Forestry of the Third Reich
German Forestry Uniforms
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In this section i will post the different uniforms i have in my collection.
All information i have will be posted with the photo.
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Overcoat from an Oberforstmeister in private service
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A overcoat from an oberforstmeister in private service, 1942 dress regulation.
Fine gray-green wool cloth in a slightly lighter color with a dark green collar and edging made of silver-colored cord. The coat is about 20 cm shorter than the usual service coat - so it has about the old Paletot length.
Very rare to find at this rank. According to the previous owner, the coat belonged to private oberforstmeister Otto Meyer.
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Owner: Otto Meyer
Manufacturer: unknown
Dress regulation: 1942
Tunic from an Förster in state service
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A beautiful 'text book' example of a 1934 dress regulation A-tunic with Prussian buttons.
It is really a great example of this style, "Pure" 1934 A-Tunics are rare as many were retailored in 1938 and all buttons removed or,
if they remained untouched up to May 45, they were denazified after the war.
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Owner: unknown
Manufacturer: Michovius, Cottbus
Dress regulation: 1934
Type: A-Rock
Tunic from an Oberförster in Heeresforst (Heer Forestry)
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One of the rarest forestry uniforms there is: Heeresforst (Heer Forestry)!
It's a A-rock from the 1938 dress regulation, rank Oberförster. Made by my favorite manufacturer, Michovius from Cottbus. The bottom of the shoulderboards and rank tabs are in black (color of heer and Luftwaffe forestry) The dying of the tabs have faded some over the years, that's why they look very dark brown due to the lens of a camera. When you have the uniform on hand, the tabs are black.
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Owner: unknown
Manufacturer: Michovius, Cottbus
Dress regulation: 1938
Type: A-Rock
Tunic from an Hilfsförster/forstwart in Luftwaffe Forestry
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A new year of collecting and i'm off topic a good start! This ultra rare Luftwaffe forestry nco tunic, rank hilfsförster/forstwart. Forestry had a luftwaffe/heer division, they maintained the woods and controlled hunting for example: an airfield. If you look at the tabs, you will see that they are not faded like the Heer uniform above. The fabric behind the eagle looks black, but is actually very dark green (dunkelgrün).
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Owner: unknown
Manufacturer: unknown
Dress regulation: 1942
Type: A-Rock
Tunic from an Forstmeister in private service
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A superior uniform made from high quality materials from a forstmeister in private service. And yes, he was a big guy! :-)
I bought the set along with his visor and fedora (with shield from the family he worked for), you can see them in the headgear section.
Fedora:
The manufacturer Mayser is a very well known name (they still exist today - but now produce in Slovakia) - standing for excellent, fine quality hats. They mainly produced for civilian market and were quite expensive for the normal man.So the Forstmeister, who bought this hat, spent a lot of money. But it is a very elegant hat of highest quality. From the traces of wear this hat was surely a "walking-out" piece.
I have found two small holes near the sides of the badge, the distance between them look that there was an eagle attached in earlier times. So this guy changed his "master" during his service time. This would also match the tunic, as it is a rare 34 regulation piece. But private foresters were not allowed to wear the state or community forestry uniform until 1938.So, this guy must have served in state/ community service prior to 38 and used his old 34 pattern tunic in his new job. Perhaps he got better payment in private service...
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A Privat- Forstmeister was the "chief-forester" of an estate between approx 3500 and 7500 ha, and "commanded" several (3-6 Revierfoerster and/or lower ranking personnal) foresters plus the woodworkers. A highly responsible position. The visor, too, is a great piece with a really shiny visor (they often have lost their shine throughout the years and appear dull) and the rarest of all forestry insignia after 1938!
One of the best makers/retailers in forestry uniforms (who need the mass-production of EREL) at this time. The tunic maker Albert Bopp still signed his work/label with "Hoflieferant" (by (royal) appointment) at this early time, later the "by appointment" was not used anymore.
The wearer must have been a very intelligent/ progressive man: he used the slip on variant for the shoulderboards for this tunic.
I have found use for this variant (against regulation - but which forester cared for regulations !) as early as 34 reg. and even with B-Tunics!
So absolute nothing to stumble about. All correct with the freedom the foresters had and made use of.
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Owner: unknown
Manufacturer: Albert Bopp
Dress regulation: 1942
Type: A-Rock
Overcoat and fedora from Oberforstmeister Wilhelm Reye
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Oberforstmeister Wilhelm Reye was born in 1873 and should have retired in late 1938 or 1939. But he remained on his post during the war, due to lack of personal. Many of the foresters were drawn by the Army and many of them did not return.
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Why I suspect such "longer" service by Reye is the fact that he was named leader of the Berlin Forstverwaltung in 1947. When in 1948 due to the Berlin Blockade the town administration was divided he first remained responsible, but in 1950 the communist government named a separate leader for the forests in the eastern parts of Berlin. Reye remained leader of the West Berlin forestry admin. until his death in 1952.
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The coat is from the cloth defenitivly of pre 1938 style. The original vertical slit for the hanger was excelent "removed" and now you can only guess that it was once placed in the side over the left pocket. Another hint of an older pattern are the removed (sewn in) 1934 shoulder boards and the quite unusual change to slip on 38 pattern boards.
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The set comes from a lifetime collector of Uniforms with connection to Post-War Berlin. The collector bought the set from one of Reye´s grandchildren by end of the 60´s.
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Owner: Oberforstmeister Wilhelm Reye
Manufacturer: Unknown
Dress regulation: 1938
Type: A-Rock
Tunic from a 1934 dress regulation förster
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A rare B-Rock 1934 dress regulation forester uniform (complete with pants). Though the tunic has no maker label, the buttons on the trousers have a retailer/ makers mark: M. Zoeltsch in Munich. So the set belonged to a bavarian forester - this is a match with my visor cap with velvet band already in my collection (see the headgear page).
Advantage of 1934 B-tunic was that it was all the same for all forestry officials in the german states and differences were only small, for example, the velvet cap band.
The trousers are a very rare variant having leather straps which would be fastened under the soles to give a tight excellent fit.
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Owner: Unknown
Manufacturer: M. Zoeltsch Munich
Dress regulation: 1934
Type: B-Rock
Tunic from a revierförster in state service
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My A-Rock for a Revierförster of 1938 dress regulation. Made by Gebrueder Hoffmann, Nordhausen.
Interesting detail about the town: Nordhausen was/is near the former factory of the V-2 rocket Mittelwerk Dora. The town was heavily destroyed in 1945 by an air raid.
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Owner: Unknown
Manufacturer: Gebrueder Hoffmann, Nordhausen
Dress regulation: 1938
Type: A-Rock
Tunic from a revierförster in communal service
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My B-rock tunic (1938 dress regulation) from a forester in communal service (notice the grey collartabs)
Owner: Unknown
Manufacturer: Hugo Milde, Dresden
Dress regulation: 1938
Type: B-Rock
Overcoat from a revierförster in state service
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One of my overcoats, rank Revierförster produced in 1934 by HaDaMü.
In 1938, they changed the shoulderboards according to the 1938 dress regulations.
Owner: Unknown
Manufacturer: HaDaMü
Dress regulation: 1938
Type: A-Rock
Overcoat from a a.pl. forstwart in state service
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This one came straight from the attic in Germany!
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A mantel of a förster (1942 dress regulations), rank a.pl. forstwart (a.pl. means 'in training).
Made by the best known (and also my favorite) maker Michovius from Cottbus!
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Some moth damage at the bottom, but overal in great condition.
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Owner: Known but secret
Manufacturer: Michovius, Cottbus
Dress regulation: 1942
Type: A-Rock
Luftwaffe Walbluse hilfsförster/forstwart
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I was very lucky to get my hands on this ultra rare Luftwaffe forestry waldbluse. The first one thats pop up in the last 20 years!
A while back i posted a Forestry Luftwaffe visor (see headgear section) that i bought straight from the family in Germany. After a while i bought the visor, the great-grandson mailed that he found something else renovating the elderly house. He send photos and yes, it was this waldbluse! So now i have his visor and waldbluse.
Below some more information about the forester:
Hilfsförster/ Forstwart Erich Wiesner, changed from state to LW forestry shortly after September, 1st 1939. He was already aged 48 at this time and was a "substitute" for younger men, who were drawn for war service. He survived the war and retired in June 1945.
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Owner: Erich Wiesner
Manufacturer: Unknown
Dress regulation: 1942
Type: Waldbluse
