newbie questions:
no1 - is it worth getting a shirt to go under a grey field uniform or does it not matter
No2 - the y straps are confusing, will it become clear when my enlisted mans belt arrives.
no3 - braces are they worth getting - thinking they will be needed to hold up the trousers, but will i really need them.
no4 - will british army black boots surfice with gaiters for now or does it really look wrong? i ask as they are pricey and if BA boots are okay i will probably stick with them for now.
cheers in advance. sorry for the silly questions.
1. I think a proper shirt is a sound purchase - you will need to wear something and when things get hot - working in rolled up shirt sleeves looks ace (IMHO)
2. Y straps work with mag pouches or else you will need belt loops to connect straps to belt (you will have spare flappy ends - this is OK as they are used to attach to an A-frame should you have one or want to use one)
3. Yes to braces - my trousers don't have belt loops so it isn't even an option. They aren't fitted like modern trousers so they won't support themselves by hugging your hips (they should be higher that that anyway).
4. Proper German low boots are nice to have but otherwise any boot will do fine
1. british army 1980`s shirts are very good substitute.
2. Y straps , as chommers says
3. Braces yes 100%
4. british army dms/combat high boots are now becoming harder to get hold of, i used to have about 5 pairs, and walked them all out at work. wish id saved them now.
"Take that you rotton helping of strawberry flan!"
Joseph Porta to "strawberrys and cream", in the sven hassel book ,ogpu prison
Thanks CW & JP must appreciated on the hunt for braces and shirt now.
edit - sorry but with regard to the shirt. struggling with a german shirt, when you say BA 80's what colour/type do you mean?
cheers
I'm guessing the green GS cotton shirts, I've also got an old 1980s Bundeswehr shirt in olive grey which looks OK. The one I wear most is a grey-blue cotton shirt from Primark.
British Army assault boots look fine with gaiters, some German units used to black their ankle boots anyway, and others were issued with captured ammo boots.
As Chommer says, the Y straps work best with ammo pouches (which have D rings on them to hook onto).
Cheers
Martin
"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" Helmuth von Moltke
Toys: AGM MP40, Cyma M1A1, TM M14/G43/SVT40, TM VSR/K98, SnS No. 4, ASG Sten, Ppsh.
Arnhem3,Gumrak,Campoleone
If you opt for M43 trousers you have the option of either braces or a belt. M37s can only be worn with braces and as CW says are very much needed.
Any cotton (preferably 100% not polyester blended) or wool shirt would be fine to wear under your uniform. Stick to neutral colours (ideally grey if possible) although a simple check pattern would also be ok as civy shirt, which was not uncommon.
This is great page to show how all the belt kit goes together:
[link]http://www.mp44.nl/equipment.htm[/link]
“I wanted to come to the Volga at a specific location at a specific city. By chance it carries the name of Stalin himself. So don’t think I marched there for this reason – it could carry another name – but because there is a very important goal... this goal I wanted to take – and you know – we are very modest, we have it already."
Adolf Hitler, November 1942
"Comrades, Red Army men, commanders and political workers, men and women guerrillas! It is on your perseverance, staunchness, fighting skill and readiness to discharge your duty to the country that the defeat of the German-fascist army and the liberation of the Soviet land from the Hitlerite invaders depend! We can and must clear the Soviet land of Hitlerite vermin."
Joseph Stalin, November 1942
cheers guys, thanks for the link gives me exactly what i needed - awesome
If you are going to spend money on a shirt and wondering to spend less on a lookey-likey or more for a repro then this is the sort of thing to look for:
http://www.epicmilitaria.com/product.ph ... -m43-shirt
I also have the darker grey knitted 'rayon' type shirt which is softer and rather long ('sleep shirt') and I don't like it one bit and much prefer the linen/cotton one of the sort below (bought mine years ago for very little from ebay Hong Kong - not so cheap today - [link]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WW2-German-Heer-Elite-M41-Cotton-Linen-Woven-Shirt-L-/170900064830?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27ca700a3e[/link]
Haha - I, on the other hand, have both the M43 and the sleep shirt, and I much prefer the latter! It's nice and soft against my rugged warrior skin. 
You've got nothing to ein, zwei, drei, vier
Ditto! I also prefer the sleep shirt 
“I wanted to come to the Volga at a specific location at a specific city. By chance it carries the name of Stalin himself. So don’t think I marched there for this reason – it could carry another name – but because there is a very important goal... this goal I wanted to take – and you know – we are very modest, we have it already."
Adolf Hitler, November 1942
"Comrades, Red Army men, commanders and political workers, men and women guerrillas! It is on your perseverance, staunchness, fighting skill and readiness to discharge your duty to the country that the defeat of the German-fascist army and the liberation of the Soviet land from the Hitlerite invaders depend! We can and must clear the Soviet land of Hitlerite vermin."
Joseph Stalin, November 1942
Meh, you would both prefer to fight in slippers too, much more comfy
I prefer the longer ones as well, helps keep bits of undergrowth out of your kecks when you're crawling. 
They also seem to be much more common.
although a simple check pattern would also be ok as civy shirt, which was not uncommon.
Ah hence your SS officers impresion at Greenback, I thought you were part of the SS Holzfäller Division 
Ah hence your SS officers impresion at Greenback, I thought you were part of the SS Holzfäller Division
That wasn't quite the look I was going for; more Ralph Fiennes than Michael Palin. 
