Germany, Kriegsmarine. A Drill-Style Service Blouse for Ship Cadre Battalion Personnel on English Channel Duty

(Kriegsmarine Feldbluse für Mannschaften der Schiffsstammabteilung). A rare and well-preserved Kriegsmarine drill-style service blouse for Enlisted personnel of a Ship Cadre Battalion, constructed of light field-grey cotton/wool blended cloth with a pronounced whipcord weave. It features a turned-down collar which is reinforced on the reverse with machine-stitched darts, and which is flanked by tabs constructed of silver-grey cotton/rayon cloth, in turn bearing an off-white tresse flanked by golden-yellow bars, each measuring 25 mm (w) x 55 mm (l). The shoulders are topped by straps which are constructed of field-grey wool, and notably bear machine-embroidered golden-yellow anchors topped by letters “K” (“KANAL”), indicating personnel assigned to the English Channel. Each measuring 50 mm (w) x 115 mm (l), the straps are secured in place with loops at the outer edges and with metal buttons bearing fouled anchors on the inner edges. The cuff of each sleeve is rolled up to a depth of 14 cm and fixed in place with machine stitching around the outer circumference. Four pleated pockets are set into the breasts, all closing with scalloped flaps perforated with reinforced buttonholes, in turn meeting metal buttons bearing fouled anchors. Stitched onto the upper right breast just above the corresponding pocket is an insignia consisting of a field-grey rayon backer bearing a machine-embroidered golden-yellow Kriegsmarine eagle clutching a wreathed mobile swastika, measuring 100 mm (w) x 40 mm (h). The interior is plain, and has a single pocket set into the upper left breast. Unmarked, the blouse measures approximately 45 cm across the shoulders, with an arm length of 54 cm, and an overall length of 65 cm when folded on a flat surface. Soiling and material fatigue consistent with period wear is evident throughout the base cloth, but this untouched and scarce blouse, issued to a soldier serving on the Channel Coast, remains in a better than very fine condition