German soldier's 1915 Pattern field blouse

Grey woollen soldier's 1915 Pattern field blouse. It features a concealed button fly front, turned-back sleeve cuffs, two lower internal button-fastened pockets and a green coloured fold-down collar. The five concealed front fly buttons appear to be made from pressed metal, whilst the buttons on the lower pockets and shoulders are brown painted dome-shaped pressed metal buttons, featuring the Prussian crown (missing one shoulder button). It has a sewn-in metal belt support on either hip. The shoulder straps are of the white-piped infantry pattern, featuring a stitched-on numeral 15. They are sewn-on incorrectly to shoulder strap loops attached to the shoulders. The jacket is fully lined with cotton liner. This is ink-stamped with the clothing issue authority 'B.A.1V.', and a small sewn-on panel has pencilled-on numbers which are believed to relate to the size of the blouse. There are hanging loops sewn into the inner arm lining seams.

German soldier's field blouse. It is estimated that more than 13 million men served in Germany's conscript army during the war. From the beginning they wore a servicable field-grey uniform which was further simplified in 1915. This is an example of the simplified variant. Numerals on the shoulder-straps were the main means of identifying regiments in a division.

This forms part of a display on the uniform and equipment of German Storm Troopers (Shock troops), specialist assault soldiers. Storm troopers used infiltration tactics that required close range combat weapons such as hand grenades and pistols. They were first deployed to Verdun in 1916. They gained a reputation during and after the war as elite warriors who would form the basis of Germany's Second World War army.