Date Code "L" 1973 vs 1987

[usmedalman]

I have an opportunity to buy a WR-FD open collar "Auf Zeit" tunic which appears to be the gabardine material. Can someone please give me some tips which would help determine which year it was produced?

Thanks,
John

[iannima]

An open collar one is much more likely to be 1987 than 1973. There are oddities around that might militate against this, but that would be my first reaction.

[Knuckles930]

All wach-rgt tunics where made of officers quality. But the best way I found, is to
check the lining of the inside pocket. (also works with hose ext) If the inside is
made of cotton, its of older vintage. The newer types have the so called Dee-de-ron
material, the DDR's counterpart of polyester.

I have 3 tunics from the Wach-Rgt and two of these are in this post:
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=271066
and my main project:
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=253776

One is from 1977 and the other from 1988. The last one is an officers tunic
from 1986. Only the one from 1977 has cotton as a pocket lining.

So if it has dee-de-ron as a lining you can be certain its from 1987, since the
one from 1986 also has it already, but the one from 1977 still has cotton.

If your buying from internet ask for a photo, you can see the difference quite
easy.

Hope this helps.

[Knuckles930]

An open collar one is much more likely to be 1987 than 1973. There are oddities around that might militate against this, but that would be my first reaction.

Both EM tunics I have are open collar ones with a button to
close it all up to the collar. But the spacing is not equal to the
rest of the buttons, for both tunics. So none seem to be meant
to be worn buttoned up.

[Rev462]

John:

I agree with Knuckles.

I have observed that tunics made up until about 1979 have the cotton pocket lining. Beginning in about 1980/81 they switched to that shiny, smooth synthetic material.

Same for trousers & breeches.

For officer visor hats, the sweatband for a 1973 dated hat will be leather. By 1987 they had switched to that dark brown, synthetic material. A 1973 hat will also have the old, WWII style stitched sweat shield.

They started using the synthetic sweatbands much earlier in enlisted visor hats, but pre-1982 hats also have the WWII style sweat shield.

By the way, an EM in any of the Wachregiments would wear a gabardine visor hat with EM insignia.

[usmedalman]

Thanks for the tips. I appreciate all the info.

John

[olivyaya]

The way the tunic is marked is an indication too


I/L = 1973 (Roman number)
1./L = 1987 (Arabic number)