covers the introduction of the dreaded Kampfanzug Modell 1959, more commonly referred to as the felt louse ("Filzlaus").

Things weren't all that bad on that August day 52 years ago however, the practical and comfortable "panzerkombi" also made its debut.

It's hard to tell from the picture whether or not the panzer soldier is wearing the crash helmet or soft version of the armored forces beret. It's interesting for me to see that the goggles with the innovative sun screen were introduced at such a relatively early date.

Moving to the poor greni, its good to see some more verification that the "Division 59" model ammo pouches were designed with the G1 in mind. Conveniently, these pouches could also accomodate the G3 magazines that quickly followed. The helmet net seems to resemble that of the BGS and would appear to be the same mussgrun color too. One can just make out an Energa rifle grenade attached to the soldier's assault back.


Here's the caption from the photo:

(NY2-AUG.14) NEW WEST GERMAN ARMY UNIFORMS--Soldiers model new battle dress for the West German army at the Defense Ministry in Bonn Tuesday (11 AUG). Foot soldier at left wears water proof trousers, high boots with rubber soles and a short field jacket. His entire equipment, including rifle, 100 bullets and two grenades, weighs 65 pounds. At right is the attire for tank crews, a gray-green cotton coverall and beret. (ApWirephoto) (ROC60700fkft) 1959.

I'm rather dubious of the water proof qualities of the Filzlaus myself. The grenades must refer to the rifle grenades. 100 bullets would mean four 20-round mags carried and one in the rifle.

At first glance it looks as though it would be difficult to stuff the Filzlaus trousers into the tops of the boots, but that's exactly what the Wehrmacht did 11 years prior.

Any other observations?

All the best - TJ

[Guardian 5]

Here's the photo as I received it.

[PASSAUER8884]

I'm lucky enough to have a nice 1959 dated filzlaus jacket and trousers (same mfg even) but mine has the sleeve flags, I would imagine those were added to conform with later regs?

[Guardian 5]

Daniel - Sharp eyes! That's an excellent point.

I'm curious to see what the others might have to say about the lack of flags. Knowing the introduction date of the flag patches would be very nice and would help build on our knowledge.

All the best - TJ

[Collectinsteve]

Great info! Thanks TJ.

I dunno about the flags. I have a 1959 dated winter parka and it had the flags, though removed. It is possible that the preproduction units, which often are used for introduction photo ops, were the only ones without the flags. Or it could be as PASSAUER8884 says and they were added soon after with a possibility of retro fitting them to older items. Anything is possible IMHO.

A note about "show and tell" pics like this. I can't count how many photos I've seen like this where the uniforms displayed are not the ones issued. Usually it is just a small difference here or there, hardly noticeable to the audience they're pitching to, bot picked up on by us collectors. For example, a few years ago the Latvians showed off their new desert camouflage uniform for the press. A good half dozen posed pictures in addition to presentations on stage. All features consistent with each other, including a chest "epaulette" for a rank slipon. Even the very early field pictures, however, did not have this method of rank attachment. In fact, there were two different types seen in early pictures, including a strip over one pocket and a velcro patch. So were the uniforms seen in the promotional pictures actual production units or pre-production test samples? My suspicion ons the latter, but without 100% verifiable information it's just speculation.

Steve

[ReinerMB42]

BW Flags

Hi all,

yes, the Flags were introduced later and had to be sewn on on older jackets (not
always done).
Sorry, I don´t know the exactly timeframe.
By the way: the Mag Pouches seems to be broader than the standard G3-Pouches???
Best regards

Reiner

[malborghetto]

Hello,
the flags were introduced in 1962 for wear at combat uniforms only.

Regards, Christian

[Towarish]

Hello,
the flags were introduced in 1962. Only for wear at combat uniforms.

Regards, Christian

Just on a side-note.
It's still fun to see that quite a few flags get sewn on upside-down on the Feldblusen/Jacken etc.

Regards,
Philipp

[Collectinsteve]

Interestingly, the 1st Model Moleskin jacket (c. 1963-1967) did not have flags sewn onto them. At lest not the early production type. 2nd Model Moleskin the flags were apparently standard.

Steve

[malborghetto]

Hello,
In 1963 the 1st model moleskin dress was introduced to replace the hbt working dress. This is the reason why are often no flags attached on early moleskin jackets.
Later in the late 60's - early 70's the moleskin dress replaced the uncomfortable filzlaus as combat uniform. This is the point of time when old and new produced moleskin jackets became their flags.

Regards, Christian

[hoover]

HBT never had any flags on it, but Filzlaus and moleskin jacket should have them from 1961 an.

I myself had a moleskin jacket in the early 90´s without the flag on it, and I had the flag to add fastly.

Are there any pics with the early moleskine without flags?

[Guardian 5]

HBT never had any flags on it, but Filzlaus and moleskin jacket should have them from 1961 an.

I myself had a moleskin jacket in the early 90´s without the flag on it, and I had the flag to add fastly.

Are there any pics with the early moleskine without flags?

Hoover - A while back there was a thread about moleskin without flags.

All the best - TJ

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...=moleskin+flag

[Guardian 5]

Team - I came across this old post card while viewing the excellent homepage of Panzergrenadierbataillon82.

Somehow, the old felt louse doesn't look too bad from this angle. It's interesting to note that the greni has chosen to wear the somewhat cumbersome oliv trigger finger mittens instead of gloves. He has also opted to forgo his "Y-straps".

While we're on the subject of felt louse uniforms, I'd thought I'd pose the following related questions:
- Does this photo support the theory that the BW used the mussgrun BGS pattern helmet net for a brief period until the more familiar "onion bag" style net with the thin strands was introduced?
- Has anyone ever encountered a felt louse blouse with a fallschrimjaeger abzeichen sewn onto it?
- Has anyone ever attempted to retro-fit an airsoft G3 with wooden furniture from an actual rifle to get the early look conveyed by this image? I know some folks have built "dummy guns" using wooden furniture parts sets with mixed results.
- Has anyone ever come across the unique webbing used to attach the rifle grenade canisters to the medium assault pack?
- On a slightly different note, it was said that the panzerkombi was well thought of because it was designed with "extra straps" that would assist in pulling a wounded crewman from a burning vehicle. Can anyone verify this?

Well, that's enough randomness for now....

Thanks - TJ

[Guardian 5]

Team - Perhaps in sympathy for the Bundeswehr veterans of the "Filzlaus" era, many of our forum members have developed a distaste for this uniform.

But like it or hate it, I'm sure most of us would agree that to destroy one to make a very bad imitation of a TR uniform is "beyond the pale." Unfortunately, that was the fate of this particular Filzlaus coat that recently came up for auction on Manion's.

I know that these jackets remain compartively cheap and plentiful, but nonetheless, it hurts to see one desecrated in the quest for a quick buck.

Any thoughts?

All the best - TJ

[Guardian 5]

Team - A rear view.

While some will say that my ignorance of TR unifroms is exceeded only by my ignorance of BW uniforms, what uniform is this designed to emulate?

All the best - TJ