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 reproduction M-1943 SS pattern field blouse. Shown with optional SS infantry shoulder straps .
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:
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Below: Note narrow back and tapered waist. Hallmarks of German uniform construction that are often "missed" by our competitors. Too much work or just not needed for Hollywood films? Maybe both
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.
