"Differences in Luftwaffe and Herr uniforms" Topic

I am building a platoon of Herman Goring Panzer Division Infantry. I have bought some stuff from Warlord Games to do this.
I have the Luftwaffe 10 man boxed set, a sprue of early war grenadiers and a sprue of the new German Grenadiers. It's an understrength platoon.

My plan is to mix and match the later uniforms with the earlier ones. I remember reading somewhere that the Luftwaffe had older uniforms longer than the Herr and SS.

Are there any differences in the layout of Luftwaffe and the Heer uniforms. I am not talking about the kit. That seems just about the same universally. I refer to the design of the uniforms.
1. Is the peaked field cap the same in both armies (other than the color being blue or grey)? The Luftwaffe cap looks taller than than the Heer cap.

2. The same thing goes for the uniforms. Are the different versions similiar outside of color?

3. When did the HG infantry start using the zeltbahn smocks?

I want to use the regular plastics to build three squads of HG panzergrenadiers (8 man teams x2 and a 7 man team. I got an extra model as a bonus from Warlord). I am hoping that the uniforms are similiar except for cosmetic things like the Herman Goring tab. That stuff can be painted on the model.

I appreciate any help. Keep on GamING =D

While not complete, this is a good starting point. Mick in Switzerland has been working on this for awhile.

link

1. It depends. The earlier Heer "schiffschen" and the Luftwaffe model are pretty much the same. Later Heer caps have a scallop in the front, and the last batch have 2 buttons. ( link ) The Luftwaffe eagle is slightly different. ( link )

2. Earlier on, the Luftwaffe troops might wear the "fleigerbluse" a pocketless tunic. IIRC some of the Warlord figures wear this item. Later I'd guess the Luftwaffe troops just wore army uniform.

3. The zelt was worn from the very beginning.

The Ospreys on the LFD and HGD are very useful. I'm doing something similar to what you are using the FJ and Panzergrenadier sprues. To me, the ground combat jacket is what really says "Luftwaffe" to me, and several of the FJ bodies wear this item.

I would argue that LFD troops are some of the most versatile around -- they could be well-motivated HGD troops, or hastily mobilized ground crew. They were used all over from late 1941-1945.

I agree the Luftwaffe ground forces are very versatile. They have an interesting uniform and history too.

I am far below the "Bleu vs. Blue" Napoleonic argument for the sake of accuracy. Whenever I look at uniforms from past conflicts I always wonder how much that uniform piece was actually worn.
For instance, I read an document about the US army's comments on the DaK's experiences on the desert in Africa. It said that German soldiers didn't wear helmets in the field. There were also some kind of wool trousers that no one wanted to wear. I think it was hot and attracted bugs.
If this is true than all the model makers that give DaK infantry helmets is inaccurate.
I'm not a historian. My research is reading random articles and looking at Google images. It's hardly exhaustive. Even pictures are not entirely accurate. I really believe that the famous Iwo Jima picture was propaganda. I was in the army. Twenty guys do get assigned to do a job that one guy could do. It seems unlikely it really takes that many men to raise a flag. Flag duty is a two man detail. One guy raises the flag while the other guy salutes. They both fold and unfold the flag. I wonder if that was how Marines raised the flag Everytime in the Pacific theater? That picture did however really help the war effort and is very inspiring. Then again, it could be very real. Over time the true story is lost to history.

It makes me wonder how accurate our wargaming endeavors are. There is a scene in Futurama where Fry experiences a theme park based around New York in the 1990's. "Rush Hour" involves cowboys riding jet cycles roping giant, mutant grasshoppers.

It seems like the detail available in 28mm is accurate enough to resemble what i want without to much conversion. There may be minor details that would be pointless to depict. It's still fun to research and chat about with like minded folks.

DAK troops were originally issued with a sun helmet, which IIRC was wildly unpopular – that might be what the reference was to.

Yes, any sensible DAKers put on a tin hat when the shells started falling. Lots of photos of them alive and dead wearing them.

The cut of later war Luftwaffe uniforms was identical to the Heer ones, earlier they wore the short Fliegerbluse jackets. HGD were unusual in that they were issued SS camo smocks for a time, and they also had unique white collar tabs.

There were also some idiosyncratic placements of the chest eagle (overlapping the breast pocket).

For instance, I read an document about the US army's comments on the DaK's experiences on the desert in Africa. It said that German soldiers didn't wear helmets in the field.

As Martin said plenty of photos of DAK soldiers in steel helmets. Many more with caps, but the first thing to come off when combat is over would be the helmet I am sure and as most pictures are not of troops in combat the caps predominate.

"HGD were unusual in that they were issued SS camo smocks for a time"

This is somewhat obscure, IIRC. Some people think it was only the divisional troops -- that is, not the grenadier regiments -- that got the smocks.