Army General: Ausgangsuniform

[David H]

Hello all I've decided to do part 1 of what will be hopefully a helpful guide to the visual developement of east german army general's uniforms. We are all becoming aware that generals uniforms are being faked and the best way to not be caught by the faker is to see original items, which these are all, this list will be by no means definative and will hopefully grow as time goes on. First I will start with the grey walking out uniform, ausgangsuniform.

I will delibrately not be showing aspects of insignia that I consider dangerous, as I am a little worried of dubious eyes watching our forum.

I hope you find it enjoyable and informative.

David

[Flugzeugfuhrer]

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Good idea.

[David H]

First up we have a 1956 pattern uniform (to a known General) It is made of very heavy material (note the greenish hue) and has the 1956-1961 matt gold insignia and early pattern buttons and 1st pattern metallic shoulderboards. The hat is original to the uniform (I am not going to discuss the hats in depth in this thread as they will form a seperate thread of their own). NVA uniforms don't get much earlier than this.

[David H]

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[David H]

Second up we have a 1960's uniform, it is similar to the previous uniform, but it has the post 1961 metallic insignia, 2nd pattern buttons, it has the 2nd pattern shoulderboards, which interestingly moved away from metallic thread!
again it has the matching hat, fibre peak.

[David H]

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[David H]

Third up. Now this is a scarce jacket, some sources have said this is the 1st pattern Generals walking out jacket, but I believe this to be incorrect. All Generals had jackets of a similar type to the one previously shown. This jacket dates to the 1960's and has the same pattern insignia as the previous jacket, but also noted differences, it is gold piped and has embroided arabesques on the cuffs. It is made of a fine silk type material (again matching hat). I have found no official regulations detailing the different usages between the jackets, but I feel it would be fair to suggest this a Grosser Ausgangsuniform which fulfiled much the same role as the later Greater Gala uniform.

[David H]

...

[David H]

Fourth up. The final pattern of this jacket from the early 1980's
The appearence is much the same as the second jacket, but now it has the 1978 pattern all metal insignia and 1980 pattern 5 loop shoulderboards. These jackets began to be seen less and less through the 80's

[David H]

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[David H]

Finally. A original 1980's uniform, that shows what I believe to be dealers folly. I have not seen any evidence of a red piped walkingout uniform ever having metal arabesques or parade cords. There is a slim chance it was done in period by a General who wanted something a little different and I do think it looks great, but I suspect a dealer decided to make it look more desirable , luckily it would be easy to restore....but I'll leave it alone for the moment just in case it is correct...the research goes on. Anyway it proves a point of things aren't always as they seem.

[Flugzeugfuhrer]

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How about a close up og the ribbon bar? Top info.

[David H]

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[Soviet]

It is maybe a silly question, but I am wondering how could the boards having a "dirty" old look and the uniform being very clean? Does it mean the boards come from an other uniform? I am no uniform collector, but I’d like to learn more on these.<o></o>

Thanks for your help!

[Mike G.]

Soviet,

The "Dirty Look" is not wear or dirt - it is Patina.