French shelter half -- in SS camo

[jschnak950]

Mes Amis,

Here is an item I picked up recently that I thought might interest you.  It's a French Tente Individuelle Modele 1935, but made from SS oakleaf pattern fabric. I took a risk with it on ebay.fr, as it was poorly described and photographed, but I picked it up for a good price. Photos (and French sellers) can deceive, but I was very pleased when I opened the package.  It is carefully constructed in the French pattern, and definitely shows its age; some of the remaining buttons show significant rust.  I took the photos in sunlight to better capture the camouflage pattern. The seller said a veteran brought it back from Indochina, and it does support the narrative of the French using whatever they could in the late 1940s.  I can take more photos if anyone is interested.

If someone wanted to fake something with a few yards of original SS oakleaf, they certainly could have picked a more marketable product; I'm sure I've spared it from being carved up into several German helmet covers.  


It's an oddity, but I like it.

Thanks for looking,

Jeff

[toussant]

Very Cool! ATF sells oakleaf camo by the yard, just in case anyone else out there would like to build some one off composite gear...

Regards!

---Toussant

[lew]

Very cool.

I want to see someone make a smock or trousers out of the original Zeltbahn material or the oakleaf camo, like some members of 2e BEP had done.