How common were the summer cotton uniforms in the Wehrmacht?

[XX55XX]

I am wondering if any of the HBT uniforms issued from 1940 onwards were widely used in the Wehrmacht. Most of the pictures I see from the summer of 1941 show the Germans wearing wool uniforms, despite the heat.

Were HBT uniforms common at all? Or were they just a one off thing produced in small quantities for troops fighting in Africa?

[keifer kahn]

I wouldnt expect to see a lot of HBT in 41 as they hadnt been around that long too be widely issued(1st pattern hBT are rare compared to the later 2 other models M42 and M43).
Later on they were commonly used during the summer months in southern Russia,Italy,France,etc.

Hard to tell from pics as well , sometimes if troops are wearing wool or HBT.

There are some threads detailing Pics of HBT .Use the search engine.

[Johnny R]

What I was told by German Veterans was that they were issued in small quantities the early part of the War with Russia, if they did not have them. what they did was to dye the oatmeal HBT drillichs and wear the blue grey drill jackets in the field until supplied with the four pocket versions. By the middle of the War they were common and were worn in all the areas of the War.

[FestungSpanien]

Agree with Johnny and many period pictures prove that lots of soldiers didn't even dye the oatmeal drillich tunics/pants and wore them that way in combat in Russia.