Officers Belt or Buckle?

[Mons 1914]

I'm in the process doing a German Infantry Lieut Officer half mannequin,
now I can't decided on the belt, should i go with, the Officer type or the Pte/Nco Type,
Most of the equipment, Y Straps, pouches, etc are dated between 1941/43, Tunic is a 1942 pattern, the reason I ask is the order issued in 1943? (I think) that officers should ware the Pte/Nco type belt.

So which would you guys go for? smile wink
Thanks
Scott

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Scott, I am not aware of that order?

I would go for an Officers double claw belt and buckle.

My only concern would be that Officers tended not to carry a full range of field equipment. More likely to carry binos, pistol, map case, etc.

Cheers, Ade.

[Mons 1914]

Hi Ade,

I was unsure weather to put that in the thread, before I posted I had a quick search here, & yes, a few posts from other members a while ago mention this, anybody else?

Yes, I agree with the officer equipment, I'm only having, Y straps, 1x Mp40 Pouch, 1x K98 Pouch, Map case etc, more of a Combat Platoon Leader than a higher officer.
Scott

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Scott, given what you have, I think I would go with the MP40 pouch and map case, but I think I would leave off the Y straps. Period photos are the way to go on this.

Cheers, Ade.

[Mons 1914]

For the time being, the Y Straps have no other place to go, until I get round to doing an NCO one.

Ideally a pair of MP40 pouches would be better, but until I find a suitable example,the K98 will take it's place.

I'll post some nice pictures near christmas, when I have a few more bits.

Scott

[Mons 1914]

Ade,
I just found the post again, it's really interesting.
Scott


Gentlemen,

The story of Heer officer is far to be a short story ..
I will try to be clear with my poor english ..

Heer officer began the war with a brown Belt with strap but at the end of Polish Campaign the strap was forbidden.

More in November an order said that in operation all officers (regiment commander too) had to wear the enlisted men belt !
This order is for Infantry, Artillery, Armoured troops but not Tanks, Cavalry, Smoke Troops, Engineer, Signal, Medical and Veterinary..In fact naerly all...

In may 1943 this order was stopped. In July an order say to change the brown belt to black but in october a new order stopped this one as it is not a good thing to try to change a brown belt to black for the uniform material (1).
Therefore after this note we can imagine that factory made belt still be produced in black..

Now take a look at some period photos and you will see how German officer attached importance to uniform orders !

Hope I help a little bit..

Sorry with not enought time I don't indicated the notes numbers....