The year 1936 was an important year in the design of tunics issued to German soldiers. In that year, the Reichswehr was up to make some changes to the Feldbluse that was issued to its soldiers.
That was the first year that the Heeres Dienstanzug Modell 1936 was issued to members of the Wehrmacht Heer.
The new uniform, which included the “M36 Tunic” was made of wool of the color Feldgrau (field gray) that was so commonly found in German Army items not only from the Second but the First World War.
This new tunic had 4 front patch pockets and the tunic closed with 5 buttons instead of its predecessor’s 8. The collar and shoulder straps of the M36 were also a green color, rather than Feldgrau.
The design of the M36 was also shorter and tighter fitting than the earlier Feldbluse issued to Weimar-era soldiers, as it offered better mobility and restricted the movement less, especially for soldiers spending more time in vehicles.
Another interesting note regarding the M36 Tunic is that it had two straps inside the lining that could serve as an internal suspension system to support a gear belt, expanding the utility of the design.
While the M36 was produced and issued until the end of the war, successive changes were made to the design in subsequent iterations that saved costs for a war-strapped Germany.
One was the M40 Tunic, which was hardly different from the original M36 at all except for the fact that in the M40 the green collars and shoulder straps were made in Feldgrau.
When Germany started producing the M41 Tunic, they made it with a much cheaper quality fabric. Viscose and other recycled fabrics were added to the wool, decreasing the wool quality, necessitating the addition of another button for closure. In all other respects the M41 was the same as the M40.
The M42 was another variation in which minimal changes were made; it was effectively the same as the M41 except that, in order to save time and cut costs, the pleats were removed from the pockets.
This brings us to the M43 Tunic, which was manufactured with the removal of all pleats from the design in order to cut costs and speed up manufacturing. The internal suspension system was also heavily curtailed or completely removed from the design, further cutting costs and improving the economy of production. Hence the M43 Tunic is one of the more minimalistic of WW2 German uniform designs.
Late in 1944, with an economy burdened by the war effort, Germany further refined the design of its uniforms to continue cost-cutting. The M44 was a considerable departure from the M36 and was made with a waist length tunic skirt and an internal belt. The internal suspension system was completely removed from the design. Designed so late in the war, the uniform was primarily issued to new conscripts.
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