Sumpftarn Patterns and Hoods

[Collectinsteve]

A week or so ago I discovered a strange Sumpftarn hood in my collection that I had not noticed before. I mentioned this to Klaus and today we exchanged some emails about it. After some more thinking I figured it out and thought I should document it.

There are two different Sumpftarn camouflage patterns:

1. 1st Pattern -> red and green colors blur together
2. 2nd Pattern -> red and green colors have distinctive space between them

The uses for each pattern were:

1st Pattern
-> BGS 1st Model Jacket, Smock, Trousers, Hood, and Hat 1958-1962 (smock production not clearly known)
-> Berlin Polizei Jacket, Trousers, and Hood 1960-1962
-> S-H Polizei Jacket and hood (perhaps trousers, but never seen one) of unknown production

2nd Pattern
-> BGS Zeltbahn 1959-1963
-> BGS 2nd Model Jacket, Parka, and plastic rain cape 1967-1975 (or 1976)
-> BGS GSG-9 helmet cover and frag vest cover (likely mid 1970s to early 1980s)

I think that's a pretty complete list, but I might have missed something. Note that S-H and Berlin Polizei are interpretations of the 1st Pattern in terms of both shapes and colors, which makes them easily identifiable once you know what to look for. There are also significant differences in cloths used and color variations.

The "mystery" item I found was a hood for the 1st Model Jacket made from 2nd Pattern cloth. This puzzled me quite a bit because it didn't make sense for the BGS to make hoods in the late 1960s for outdated jackets. Then I realized I forgot all about the Zeltbahns being made in 2nd Pattern and being available from 1959 onward. Not surprisingly when I compared my hood against a Zeltbahn everything matched. Here are side by side pictures:





I think it's pretty obvious that from the years 1963-1967 many hoods were lost compared to the number of jackets still being used. Since the hood was still a part of the uniform they would be motivated to make replacements. Because they ran out of 1st Pattern cloth they made more hoods out of either unused Zeltbahn material or perhaps cutting up existing Zeltbahn.

Mystery solved

Note that there are some minor production differences between the two. Specifically the 1st Model has vertical button holes while the 2nd Model has horizontal button holes. Secondly, the 1st Model's "hem" extends over the "sides" while the 2nd Model has the "sides" overlapping the "hem".

It's minutia, I know, but perhaps interesting to at least one person other than me

Steve

[Klaus1989]

As I mentioned in email, some great detective work!

Regards
Klaus

[Collectinsteve]

And funny enough, shortly after writing this post I came upon new information!

Everything I said above could be 100% accurate, however there was a jacket on eBay DE that was a first for me. It was a 1st Model jacket (definitely, for sure) that had significant portions of it made from Zeltbahn material! It was a pretty random mix, including one sleeve being 1st Pattern and the other being 2nd Pattern!

Until now I've never seen a 1st Model jacket made from anything other than 1st Pattern cloth. Sadly, there was no manufacture's ink stamp remaining. A common problem.

My guess about the jacket is it was one of the last produced. The factory still had an order to fill, but not enough 1st Pattern cloth to fill it with. If they were only short a small amount (a couple hundred meters or less) it would likely be too expensive to make more. Or maybe they had a tight deadline and there wasn't time to make new cloth. Either way, I presume that some condition arose that necessitated using 2nd Pattern cloth from Zeltbahns until the contract was complete.

I still think the 2nd Pattern cloth hoods were made in the mid 1960s after the 1st Model jackets were out of production. I think that because the design is different than the 1st Pattern hoods. If a factory was running low on cloth before 1962 they would not have changed the construction details just for that cloth. Plus, my theory for both the hood and the new mixed cloth jacket rests on the same concept... they ran out of 1st Pattern cloth before 1st Model uniforms were out of production.

Steve

[Klaus1989]

For the jacket, I think could be any time after 1959 or so (whenever Zeltbahn in Sumpftarn introduced), when there was cloth shortage of correct cloth is most likely. I admit very late production is possible of course, like you theorised.

Regards
Klaus

[Collectinsteve]

Well, once again I'm reminded that it's a good idea to dig old acquisitions out and reexamine them from time to time. I pulled a set of trousers I got 15+ years ago and found that it is made of a mix of 1st and 2nd Pattern cloth! Even better... there is a clear date stamp on it! 1960 and made by W&O.

I then went to pictures of trousers and looked at them more closely. I have pictures of four W&O 1960 trousers and one of them is also partially made from both types of cloth. None of the 1958 and 1959 type pictures show any mixed cloth types.

I also checked through my jackets and pictures of jackets. None, except for the one that was on eBay last week, show mixed cloth.

I'm pretty confident that the use of 2nd Pattern cloth for uniforms was at the end of 1st Model uniform production (1960). It was likely due to some sort of shortage of 1st Pattern cloth.

Steve