DDR Post your favorite East German DDR uniform

[seb16trs]

some details about embroidery: all cuff bars and lapels are embroidered.

[seb16trs]

the black collar. The color is near to stasi crimsom red. I'd expected a lighter red, because this is an artillery jacket.

[seb16trs]

the embroidered cuff bars... a pleasure to see because this is my first jacket with such traditionnal german embrodery.

[seb16trs]

the Engels academy badge (enameled version) and the sport badge.

[seb16trs]

this set comes from a french gentleman estate. It was sold with these medals and accessories, all put and composed with taste.

[Trabant601]

Greetings Gentelmen,

I joined the club today and have truly enjoyed the postings, particularly in this thread. I am sure that I will find others of great interest. The East German uniforms have an unusual size indication. Does anyone have the conversion chart for that.? I have seen a general conversion chart but it didn't include what the letters indicate. I hope someone can help me so that I too may post some photos and comments in this thread.

Cheers!

Trabant601

[Gordon Craig]

Trabant601,

Welcome to the Forum. We hope you continue to visit and participate.

Here is a set of date code that I copied from Gowen Militaria. Simpler than typing it all over again.

Regards,

Gordon

Two dating systems were used: Digital and Letter Code. The Digital System was used in the early years of the DDR; the Letter Code System replaced it beginning in 1968.

Digital System:

In the Digital System, the year of manufacture is shown either by its last 2 digits following a slash mark (example: /61= 1961), or by all four digits (example: 1961).

Letter Code System:

Beginning in 1968, letters were used in place of numbers to show the year of manufacture. The chart below shows the year each letter represents. Note that by an oversight the letter "L" was used twice: 1973 and 1987.

K 1968

Z 1969

M 1970

X 1971

B 1972

L 1973 (also 1987)

O 1974

S 1975

R 1976

A 1977

U 1978

F 1979

E 1980

G 1981

I 1982

C 1983

H 1984

T 1985

P 1986

L 1987 (also 1973)

Y 1988

N 1989

D 1990

Edited December 19, 2009 by Gordon Craig

[Hauptmann]

Greetings Gentelmen,

I joined the club today and have truly enjoyed the postings, particularly in this thread. I am sure that I will find others of great interest. The East German uniforms have an unusual size indication. Does anyone have the conversion chart for that.? I have seen a general conversion chart but it didn't include what the letters indicate. I hope someone can help me so that I too may post some photos and comments in this thread.

Cheers!

Trabant601

Hope I'm not incorrect in this but you wanted the "size" conversions... correct? If so they are metric... here is where you can find them:

http://www.gowenmilitaria.com/sizing.htm

Anyhow hope this helps.

Dan

[Gordon Craig]

Dan,

The link you posted is brocken.

Trabant601,

Sorry that I gave you the wrong thing. Here is the correct one.

SIZE CHART

JACKETS

US

34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54

METRIC

88 92 96 102 107 112 117 122 127 132 137

RUSSIAN 46 48 50 52-54 54-56 58 60 62 64

EAST

GERMAN

44 48 52 56 60

PANTS

US

30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50

METRIC

76 81 86 91 96 102 107 112 117 122 127

EAST GERMAN

44 48 52 56 60

RUSSIAN

48 50 52 52-54 54-56 58 60 62 64

BOOTS

US 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

BRITISH 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

EAST GERMAN 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

RUSSIAN 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46

METRIC 255 262 270 277 285 292 300

HATS

U.S. 6 5/8 6 3/4 6 7/8 7 7 1/8 7 1/4 7 3/8 7 1/2 7 5/8

EUROPEAN 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61

SHIRTS

US 14 14 1/2 15 15 1/2 16 16 1/2 17 17 1/2 18 18 1/2

METRIC 36 37 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46

WOMAN SIZES

US 6-8 8-10 10-12 12-14 14-16 16-18 18-20

METRIC 36-38 38-40 40-42 42-44 44-46 48 50

RUSSIAN 42 44 46 48 50 52 54

EAST

GERMAN 76-82 82-88 88 94

94-50 50-53

Regards,

Gordon

[Trabant601]

Thank you,

I am not quite ready to use the year letters yet, however, I am sure it will be useful soon. The size letters are great. I looked at them at gowen. I will employ that knowledge but still need to know what an N means for shirts (perhaps other letters not listed by Gowen also exist).

Are sizes for pants, tunics, shirts, etc. all the same regardless of what uniform part?

Perhaps it would be helpful for collectors if we measure our artifacts to determine the inseam, for example of NVA pants or other easily measureable items to deterrmine what sizes they acutally are. Has anyone done this?

Regards,

Trabant601

[Trabant601]

Thank you Gordon,

This tells me a great deal more than I found in Gowen in the link I found after searching a bit.

I was searching and typing when you posted this I think, that is why my last post seems not to ackknowledge your list.

Take good care,

Trabant601

[Hauptmann]

Sorry about the broken link. No idea what happened.

This should work:

http://www.gowenmilitaria.com/sizing.htm

Comprehensive Guide to East German Sizes

The East Germans used a variety of sizing systems to measure their uniforms and uniform components. These systems differed considerably from those used in the U.S.A. and Britain, as well as by the West German armed forces. The charts below should prove useful to collectors as they try to make size comparisons.

Tunics, Overcoats, Middy's, and most other clothing

Chest Size:

East German

44

48

52

56

60

62

64

U.S.

34

38

42

46

50

52

54

Height:

East German

SK

K

M

G

SG

UG

U. S.

Very Short

Short

Average

Above Average

Very Tall

Ultra Tall

Rain Pattern BDU's/Battle Dress Uniforms

(Note: Leaf pattern BDUs used a different system for sizes.)

Chest Size: East German

44

48

52

56

60

62

64

U. S.

34

38

42

46

50

52

54

Height:

East German

SK

K

M

G

SG

UG

U. S.

Very Short

Short

Average

Above Average

Very Tall

Ultra Tall

Male Footwear

East German

26

26½

27

27½

28

28½

29

29½

30

30½

31

31½

32

U.S.

7

7½

8

8½

9

9½

10

10½

11

11½

12

12½

13

Headwear

East German

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

U.S.

6¾

6 7/8

7

7 1/8

7¼

7 3/8

7½

7 5/8

7¾

Pants

Waist Size: East German4448/48-152/52-256/56-260 U. S.30-3233-3636-4340-4644+

Shirts

East German

36

37

38

39/40

41

42

43

44

46

48

U.S.

14

14½

15

15½

16

16½

17

17½

18

19

Also here's one of his charts for belts:

SIZE CHART: Maximum Waist (approximate measurement to outermost holes) SIZE: 90SIZE: 100SIZE: 110SIZE: 120SIZE: 13032"/81.3cm36"/91.5cm40"/100.4cm44"/111.8cm48"/122cmHope this helps.

Dan

[Trabant601]

This shouild cover everything that most people would need. I appreciate the assistance.

Trabant601 (Eric)

[Grenzflieger]

here is my favorite uniform. An uniform of the Grenzkompanien. These were small units that guarded the borders of the GDR on the rivers (like the Elbe and Spree). The shoulder boards and the ribbon bar are incorrect by the way. I've made this picture a long time ago.

Have a nice weekend!

[Major Kulow]

My name is Joe Rivers (a.k.a. Major Kulow) and I live near Ann Arbor, Michigan USA. I'm new to the group, but I have been collecting EG uniforms since 1991. I have a very extensive collection of uniforms, tunics, field gear and insignia. I am primarily interested in Grenztruppen, NVA, and VOPO - TRAPO.

I'm excited to be connecting with collectors, as it has been about 6 years since I was last actively collecting myself. I'm very interested in sharing information and photographs of my collection with others in the group. I will be posting some shots of my collection room, and will be posting more of individual items as time passes.

Major Kulow

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_09_2010/post-10395-128392223143.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_09_2010/post-10395-128392225855.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_09_2010/post-10395-128392228258.jpg

[Gordon Craig]

Joe,

Welcome the GMIC nad the DDR Forum. Always nice to have new blood especially when they have experience in this field. I am looking forward to seeing some more of your uniform pictures. If you wish to be in contact with more East German collectors, amny of those who post here also vist the DDR Form on the Wehrmacht Awards Forums.

Regards,

Gordon

[Paul R]

Hi Joe,

It is great to see you! Welcome to the forum. I am sorry for the much delayed response, but I have been deployed for the past few months.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing your collection!