First pattern Heer EM Tropical service blouse - G. Lamparter
Article about: I posted some pictures of the tropical Aufklärungs / Reconnaissance EM shoulder straps (and some of the sellers tunic pictures) that came with this tunic earlier:- https://www.warrelics.eu/
First pattern Heer EM Tropical service blouse - G. Lamparter
I posted some pictures of the tropical Aufklärungs / Reconnaissance EM shoulder straps (and some of the sellers tunic pictures) that came with this tunic earlier:-
but thought I would add a dedicated thread with some of my own pictures.
This feldbluse was originally sold on the Virtual Grenadier, around 2018 I believe, with a pair of Sanitäter / Medical cornflower blue piped shoulder straps.
A subsequent owner changed the straps to the Aufklärungs EM Golden-yellow straps, i.e they were not original to the tunic, and likely being an unissued jacket it probably started life in the stores without any. I have added a pair of preferred tropical Artillery shoulder straps and moved the Aufklärungs straps to another tropical tunic.
Tropical Artillery shoulder straps shown in more detail here:-
Prior to that the feldbluse was in a decades old tropical collection that began in the 1940's and was added to with trips to Germany in the 1950's and 1960's where items were sourced from German veterans and deceased veteran's families. I don't know whether this tunic came from such a German source, only that it was in that collection for some time.
The maker is G. Lamparter (i.e Gustav Carl Robert Lamparter, owner of the Kleiderfabrik GmbH of the same name, born and died in Reutlingen, April 27 1871 - May 11 1939, owner of a family firm that continued after his death and continued to make uniforms for the German Army post WW2, until the 1960's at least). The tunic was manufactured in Reutlingen (south of Stuttgart), or one of it's nearby satellite manufacturing sites (i.e Ohmenhausen and Walddorf/Tübingen) and was then sent to the Munich Depot in 1942 (i.e M42 stamp under the maker stamp), like a lot of tropical items 'heading south'. The feldbluse was likely made before the RB Number system was officially introduced on 2nd June 1942, although of course the system was not enforced on 'Day One' and some manufacturers did not implement the system immediately.
As items were made prior to the move to the Depot I would say it was more likely made in the first half of 1942, and of course prior to the 2nd pattern tropical tunic that was already seen in Africa in late 1942.
It's an unissued tunic that could have gone to Africa, but also to Italy, Greece, or southern Russia including the Kuban 'Bridgehead' (or pocket).
I would have preferred a (light) worn tunic with a 1940 (!) or 1941 date but finding a nice example is not easy and sometimes you have to be quick (despite reserving this almost as soon as it was listed, had another buyer 'on my tail' almost immediately...). This one ticked a lot of boxes for me (originally applied insignia, no damage, reasonable size etc), and I must admit I have a weakness for readable stamps, and they aren't always legible.
Seen here with a post July 1942 regulations soutache-removed (ex Artillery!) cap in a similar condition.
Have looked at this feldbluse in the VG Sold section more times than I care to admit in the last few years, and was 'quite pleased' (!) when I saw it for sale again... patient is the hunter...
Thanks as always to the Virtual Grenadier for the usual excellent service and communication.
G. Lamparter also made feldgrau tunics (here an M40 pattern) at least the year before, perhaps also tropical tunics? With so few surviving examples can we ever be sure...
Interestingly, this example has a number under the pocket flap (1056?), and the tropical tunic above has "738" under it's pocket flaps/ and also inside both sleeves - perhaps a manufacturing trait, identifying cut parts of a 'to be finished' item or a cloth bolt number?
Reutlingen in 1935, the main Lamparter factory is in the middle behind the tennis courts, it's now a school (Isolde-Kurz-Gymnasium).
Also the satellite factory at Walddorf / Tübingen pictured in 1910 (perhaps they also made uniforms in WW1 ?), and the surviving building seen in 2023, now another firm, making PPE...
Finally, a new home for the Aufklärungs / Reconnaissance EM shoulder straps - now on a Third pattern tropical blouse, a few more pictures of that one here:-
First pattern Heer EM Tropical service blouse - G. Lamparter
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