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Shoulder Boards – Wehrmacht Panzergrenadier Tropical Pattern
These tropical shoulder boards are associated with the Panzergrenadier troops of the German Wehrmacht, the motorized and mechanized infantry units that operated alongside German armored divisions during the Second World War.
The German Army introduced its tropical uniform in 1940 for troops deployed to North Africa. Unlike the standard European feldgrau uniforms made of wool, the tropical uniform was produced from lightweight olive or khaki cotton fabric, designed to withstand the harsh climate of the desert theater.
Within the German military uniform system, the branch of service was indicated by a color known as Waffenfarbe, applied as piping on shoulder boards and other insignia. For Panzergrenadier units, this color was light green, often described as meadow green or apple green.
These shoulder boards were worn on the tropical field tunic (Tropenfeldbluse) and attached using the typical rear tongue and button fastening system. Versions intended for non-commissioned officers could include silver NCO braid (tresse) around the edges, while enlisted examples were usually plain.
Tropical shoulder boards of this type represent a distinctive element of the uniforms worn by German forces serving in the Deutsches Afrika Korps and other warm-climate theaters, and are closely associated with the Panzergrenadier formations of the Wehrmacht during the war.
