'ital' hbt
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Although the cut is very similar to the known tunics, indeed the fabric appears to be too thick for being it a issue tunic IMO. At the other hand these late war tunics are little known and far from popular within the majority of the colletors community therefore I give it a doubt if this would have been a post war creation.
There has been a interesting thread about this topic - unfortunately lost the link- in which I tried to summarize my point of view on these type of tunics (sometimes unoffically called "M45").
Naturally this tunic has been evolved due to the decline in materials and production efforts, but still I don't believe it can only be attributed to this circumstance. Why I do think we can speak of a new design is that the "M45 tunics" all show the same important differences compared with standard issue M44 tunics. This is something that IMO simply can't be compared with a specific M44 tunic that incidentally may show one or maybe more of these characteristics and that was produced with what ever was available at that time.
1. All "M45 tunics" have the narrow waist with one button closure;
2. All have 5 button closure in stead of 6;
3. All lack the inside pockets and lining;
4. All have the pointed pocket flaps, most often without buttons;
5. All have closed cuffs;
6. All are designed to worn top closed, unlike the M44 that is normally worn with the top unbuttoned;
7. All have the single stitched/unbacked collar (instead a single stripe of liner is used) that makes it almost more resemble to a blouse;
8. All branches (Heer, W-SS, Polizei) have known to have been issued them with exact these production standards;
9. Different manufactures have made them, again with all the above points present;
10. As early as in 1944 production seem to have begun, thus along side M44 issue tunics that have been manufactured up until 1945.
Happy NY
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