M38 & M42 smock service question

[Scott in CA]

Hello,

I'd like to know around what time the M42 smock actually began appearing in significant numbers on SS soldiers in the field. Also, for how long after the appearance of the M42 did the M38 continue to see use by SS troops?

Thanks for any information...

Scott

[phild]

I've seen photos attributed to the year of 1942 showing SS wearing M-42 smocks. Like anything the fielding accelerated over time from the introduction. If smock production was stopped in early 1944 (as I have read) one has to think that M-42 smocks were made only for about 18 months or so.

The earlier smocks were worn right up to the end of the war, like every other earlier uniform item. One difference is the high attrition of smocks due to thier use almost soley by front line troops and junior officers, the nature of the fighting conditions of most W-SS formations and the tendency of wear,fading and tearing that a cotton outer garmet like a smock will suffer in general.

Like all cloth items, most of what we see today escaped issue. Much cloth will be a bad condition due to post war use or poor storage conditions, but a fairly small percentage will show true hard field wear...this is true of all of it.

[Bobwirtz]

A lot of the early Waffen-SS soldiers that were issued the pullover camouflaged smocks looked upon them as an indicator of being an "Old Timer" or "Old Veteran" and resisted turning them in for new issue, especially the M44 dot pattern camouflage uniform. So these smocks were pretty well worn all the way through the war.

[Scott in CA]

I had no idea that smock production ever stopped before I posted this inquiry - sure am glad I asked! Many thanks for the answers and the online education, guys. I appreciate them!

[Bobwirtz]

Oh yeah. Mike Beaver's book goes into this quite well (Camouflaged Uniforms of the Waffen-SS: A Photographic Reference). He displays each of the camouflaged patterns and tells when they were produced and what articles of clothing were made from each. The reason that the HBT (and polished cotton) M44 dot camouflaged pattern uniforms came out is because the Germans ran out of the materials to make the waterproof cotton duck, which was used in the production of zeltbahns, smocks, helmet covers, and field caps. The last two items were actually made from the scraps left over from the former two. So when the SS-BW changed to the HBT, all of these articles were no longer manufactured. So when you see somebody offering a Waffen-SS camouflaged field cap in the dot camouflaged pattern, it's a fantasy. Even if it was field-made, they would have had to make it out of a ripped up 4-pocket jacket or pair of trousers because the primary source of a lot of the field-made stuff was the zeltbahn, which wasn't manufactured in the dot camouflaged pattern. Get Mike's book and I think you'll be surprised with the changes that occurred in 1944. It's a great reference book, especially if you're into Waffen-SS camouflage.

Bob

[Scott in CA]

I'll have to go get a copy - thanks for the info, Bob!

[jotuntroll]

I`ll had the book for many years now, and I can onlysupport what Bob has said. I is the best reference book with close ups in coloure I know of!