Fallschirmjäger: 1. Luftlandedivision

     The post-World War Two German military, the Bundeswehr, was founded on November 12, 1955. Initially, nearly every trace of German wartime uniform aesthetics was banished and it was the United States which provided the major influence in uniform design. The U.S. also provided much of the armaments for the Bundeswehr such as rifles, tanks, support weapons, heavy weapons, and other equipment, such as steel helmets and field gear. Despite this, some aspects of German uniform items survived, typified by the usage of the Einheitsfeldmütze (field cap) and gamaschen (gaiters), the latter worn with U.S. style leather boots. By 1957, as German industry was more and more able to supply the Bundeswehr, uniform items and equipment that hearkened back to World War Two returned. This included Marschtiefel (marching boots), a revised service dress uniform, and the wide-spread usage of camouflage uniforms in a post-war variant of the wartime Splittermuster (Splinter Pattern).

     The photograph depicts a fallschirmjäger (paratrooper) belonging to one of the units that made up the 1. Luftlandedivision (1st. Airborne Division) which was established on January 1, 1956. He is sporting the Kampfanzug (battle suit) in the Bundeswehr-Splittermuster camouflage pattern but on a uniform unique to the fallschirmjäger forces. It is believed only about 1,000 uniforms were made. It differed from the standard Kampfanzug in having upper pockets with zipper closures (rather than snaps), pockets added to the sleeves, and two pockets on the rear of the blouse. The matching trousers also differed from the regular issue Kampfanzug by having zippers on the pockets. The Bundeswehr camouflage is distinct from the wartime Splittermuster in that during the printing, the screen was purposely allowed to slip which resulted in white borders on some of the edges of the splinter patterns and this can clearly be seen on his uniform. There were also two variants of this camouflage in which the strich (raindrops) differed. The most common had thin, light gray strich printed close together while the other, more rare variant, had sparse black strich. The fallschirmjäger here most likely has the more common strich coloration though it is difficult to make it out. His stalhelm (steel helmet) was a post-war copy of the helmet used by fallschirmjäger during World War Two. For a weapon, he has a G1, which was the German designation for the Belgian FN FAL (Fusil Automatique Léger; Light Automatic Rifle). Germany ordered several thousand for the Bundesgrenzschutz (BGS; Federal Border Guard) as the Bundeswehr was already equipped with U.S. supplied weapons. However, in November 1956, Germany ordered 10,000 rifles for the Bundeswehr and these were put into service as the G1 and remained in use for a short period of time before being replaced in 1959 by the Spanish CETME Modelo 58. The reason for this is that the Belgian company FN, refused to grant Germany the production rights to the FAL.

     As a note, the Bundesgrenzschutz (BGS) was formed on March 16, 1951 and because it operated under the Bundesministerium des Innern (Federal Ministry of the Interior) rather than the Bundesministerium der Verteidigung (Federal Ministry of Defence), the BGS was a heavy user of uniforms and equipment which either were wartime surplus or patterned almost exactly like the World War Two types and styles. This included the stalhelm which was virtually unchanged from World War Two (the Bundeswehr wore U.S. style helmets) and their own use of Splittermuster. It is thought that the Splittermuster used by the BGS was made off the same printing equipment as the pattern is almost an exact replica to the wartime pattern. However, it is distinguished from the World War Two pattern by having a very pale grey background and that the reverse side of the camouflage is solid white.