Heer tunic to an Unteroffizier, Nachrichtentruppe, HBT/Drillich

[Fiore]

Gentlemen,

Would appreciate some help with this one. Ostensible an M43 tunic to a signals Unteroffizier in HBT/drillich material. However I have some questions.

Firstly, though an 'M43' the ink-stamp inside reads 'H.B.H/42', so 1942 - was this cut of tunic being produced in the that year? Perhaps very late in the year?

Second, we have an obviously replaced breast eagle. One can clearly see the old stitch lines (just above the red lines in the photo below). Not a deal-breaker for me - appears neatly re-applied by machine; possibly period done?

Thirdly the shoulder straps are a mis-matched pair, though both in the proper lemon-yellow for signals troops. Does the construction of each appear genuine to you all?

Finally the NCO's collar tresse - has anyone seen tresse with the obvious black borders like this one? I have only seen the all-grey variation as can be seen on the shoulder straps.

Thanks for looking!

[Fiore]

Excuse the bump - any opinions at all?

[Neil Hever]

I think the Shulterklappen were added to make it look better - so maybe not original to the Bluse. I would double check on the manufacturing date of the Bluse since some of our references as collectors are misleading. I believe M43 manufacturing started in 1942. The Tresse looks like it was sewn in with black thread - kind of odd but not unknown. I've seen other insignia sewn in with black thread. I don't know what to say about the Adler. Probably re-applied. It appears to be a period piece with some upgrades.
Neil

[JPhilip]

Hello,
There is no official text that says when the scalloped flaps were changed to straight ones.
Even if the bulk of Feldblusen 43 were made in 1943 and 1944, one can assume that the production started in the last trimester of 1942. NZMark has shown a photo of a german soldier who wears a third type Tropenbluse on his departure for Africa and the photo was December 1942 dated. There is no reason to believe that continental production was impacted later with this change in the flaps design.

The Tresse with black "stripes" is an early variant that was theorically used in the Heer and WaffenSS for their Drillich tunics. It's quite surprising to see it added to a Drillich 43 tunic. The way it is folded at the angles is not common i would say.

Below is a Obergefreiter arm chevron with the same Tresse.

The breast eagle is replaced.

The soulderstraps look ok (the material and sewings of one of them look strange).
Thanks