Mid-war (circa 1943) reed green cotton/rayon blend construction field blouse with an HBT weave features a vertical six button front closure with a single metal hook and eye positioned at the forward neckline. The field blouse has four non-pleated front pockets with straight edged button down flaps. The breast pockets are the basic patch type while the hip pockets are the saddlebag type with expanding side panels. The right breast has an M39 pattern machine woven national breast eagle in matte gray cotton threads on a cut-out wove field-gray rayon base. The eagle is machine stitched to the field blouse. The side panels of the field blouse each have three vertically aligned stitched eyelets at the waistline for the belt support hooks. The reverse of the field blouse has a short central vertical tail skirt vent and two vertical tapering darts. The straight cut sleeve cuffs have a small vertical slash to the outside seams with dual fit adjustment buttons to each. The fabric shoulder strap retaining loops and pebbled alloy buttons are intact. The field blouse has a lay down collar with the typical zig-zag reinforcement stitching to the reverse. The collar features the second pattern general issue EM/NCO’s collar tabs as introduced on May 9TH 1940 for wear by all branches of service. The machine woven rayon collar tabs feature light gray/green ribbed litzen with mouse gray branch of service and center stripes. The collar tabs are machine stitched directly to the collar with no backing material. The unlined interior of the field blouse has gray rayon reinforcement panels to each side panel and around the armpits. The interior side panels each have a vertical reed/green cotton/rayon strap with six stitched eyelets to each for the belt support hooks positioned at the waistline. The forward right tail skirt has a rayon field dressing pocket with a single button closure. All three collar liner buttons are intact. The front closure and exterior pocket buttons field-gray painted pebbled alloy and sheet metal types and have been repositioned for a tighter fit. The shoulder strap buttons are also the field-gray painted, pebbled alloy type but are stitched in place. The buttons all retain the large majority of their field-gray paint. The cuff, field dressing pocket and collar liner buttons are all the ersatz, pressed, natural tan, cardboard type and appear to have their original stitching. The field blouse is roughly size 42" chest. Untouched tunic in a very large size. Excellent HBT, (Herring Bone Twill), uniforms were originally introduced on April 1ST 1933 to replace the earlier, Weimar Reichswehr era, (National Defense Force, Circa 1919-1933), work/drill uniforms and were intended to save wear and tear on the service uniform and the field blouse. Regulations prescribed that the work/drill uniform was the basic uniform to worn by all new recruits for most daily functions. Originally the work/drill uniforms were constructed in natural, unbleached cotton or cotton/rayon blends with an HBT weave that proved especially durable but relatively impractical due to easy soiling. The early work/drill tunics had no accommodations for the collar liner so the Reichswehr era neck cloth, (Halsbinde), was utilized until it was replaced with the collar liner as per regulations of February 12TH 1936, which resulted in collar liner securing buttons being added to the work/drill tunics. The early work/drill tunics also had button down flaps for the hip pockets but they were abolished, circa 1940. Regulations of February 12TH 1940 altered the color of the work/drill uniforms to a more practical reed green coloration. When utilized as a work/drill tunic the garments were issued with no insignia and regulations dictating that only EM’s sleeve rank and NCO’s collar trim insignia were to be applied to donate the wearer’s rank, although the order was not strictly adhere to. The work/drill uniforms were utilized for the duration of the war with minor modifications and were accompanied by a pair of basic, straight legged pants in the same material as the tunics and were cut in the same style as the standard issue long pants with minor variations. In early 1942 a modified drill tunic with additional pockets and accommodations for shoulder straps/boards was introduced for wear as a summer combat field blouse and followed the basic modifications of the standard issue field blouse through-out the war with the inclusion of the national breast eagle and rank insignia. The work/drill uniforms were seldom worn by Officer’s ranks although the later, reed green, HBT summer combat uniforms were worn frequently by Officers after their introduction in 1942. Officers and certain Senior NCO ranks were responsible for purchasing their own uniforms and as a result were allotted a clothing allowance through the army’s Kleiderkasse, (Clothing Account), system. The Officers and certain Senior NCO’s could choose to purchase their uniforms from the armed forces clothing depots or to privately purchase garments of higher quality. Although enlisted personnel were issued their uniforms from government supplies they were also permitted to purchase privately tailored uniforms although the price may have been restrictive. The German army originally adopted a slightly modified version of the NSDAP’s, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (National Socialist German Worker’s Party), national eagle by order on February 17TH 1934, with instructions to have it applied to all steel helmets, visor caps, and tunics by May 1ST 1934. Generally Officer’s ranks utilized hand or machine embroidered breast eagles while EM/NCO’s ranks utilized machine embroidered or machine woven breast eagles. The different branches of service within the German army were allocated a specific, identifying, waffenfarbe, (Branch of Service Color), with lemon yellow being chosen for Nachrichten, (Signals), personnel. On the field blouse and service tunic the waffenfarbe was generally displayed on the shoulder straps/boards and the collar tabs.