Wehrmacht green jacket before WWII

[FramFramson]

Early war WWII German uniforms featured feldgrau pants and caps, but dulled green jackets. Is this purely a wartime measure? Would interwar combat/field troops using the Feldbluse Model 1936 early on (say 36/37) have worn green jackets prior to WWII or would the uniforms have been all-feldgrau?

I've tried to find resources and can't seem to find anything that states if the green jacket was purely a wartime measure or not. Looking at Condor Legion stuff is pointless because they adopted false Spanish uniforms.

I've seen parade colour pictures which seem to show all feldgrau, but these may have been parade and not field? And in any case it's 1930's colour photos so it's hard to tell properly anyway.

[Arlequín]

The Feldbluse (or Heeres Dienstanzug) was essentially a 'combat jacket' to be worn in the field. Development started in 1933 at which time it had a field grey collar, which was changed to dark green in 1935 before issue began the same year (despite it being 'Modelle 1936'). The various changes to it only began after the war started. 'Feldgrau' is actually the green-grey colour of the jacket, the pants were 'Steingrauen' (Stone Grey) until 1940, when they too began being replaced by 'Feldgrau' ones. So it was the colour of the pants that changed, not that of the jacket.

A search using Feldbluse Modell 1936 (or M36) should bring a veritable avalanche of hits.

[flags_of_war]

The Feldbluse (or Heeres Dienstanzug) was essentially a 'combat jacket' to be worn in the field. Development started in 1933 at which time it had a field grey collar, which was changed to dark green in 1935 before issue began the same year (despite it being 'Modelle 1936'). The various changes to it only began after the war started. 'Feldgrau' is actually the green-grey colour of the jacket, the pants were 'Steingrauen' (Stone Grey) until 1940, when they too began being replaced by 'Feldgrau' ones. So it was the colour of the pants that changed, not that of the jacket.

A search using Feldbluse Modell 1936 (or M36) should bring a veritable avalanche of hits.

A hub of knowledge mate

[Arlequín]

Only on a narrow range of topics, Fram dropped lucky. If he'd asked the same question three weeks ago, or about after 1940, I'd have been clueless. Thanks anyway though. 

[FramFramson]

Ah! It was online images of the early war uniform from Osprey books which were confusing me, like this one.



As you can see the jacket here looks quite green. I've also seen miniatures painters doing early war figures interpret it the same way, with feldgrau pants and a green jacket. The fact that feldgrau can be an inexact and variable colour confused things as well.

So thanks for the correction!

[Arlequín]

You're welcome. 

The colour does appear very variable, on top of that formal officers' jackets were made form a higher quality material, which while 'feldgrau', looked very different to those of the other ranks.

As you say there is such a variation of shades, some of which are effectively 'light stone grey' to my eyes. I think as long as the pants are darker than the tunic and that has a hint of green in the grey, they'll probably match a real uniform somewhere.