Dutch converted SS-Uscha tunic, Führer Anwarter

[Winkelman]

Hello Gerd ! " The tunic is former Dutch army and converted to German use " . What makes you think that ? The seam at the waistline ? Dutch EM issue uniforms always had cuffs ; their breast pockets were worked INTO the front cloth , and could therefor never be made into external pockets without this showing .. Dutch EM tunics of the rare experimental 1938 type were also converted for German use , but had 4 outside pockets of a very different design - and cuffs ..

[phild]

Hello Gerd ! " The tunic is former Dutch army and converted to German use " . What makes you think that ? The seam at the waistline ? Dutch EM issue uniforms always had cuffs ; their breast pockets were worked INTO the front cloth , and could therefor never be made into external pockets without this showing .. Dutch EM tunics of the rare experimental 1938 type were also converted for German use , but had 4 outside pockets of a very different design - and cuffs ..

We all could make a better determination in person or even with more photos inside and of the back, but the 7 button front is a good tip that it may be Dutch. The color also looks very close and the low postion of the chest pockets are all also typical Dutch tunic characteristics. I agree that the normal conversion was not this extensive, but I have seen it before (external pockets and turnback cuff removal), it looks to me like this on may have had the shorter Dutch type cuffs as one time...it seems to be a shade difference in that area. Last, the weave of the wool looks closer to Dutch than to German of this period...as the tunic is set up in the early M36 general style.

I could be wrong, but I think that Dutch is a strong possibility.

[Winkelman]

Hello Phil , I see what you mean .. Then this is indeed one uncommonly serious conversion ; instead of just making buttonholes in the original pocketflaps, these would have to be removed , the 5,5 " slits in the frontcloth to be stitched close , then a complete set of upper pockets sewn on to cover this , lower pockets added and cuffs removed & resewn ( maybe even with openings ? ). Well , at least this makes for a half-decent German tunic ( apart from the number of buttons ) , unlike the Ostvölker-style . I wonder what they did to the thick , heavily stitched liner - it does show the correct Dutch color in the pics . No wonder there are so few pre-1940 Dutch EM tunics left ..!

[Winkelman]

P.S. : After all this amount of work , they seem to have forgotten to put in holes for the belthooks ??

[willysproject]

The lining. But you can't see that on these pics.
Don't worry... it was a Dutch tunic. I have enough experience to determine that.

Kind regards,
Gerd V

Hello Gerd ! " The tunic is former Dutch army and converted to German use " . What makes you think that ? The seam at the waistline ? Dutch EM issue uniforms always had cuffs ; their breast pockets were worked INTO the front cloth , and could therefor never be made into external pockets without this showing .. Dutch EM tunics of the rare experimental 1938 type were also converted for German use , but had 4 outside pockets of a very different design - and cuffs ..

[phild]

P.S. : After all this amount of work , they seem to have forgotten to put in holes for the belthooks ??

I am suspecting that this conversion was not the "official" one done at or by a clothing depot, but rather a private conversion....meaning that the soldier may have actually owned this tunic rather than just being issued it.

The dark geen collar and the extensive overhaul of the pockets seem to indicate this. There may well have not needed to be belt support holes on what was essentially a walking out tunic when the work was done. It may have seen combat later, but it was not converted for that purpose IMO.

[Winkelman]

Good one ..!