Hello i present my new realisation ,a pioner in normandie in near mint condition
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Snow pants?
Tropical canister?
Luftwaffe blue? -
Those are white drillich pants and not snow pants...as for the gasmask seems that it has been corrected in the first picture on the top.
I like the set
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Looks okay to me, I have seen post 43 cannisters painted the standard vehicle and factory yellow and the bags in that color were used by all the services especially later when the LW and KM were dismantled and troops transfered to the Heer.
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Yes everything tends to get mixed up I suppose...Comment
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Tres bien, Doc!
DonComment
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nice hbt m42 tunic. has anyone got period pics of clips being held under the ammo pouch straps, as here? and is that an 'issue' rifle rack in the background? 2 water bottles too? enough. nice display!Comment
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Snow pants = drillich pants, fatigue white HBT, totally possible us substiture warm weather garment!!!Originally posted by Adam S. View Post
(often worn by engineers often seen during the Blitzkrieg, so early impression)
Tropical canister = actually ordnance tan colored canister = OK (not necessaeily tropical,instead its a base color, as used on vehicles, which could be camoflaged,
as often seen during the Normandy campaign)
Luftwaffe Blue gas cape pouch I agree on... indeed better would have been WH green one instead!
Nice display!Comment
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It always amazes me how you figure all this stuff out by yourself without ever reading the thread comments.Originally posted by NickG View Post
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Thanks for the comments, the pants are a white drillich,i find the canister in May 2010 in Lorient , i think it's not a tropical canister? The rifle rack are not german. Sorry for my english
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All looks nice, but with white trousers he would be a perfect target from a distance.....Comment
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Actually they are more 'off-white' (natural coloured), not really white... When freshly issued, these early type Drillich trousers are more of a beige colour, they tend to bleach after wearing and washing.
Seen on numerous photos of WH soldiers in training in France, but also in combat, even in 1944. Although by then most Drillich sets where issued in the well-known 'reed-green' colour, ocasionally white trousers can still be seen.
This display can also be influenced by an article in Militaria Magazine, where a display of a Normandy fighter was shown with these trousers. Doc 29 is French, so he must have based his choice on MM, the monthly 'bible' for hundreds of European collectors... The early Drillich trousers are also the cheapest WH trousers around, so...
As I am specialized in the 1940 fighting, I looked for proof of the use of these Drillich trousers in combat. There are only a few photographs that show these in the spring of 1940, when WH combat dress regulations where a lot stricter than in 1944. NickG is right when he states that Pioniere used this (e.g. the men who stormed Eben-Emael head-on, the 51st Pi Btn), also some front-line troops in the same sector of Maastricht/ Albert canal.
Early Drillich trousers can still be found in mint, un-issued condition. Probably left-overs from stocks of uniform clothing, obsolete by the end of the war.
LuciusComment
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I knew Franz Gockel and he told me that HBTs were the uniform of choice. These guys were mostly in FP and trenches but White actually is not a real obvious color at distances. It is harder to see than others, especially the neutral oatmeal.Comment
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Harder to see when ? In summer, mostly in ocean of green ?It is harder to see than others, especially the neutral oatmeal.
Well used,very, very light, almost white trousers ?
Sorry, i would prefer something in darker colours - like tunic.Comment
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I confirm my drillich are beige colour and he is mint ,thanks Lucius
But for me Militaria magazine
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