Material Culture

Our previous post on Wehrmacht pebbled field blouse buttons included a photo of the backs of some pre-war and early war pebbled buttons, recovered from the Stalingrad battlefield. Here is a photo of the fronts of some of these buttons. This pattern of button was standard on Wehrmacht tunics and overcoats, and was used on some other uniform items as well.

These buttons show varying degrees of wear, and also spent many years on or under the ground. The mostly bare metal surfaces reveal details of the pebbled texture- large or small, more or less “pebbles,” arranged in an orderly or chaotic pattern, with more or less defined pebbling.

These are all pre-war or early war buttons, made of zinc or aluminum. They are from a tiny sample of original buttons and do not reflect the full range of pebbling patterns used by all of the manufacturers that made Wehrmacht tunic buttons out of various materials from 1935 to 1945.

Before the outbreak of WWII, Wehrmacht regulations stipulated that each soldier’s uniform and equipment items were to be marked with a tag with his name, and a stamp for his unit. Here is a scan from a Wehrmacht manual that showed where these stamps and labels were to be placed in the various items a soldier was issued.

Here is the interior of an early M34 field cap:

This cap follows the regulations exactly. Note that at some point the soldier was transferred and the unit stamp inked out with a new unit stamped in. There is no unit designation on the name tag, this would have been redundant as that information was on the ink stamp. Here is another original pre-war name tag of the same type.

Some of the name tags used before the war also did have ranks and unit designations. Here is one on a Reichsarbeitsdienst Zeltbahn. Various typefaces were used on these tags.

The use of the name tags and stamps was not the easiest or simplest way to mark gear, it was also not the most permanent way as the tags could be removed/replaced, but it was the prewar German regulation way. Wehrmacht units were in charge of stamping the gear with the unit designation and we can assume that the tags were supplied by the units to the soldiers, or at least the tags were made easily available for them to buy. All this changed in 1940 with the following regulation:

“Allegemeine Heeresmitteilungen, Marz 1940

299. Namenszettel
     Waehrend des Krieges kommt das anbringen von Namenszettel as Stoff bzw Papier in die Bekleidungs und Ausrusestungsstuecke des Mannes (H. Dv. 121 Nr. 142) in Fortfall. Vorhandene sowie bereits bestellte Namenszettel koennen aufgebraucht werden.”

Translation: During the war the use of name tags made of cloth or paper in clothing and equipment of the men (as stated in previous regulation) is discontinued. Existing tags and those already ordered can be used.

Use of clothing labels was not a totally private and optional endeavor before the war, it was by regulation. When a new regulation stated that these tags were to be discontinued, it seems reasonable to assume that they were no longer supplied to soldiers by their units. This is presumably why the majority of surviving wartime issue uniform and equipment items do not have these name labels. Most surviving labels of this style are on pre-war items, though even some late war items can be seen with these; I regard it as probable that the tags were still made available for soldiers (or anyone else) to purchase. Despite the official discontinuation of these name tags, many soldiers did still feel a need to identify personal property and kit items. Here are original wartime field gear items that are marked in various ways. Many wartime items remained in use after May 1945, in POW camps and later, in civilian use, in some cases for decades; there is no doubt that some original Wehrmacht field gear items are out there in use to this day. It may be impossible to look at a wartime object and know when exactly a personal marking was applied, and it can be hard to find wartime photos showing a level of detail that would show if equipment items had small personal markings. For this article, I have chosen what I regard as typical examples that I regard as plausible for having been wartime done.

-Stitching name or initials into fabric, as seen on this gas mask strap:

-Use of simple typed glued-on name labels in place of printed tags, here on a gas mask canister:

-Writing a name on the item in ink, probably most common way for cloth items; here on a Rucksack, a Tornister, and a canteen cover:

-Scratching a name into a metal item, shown here on a belt buckle and a mess tin:

-Scratching or writing initials, a monogram, or identifying symbol of some kind. Here are a couple of canteens with marks on the leather straps, a Zeltbahn with an ink marking, and a mess kit:

Note that none of these examples have any kind of unit designation, divisional symbol or other identifier. Only rarely would a soldier have also added his unit. In such cases the Kompanie was specified, not the Division. A typical way would be the soldier’s name and the number of the Kompanie, as on this 1943 Tornister:

In some cases the Feldpost number of the soldier’s unit might be used, as on this late-war Tornister:

This large Rucksack and captured Soviet map case were also marked with names and Feldpost numbers:

There were also private purchase civilian type identifying items that soldiers could have bought and used as well to mark kit. Here are metal initials on a tailor made officer’s M38 cap, and a woven initial sewn on issue underclothing.

It should also be pointed out that many or most wartime Wehrmacht equipment items were not named at all. Issue items were Reich property, not owned by the soldier; he was responsible for them, but to a soldier, one canteen or mess kit might have been indistinguishable from another.

The Kriegsausrüstungsnachweisung (KAN) was a detailed list prepared by the Wehrmacht command for every type of unit, showing the gear with which that unit was to be equipped. The KAN did not list items like mess kits and canteens, that were issued to soldiers, but rather unit-level assets like weapons and vehicles. Here are two pages from two different wartime KAN documents. The typewritten one is from a leichte Panzer-Aufklärungskompanie (gepanzert), and the printed one is from a Maschinengewehrkompanie eines Jägerbataillons und eines Radfahr-Maschinengewehrbataillons. Both of these documents list in the “General long-distance signalling equipment” section, a “Swastika flag 1.5 x 5 meters” (Hakenkreuzfahne 1.5 x 5 m).

Here are a couple of photos that appear to show this type of large recognition banner in use. The propaganda film “Sprung in den Feind” also shows one of these at the 21:41 minute mark.

Here is a surviving original aerial recognition flag in this regulation 1.5 x 5 m size. Aerial recognition flags were single-sided, and had grommets for lashing them to objects on the ground. This banner has grommets at the corners and also at the center of each long side. Some of the photos include a German helmet, for scale.

Wehrmacht aerial recognition flags were also produced in smaller sizes.

Here are two originals. The larger measures 1 x 2 m. This is a common size of original aerial recognition flag to find today. The smaller one measures about 80 x 90 cm. Note that on the small flag, both the red field and the white roundel have seams, showing they were made of separate pieces of fabric that were pieced together. This was necessary due to the shortage of raw material for war production.

Some wartime aerial recognition banners used the “Balkenkreuz” military emblem rather than the Nazi swastika. The wartime photo shown here is the only one known to this writer, depicting this flag in wartime German use. The original shown here measures 1 x 2 m.

Aerial recognition drapes can be distinguished from other German 1935-45 national flags by the presence of the grommets and the single-sided construction. For comparison purposes, here is a very long national banner that would have hung from a pole or building. It’s double sided. The bottom end has a small, leather reinforced, web strap with snap hook for anchoring it, while the top end is sleeved for a pole. The pole sleeve on this one was torn by the American soldier who ripped this from its mounting when he took it as a souvenir.

German Army enlisted field blouses and greatcoats were adorned with shoulder insignia called Schulterklappen (literally translated, “shoulder flaps”). These pieces of insignia are usually referred to in English as shoulder straps, or shoulder boards. I have adopted the collector convention of referring to Schulterklappen as “shoulder straps” to distinguish them from officer “shoulder boards” (Schulterstücke, literally “shoulder pieces”).

During the 1930s, the German Army used several different shoulder strap styles in different colors and styles, finally settling in 1938 on a new pattern with rounded ends, piped around the edges with colored piping that indicated the branch of service to which the wearer belonged. The top of these straps was made from dark green wool. In 1940, these were replaced with straps made of the same field gray wool from which uniforms were made. 1940 was a time of massive mobilization and expansion in the German armed forces. Millions of these field gray branch piped shoulder straps were made. This shoulder strap pattern remained in use until 1945, with some construction variations. The field gray branch piped shoulder strap became the most widely issued German Army shoulder strap of the war.

Let’s take an in-depth look at the construction and materials details of some typical wartime factory made enlisted issue straps. I chose these straps as typical representative examples.

All of the straps in this photo are piped with rayon piping. Wool piping was typically used on 1930s straps. During the war, most factory made enlisted issue straps were piped with rayon. Here are two different variations in the knit of the rayon piping used. The piping on the top has a simple knit. The piping on the bottom is twill, with diagonal bands.

Here are two 1940 pattern straps. These are probably early or mid-war production, and are made from a fairly tightly woven field gray wool, with a small yarn size. The color and type of thread used to make these are the same as the thread used to construct the uniforms- these were made at the same factories, out of the same materials as the uniforms themselves. The buttonholes are the same as those used on the uniforms. You will see that these are two different sizes. I don’t have any documentation at hand to clearly explain why shoulder straps were made in different sizes.

The reinforcement fabric under the tongues of these straps, is a tan twill cotton material, the fabric most commonly used for lining field blouses and overcoats through the midwar period.

Later in the war, a new construction style appeared. These are referred to by collectors as “M44” shoulder straps although I have not seen any documentation specifying when this style appeared. This was a simplified pattern. The tops were made from a single piece of wool, without the backing piece that had been used previously. Instead of being fully lined, these had a simple reinforcement strip down the middle of the underside. The stitching for this reinforcement strip is visible on the tops of the boards. These shoulder straps are made of later war materials. The strap on the right has nap wear, which reveals the larger yarn size as compared to the earlier straps above. The stitching on the left strap shows that the tension on the sewing machine used to produce it was not properly adjusted- a sign of hasty manufacture.

The undersides of these straps show details of the reinforcement. With no backing fabric, all of the piping can be seen, not just the edge. The strap on the right has the most common reinforcement style, a strip of rayon (artificial silk) which was the typical uniform lining fabric in 1944-45. The strap on the left is reinforced with a piece of HBT woven gray tape.

This “M44” strap is piped in lemon yellow, indicating membership in a Nachrichten unit. It’s made out of Italian wool, a coarse, bluish fabric widely used for German uniforms in 1944-45.

The “tongue” of this strap is made of “Feldgrau 44” wool. This was a brownish field gray shade introduced in 1944. The reinforcement is the typical rayon uniform lining fabric. It’s likely that the blue Italian wool and the brownish German wool used to construct these straps, were scraps left over from uniform production.

There was also a style of shoulder strap that used simple tape loops rather than the “tongue” for uniform attachment. I have not seen any documentation to indicate when this style appeared, whether it was just a manufacturer variation or perhaps intended for some specific purpose. These are generally regarded as late war pieces, with some speculating that these may have been introduced later than the “M44” style. The example on the left here is made out of a typical late war coarsely woven wool.

One of these boards is heavily worn, and the HBT woven tape attachment loop is broken. The other shows only light wear and has the attachment loop intact.

The underside of the left board is made of three pieces of scrap wool that have been pieced together. German uniforms made use of pieced-together scrap fabric for hidden areas of uniforms, even before WWII.

Factory made enlisted issue shoulder straps are interesting and helpful to study, as the materials used and construction details are all the same as what was used on other types of uniforms.

This German M40 pattern Feldbluse (field blouse) was made in 1940.

This was offered for sale by a seller who claimed it was an untouched and all-original field blouse, found in an attic. Many collectors scoffed and insisted that because the breast eagle is not a factory application, this must be a jacket that was worn postwar and restored. I saw the typical depot type repairs and suspected that this was a reissued jacket, worn by more than one soldier, in which case reapplied insignia would be normal. I took a chance on it and having it in my hands, I am sure that the insignia are wartime applied, that it was worn like this. The presence of the EK2 buttonhole ribbon and ribbon bar is non-regulation and the ribbon bar could have been added after the war, perhaps even by the original owner (and perhaps not), but I have left it as found.

It is very hard to find an original uniform like this, worn by a soldier in his daily life. Most surviving uniforms were hanging in closets or were in factories, depots or tailor shops at war’s end. Those are the types of uniforms most collectors are accustomed to seeing.

I took these pictures to showcase the various personal and depot repairs to this threadbare and hard-worn jacket.

The buttonholes have been repaired or reinforced, possibly by the soldier himself.

One corner of one lower pocket was replaced, and a new flap was added to that pocket, in a slightly different color shade. These are depot repairs done to prepare this worn-out garment for reissue.

The sleeve ends were altered, with a reinforcing strip of wool sewn to the inside of each cuff. It appears that the sleeves were shortened.

There is a machine sewn repair to a wear hole in one armpit.

Half of one sleeve panel has been completely replaced, as well as the elbow area of the other panel of that same sleeve.

The elbow areas of both panels of the other sleeve have also been replaced. These elbow repairs are all typical depot repairs, seen on reissued items.

Some of the belt hook eyelets are repaired by hand, possibly by the wearer.

-One of the hooks for retaining the internal suspender ends tore off, leaving a hole in the lining. This hole was neatly patched by hand, the edges of the patch neatly tucked underneath, the patch applied with tiny whip stitches.

This photograph illustrates the difference in wear between the exposed collar edge, and the protected wool that was underneath the collar liner (Kragenbinde).

Faded size and depot markings are still visible in the lining.

Many people perceive the 1934 pattern field caps as being early war items, but they continued to be made and issued past the mid-point of the war. The cap on the top (or in the left) in these photos was made in 1942; the cap on the bottom (or right) was reworked for reissue in 1943.

The 1942 cap here is made from typical wartime wool with a rayon lining that is more commonly associated with 1942 or 1943 pattern caps. It has 1940 pattern insignia. The 1943-dated cap was originally an earlier cap that was reworked with new lining panels. Many other examples of this type of reworked M34 cap with replaced lining parts are known, some from the same factory. Usually these have the 1940 pattern insignia, sometimes they have been resized and still have original manufacturer information and dates in the upper part of the lining. This one has a mismatched 1937 pattern cockade with a 1940 pattern eagle. The factory that made this did make M43 caps as well; it’s not that they were a manufacturer who did not change over to the new pattern, rather they were contracted to rework these hats for reissue.

Both of these caps originally had branch soutache, removed after mid-1942. They have machine sewn cockades and hand sewn eagles. Many collectors might regard these eagles as replaced, especially the 1942 example which has terrible stitching. I think both of these eagles are probably original factory applications, and I have my reasons for thinking this, though there is no way to prove it.

There are a lot of differences between these two caps, including the location of the insignia and the height of the front flap. Even on these simple caps with relatively few features, pattern differences are immediately obvious.

There are persistent collector legends about late war made M34 caps with 1944 dates or with factory applied 1943 pattern trapezoid insignia. I have never seen one and if they existed they must not have been common.

Some have asserted that after 1943, the M34 cap was mostly issued to non-combat units, static units or foreign volunteers, etc. This could be true; these units had a low supply priority and got lots of reissued stuff in general. The reworked caps show the effort that went in to keeping these caps in the supply chain. Usable caps were reissued, anything that could be made serviceable was reworked for issue.

In any case, the M34 cap was still evident in huge numbers in 1945, and almost certainly was still being issued (if not actually manufactured) until the last days of the war. Some 1945 film footage of surrendering units shows the M34 cap still predominant.

There may be specific units that can be researched and proven to have predominantly had M43 caps by the end of the war. Beyond that, though, I don’t think an M34 cap in 1944/45 can be said to be wrong. I believe they remained more common than many realize.

This last photo shows 5 original factory made enlisted issue M34 caps, just to give an idea of the range of variation here. Look at the differences in the scalloped front edges, for example. None of these caps have the same ventilation eyelets.