Chen M36 Officer's Tunic

[Panzer Wittman]

As we all know, Chen can be hit and miss with his products - but he's consistantly hit and miss. Some things he does well and others he doesn't.
My group have been going to chen for a few years direct for our mess-dress M36 Tunics and having put on a few pounds it was time for me to order a new one.
Thankfully the M36 Officers tunic by Chen is still excellent quality - thick field grey gabardine, stiff lined collar, artificial silk lining, German makers label, dagger hanger - all top notch.
Thought i'd post a link to the pic of the finished article for anyone looking to get one.
I ordered mine though militaria-net (so much for the exclusive only to hessen antique line!) as Chen no longer deals direct. The only problems were the delivery time - quoted 1-3 weeks and then took 13, and the price. £125 is still good value for an item of this quality but only a year or so ago they were going for under £50 including breeches. Chen has now signed yet another 'exclusive' deal with a distributor in europe meaning all stuff goes though him first - bizarre.
The Tunic is finished for mid-late russian campaign Hauptsturmfuhrer of the recon batallion.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56103462@N05/?saved=1

[Hoffman Grink]

Small point of detail.. Remove the EKII ribbon from the button hole - It was either worn on the ribbon bar OR on the button hole. seldom both. And as you have a dress uniform - it would be better to only have it on the bar. I also think that from memory the PartieAbzeichen goes ABOVE the EKI. I will however have to reference that.

[Brigardefuhrer]

Also I think your find only the golden party badge was permitted on military uniform and that the ordinary party badge was forbiden to be worn on active service at the front.

[Hoffman Grink]

John is indeed correct - I had found that information - which is indeed why a GoldenerParteiAbzeichen would be worn above an EKI.
(John's ACE! He knows tons of stuff!)

[Panzer Wittman]

Thanks for the help mien herren.
Yes you appear to be correct in the party badge. Cheers for that. Thankfully easily solved.
Regarding the ek2 ribbon Herr Grink is right that's it was much more common to find either the bar or ribbon but there are pics of both being used. A couple can be found in trangs tk book but they were very much in the minority.

[Brigardefuhrer]

Thanks Paul,but it might be down to owning a large number of books and now these days spending a lot of time on the WAF forum,the internet is ok for some things but alot of it is wrong(I know some older books by certain authors have fakes in them)but you cannot beat good old fashioned well researched books.

[barryG]

Regarding the golden party badge, the large one is for uniform and the small for civilian attire... be sure to get the right one.

[Stigroadie]

thick field grey gabardine

Any idea what the gabardine is made of?

[daviken]

gabardine should be in 100% wool, but I doubt it is the reallity. The only one company which still make it (without synthetic fibers) is Weberei Mehler in Germany.
By the way the cut of the tunic is wrong for the year 1941 (at lest for a tailored one) : first button to closed to collar, collar shape soso, chest dart should going to bottom edge.

[Hoffman Grink]

Having seen some of daviken's tailoring work I would respect his opinion.

[leicanthrope]

FWIW, the only members of the SS to receive SS Long Service Awards (in addition to what all other uniformed NSDAP personnel received, the NSDAP Long Service Crosses), were career enlistee members of the Waffen-SS (formerly SS-VT), cadre personnel of the SS-Junkerschulen, and permanent members of SS-Totenkopfverbände. Thus most members of the SS were never eligible for "SS" long service awards.

[Peiper]

Nice tunic Wittmann, i prefer the wool type though, here's a pic of the "Peiper" tunic
i put together two yrs ago if intrested in looking lol.

SS Uniform 1.jpg (24.93 KiB) Viewed 4172 times

[Hoffman Grink]

You're missing a few Pipes

German Equestrian Badge in Bronze (?)
Iron Cross Second (1940) and First (1940) Classes
SS-Honour Ring (?)
Knight's Cross (1943)
Oak Leaves (1944)
Swords (1945)
German Cross in Gold (1943)
Infantry Assault Badge in Bronze (1940)
Eastern Front Medal (1942)
Sudetenland Medal (1938)
Prague Castle Bar (1938)
Anschluss Medal (1938)
Close Combat Clasp in Bronze (1943)
Close Combat Clasp in Silver (1943)
Tank Destruction Badge (1943)
SA Sports Badge in Bronze
SS Long Service Award in 4 and 8 years
Tank Badge 50 or 75
Ribbon bar of Iron Cross, Eastern Front, Sudetenland, Anschluss and SS Long Service.

Now that WOULD be a bling uniform.

[Peiper]

You're missing a few Pipes

German Equestrian Badge in Bronze (?)
Iron Cross Second (1940) and First (1940) Classes
SS-Honour Ring (?)
Knight's Cross (1943)
Oak Leaves (1944)
Swords (1945)
German Cross in Gold (1943)
Infantry Assault Badge in Bronze (1940)
Eastern Front Medal (1942)
Sudetenland Medal (1938)
Prague Castle Bar (1938)
Anschluss Medal (1938)
Close Combat Clasp in Bronze (1943)
Close Combat Clasp in Silver (1943)
Tank Destruction Badge (1943)
SA Sports Badge in Bronze
SS Long Service Award in 4 and 8 years
Tank Badge 50 or 75
Ribbon bar of Iron Cross, Eastern Front, Sudetenland, Anschluss and SS Long Service.

Now that WOULD be a bling uniform.

There is the badges he wore on there, such as throat ache with knife/fork and veggies,
scrambled egg, tank buster strip, EK-1/2, combat clasp, tank 50 badge and silver wound badge,
apparantly the real "Pipes" didn't wear the pre war tin ??

Peiper pic 2.jpg (23.51 KiB) Viewed 4164 times

Peiper M36 Sidecap..JPG (37.15 KiB) Viewed 4164 times

Cheers Pipes

[Hoffman Grink]

Irony is lost on you isn't it?