Enigma: Tailor made LW officer tunic in field grey material

[Mike Davis]

Apologies for the quality but posting these photos received from a friend for opinions.

The tunic appears to be standard LW officer cut but in Heer colored fabric.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this? Purpose? Thoughts?

[Mike Davis]

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[Mike Davis]

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[Gene]

Hmmm. . . ex-Heer transferred to the HG? Kept the color out of loyalty or maybe to show his displeasure at being transferred? Boards are Heer too.

[B. N. Singer]

Hmmm. . . ex-Heer transferred to the HG? Kept the color...maybe to show his displeasure at being transferred?

Not intending to pick a fight here but is that a joke?

B. N. Singer

[Paul Woodbyrne]

tunic

mike, is there any trace of Heer eagle ever being on tunic. Regards paul

[Mike Davis]

mike, is there any trace of Heer eagle ever being on tunic. Regards paul

All I have is the posted photos - and from them, there is no obvious trace of a Heer national emblem. Again, the cut of the piece would be quite typical as made by a tailor for a Luftwaffe officer. I have never seen a Heer officer tunic cut like this.

[AndyC]

I have collect since the 70s and never seen something like this before ?


Andy

[galizien41]

Well there are issue Feldgrau HG m43 tunics for EM/NCO's as we have seen before several times. You used to own one correct?
I guess a private purchase officer one is possible for the HG also. Any sign of a cufftitle?
too bad that name tag was cut. Any chance to see the date. I would imagine 43-44ish time period. Was the HG in Vienna during that time period?

[Homer Hodge]

Heer Oberst Wilhelm Schmalz joined the newly forming HG Pz Div in late 1942 or early 1943 as one of the PzGren Rgt commanders I believe. Prior to that Schmalz was assigned to the 9th Pz Div which was home based in Vienna. It is possible that this tunic belonged to Schmalz and, at some point, he had it made by his Vienna tailor. Schmalz became division commander in Apr 44 and was promoted to Generalmajor shortly thereafter.

[Johnny R]

Could it be an off the rack SS tunic used by a LW officer. Tiller made a lot of SS items.

[-Ray-]

Heer Oberst Wilhelm Schmalz joined the newly forming HG Pz Div in late 1942 or early 1943 as one of the PzGren Rgt commanders I believe. Prior to that Schmalz was assigned to the 9th Pz Div which was home based in Vienna. It is possible that this tunic belonged to Schmalz and, at some point, he had it made by his Vienna tailor. Schmalz became division commander in Apr 44 and was promoted to Generalmajor shortly thereafter.

Beat me to the punch!

See Book; "Hermann Goering" From Regiment to Fallschirmpanzerkorps, by Gerorge Petersen/Bender Books.
Herr Ober Schmalz is illustrated in an introduction color photo wearing a field grey tunic.

[Mike Davis]

Could it be an off the rack SS tunic used by a LW officer. Tiller made a lot of SS items.

I'd say nein. Again, LW cut. Not Heer. Not SS. Not some strange non German maker. Just my opinion....

[Homer Hodge]

Beat me to the punch!

See Book; "Hermann Goering" From Regiment to Fallschirmpanzerkorps, by Gerorge Petersen/Bender Books.
Herr Ober Schmalz is illustrated in an introduction color photo wearing a field grey tunic.

Yes, there is a color photo on pg 166 of Petersen's book of Schmalz as a Generalmajor wearing what appears to be a Feldgrau tunic in LW cut.
I'm not quite sure when Schmalz actually joined the HG Pz Div. However, when the division was re-constituted after much of it was destroyed or captured in Africa, Schmalz (as an Oberst) was commander of HG Brigade z.b.V. When the division deployed to Sicily in July 43 Schmalz commanded a Kampfgruppe of the HG Div.

[dukhunter]

Hi,

Peter Whamond had a similar gray/green Luft tunic for sale on his web site a few years ago. It was a good looking piece although I cannot remember the rank or the color of the collar tabs but I think they were white. Anyway, maybe he can help shed some light on the subject.

Thanks,
G