French Made Heer Tropical Shirt

[DAK D]

Here are some photos of a French made tropical shirt from my collection and it has had some German features added in the field, possibly done by the soldier himself, or at unit level by the company tailor. This shirt has seen very hard service use, as the collar has been replaced the cuffs have had olive green drill material machine stitched to to lower part to prolong the life of the shirt.

Large numbers of these shirts were captured from the French when France fell in June 1940 and the Germans put them to good use when supplying members of the DAK, but these were not issued in early 1941, unlike the Dutch made tropical helmets that were issued to many members of Panzer Regiment 8 who were part of the famous 15th Panzer Division.

The green drill was probably removed from the soldiers tropical field blouse and given to the company tailor and It is very common to see tropical field blouses with parts of the inner lining removed. I do not believe this was done in captivity when and if the soldier was POW and in my opinion this was down to the desperate supply situation the Germans faced in 1942, as the Italians found it almost impossible to get any supplies to the ports of Tripoli and Tobruk.

It is very clear that the eagle that was sewn onto this particular shirt was an Heer tropical one and although there is no direct provenance this shirt was most probably used in North Africa.  

I will try and take a better overall shot of the shirt, but it is not an easy item to photograph and I am using my iPhone 5.

D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2016 by DAK D

[Mav352]

Cracking shirt @DAK D just the way i like them 

[Manu Della Valle]

In my opinion this one started its like as a regular French shirt that was modified by the German(s) adding the loops and buttons for the shoulter boards,in fact the French shirt had "tunnels" thru which the lower part of the boards had to be slipped thru!
Cracking shirt indeed DAK,thank you for sharing mate!
Cheers
Manu

[Manu Della Valle]

DAK,
have you read my post on collarless tunics belonging to POOWs that I had posted a few days ago on Lenny's thread on his LW green HBT tunic?
I found myself a collarless DAK shirt many years ago!
Cheers
Manu

[Guest Fred Karno's Army]

Nice to see those cracking pictures,you know you're stuff fella  .

Keep posting @DAK D fascinating read.

[DAK D]

Hi Mav

Thank you for you comments and yes I like to see the been there pieces myself

D

[DAK D]

Hi Manu,

Yes I concur with your opinion that this French made tropical shirt is one of the earlier made ones.

I did read your interesting post!

I have not seen any collarless DAK/tropical shirts, but the modification would make sense.

Thanks and I am happy you like the shirt. I will post the other French made tropical shirt soon, as that one has more modifications to take German buttons on the breast pockets using "S" rings

Best,

D

[DAK D]

Hi Ham & Jam,

Thank you...

For me the "Desert War" was the most interesting Campaign of WW2 and veterans on all sides mostly speak/spoke highly of each other, although sadly now many vets are  gone.

D