Waffen SS M43 Feldbluse
Historical Development & Reproduction

The M1943 field blouse was actually introduced by the German Army during the autumn of 1942 and was adopted by the Waffen-SS about one year later in October of 1943, but with slight modification. SS jackets had a five-button front (as opposed to six for Heer jackets) and double, instead of triple, belt hook eyelet stacks.

The M43 improved on the time and material saving steps introduced with the M42 blouse by finally eliminating the pocket flap scallops and replacing the rounded pocket corners with easier to make sharp corners. The lining was usually shiny 100% rayon "silk", but many examples exist with twill lining. Fabric quality had degraded to the point where 70% of the blend was artificial wool made of cellulose fibers. The change in material was accompanied by a new field-gray shade that contained less green than earlier uniforms. However, the earlier shades of field-gray wool from existing stocks continued to be used on the new jackets.

Lost Battalions SS M43 Field Blouse

It gives us a great deal of pleasure to truthfully say that our M43 field blouse is the best available from anywhere for any price. The only way to tell our reproduction from the real thing is the fact that our materials are of much higher quality than than the high rayon, animal hair, and recycled wool fabric used by the Germans in the second half of WWII. Formerly, our M43 was the best available outside of Germany, now it's just the best in the world period, but still very affordable.

We have every detail of construction down. Here's a rundown on why our M43 is so much better than the competition:

Our pattern was made from an original German M43 field blouse, not some American suit coat pattern. It has the small high armholes and narrow back characteristic of a German uniform. It has the shaped body that can only be acheived by including the side and chest darts that are often "overlooked" by our competition.

NO UNIPOCKETS! As on the earlier styles of field blouse, the upper pockets on a German M43 field blouse have a distinctive left and right pocket and pocket flap. They are not interchangeable. Furthermore, the flaps themselves are asymmetrical, being wider on the inside edge and thinner on the outside edge by the arm. Our competitors, including the current productions from Germany, have either never figured this out or else they have decided that ease of production is more important than authenticity. This way, they can use all their precut pockets and flaps on either the left or right side of a jacket. How convenient. We have never used unipockets, we've always done it the same way it was done in World War Two.

Slightly arched pocket flap top edge. No other repro maker seems to have noticed that on high-quality, non-death camp M43 field blouses the Germans used a pocket flap with a sublte, but distinctive, downward curve on the top edge. We are the only company that reproduces this feature. Uniforms produced in death camp factories and late war "cut-downs" of earlier model uniforms often have the pocket flaps sewn on in "straight-edge" fashion. The prisoners who were doing that work could not duplicate the high-quality contractor work. We can and do, our competitors don't even know they have a problem.

Five button front with all bar-tacked "keyhole" eyelet buttonholes sewn with gimp cord on the same model machine as used by the Germans during WWII. WWII Germans never used "flybar" keyhole buttonholes on uniform jackets and neither do we.

Double stack belthook eyelets made on the same model machine as used by the Germans during WWII.

Taupe colored topstitching at correct 9 stitches per inch.

Properly tapered waist (as shown at right).

No oversized collars.

Correctly shaped sleeves - straight front edge, curved back edge.

Correctly cut cuffs - front slightly higher on angle than rear.

Correct lining. Made from gray twill or silver gray rayon as originals (just depends on what we have available at the time). And, unlike the other guys, we don't simplify the lining. All parts found on the originals are included.

Correct angle on lower skirt. Back hem is 1.25" - 2" higher than front.

Chest darts are included. When in 1943 the SS started making their own uniforms using concentration camp labor they omitted several steps that the semi-skilled prisoners had difficulty with. The chest darts under the pocket flaps were one such step. However, SS production only amounted to 30% of the uniforms and the high-quality contractors still provided them with darts in most of the 70% of SS uniforms they provided.

Left: Note the chest dart running from the shoulder sleeve seam to the pocket flap. This dart is six inches long (about five inches of its length is covered by the flap. Chest darts are found on the high quality, contractor-made SS M43 blouses, but not on the death camp SS M43 blouses as they were simplified for production by semi-skilled inmates. Even at the height of production the SS death camp clothing factories only provided 30% of the Waffen-SS uniform requirements with the majority coming from private SS clothing contractors. None of or competitors choose to use chest darts in their M43 "tunics." We presume the reasoning is the same as that of the SS: too difficult for people of limited sewing skills.

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Right: Detail shot showing top stitiching, belt hook eyelets, and correct bartacked, gimp-corded, keyhole buttonhole.

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Below: Here's a look at a correct M43 blouse lining. Material can be either silver/gray rayon, as here, or brown or gray twill. The field dressing pocket appears to be on the opposite side because the jacket is reversed to display the lining. Note heavy twill undercollar.