I'm Moving the blog!

Hello everyone,

I am moving the blog to a new site called Weebly.
Why? Well i feel like it was time for something new, and Weebly provides a new and exiting format for the blog.

I will keep this site running for a while, but all old posts have already been moved to the new site.
There will be no more new posts here, they will all be added to the new site.

Visit the New site Here:
http://surplusmania.weebly.com/

Thanks for reading
Chris

Swiss TAZ1957 Liebermuster(Alpenflage) Crazyness

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This here thing!:

A tough combat uniform with a shitload of pockets!

History:

As most armies of the time, during and in the years following World War 2, Switzerland did not issue its troops with camouflaged uniforms.

However, the Swiss had for some time been issuing their troops with camouflaged helmet covers.

Image borrowed from Sfrankish

And in 1957, the old woolen stuff went bye bye, and was replaced with the newest, coolest and most insane uniform ever to grace any army in the world with its existence!

The official name is TAZ57, all uniforms in Switzerland are designated as TAZ and then the year of it entering into service. TAZ is short for the German word "Tarnanzug" Meaning "Camouflaged Battledress". The pattern, as is the story of many of camouflage patterns, is a copy of World War 2 German pattern called m1944 "SS-Liebermuster", meaning "SS Body Pattern". It looks like this:  

The German m44 was primarily issued to troops stationed in the Czech Republic, and the Czechs picked up on the the idea of this pattern after the war and issued the m54 "Duby"(which i believe means "Oak") pattern:

The Swiss army seems to have liked this pattern and in the years between 1955 and 1957 the Swiss army started testing and ultimately issuing the TAZ57 Liebermuster:

The pattern is, of course very unique and the Swiss army is supposed to have sworn that this camouflage worked excellent in the Swiss environment, especially in the fall. 

The uniform was issued two times, the first wave was made of light cotton.. The second wave was issued as the armies of Europe started modernizing their view on infantry. In the rest of Europe this meant bigger packs, in Switzerland it meant the dawn of a heavyweight uniform. This uniform is the one i have, it is made of heavy cotton fabric and is covered in pockets.   

The Uniform:
1. The Jacket:

The Jacket is "interesting", to say the least, and has a very weird design. As i mentioned earlier the Swiss apparently didn't really believe in the future of the Rucksack, and therefor decided to integrate the carrying capability into the jacket.

It is, in short, a Rucksack with sleeves.

It's covered in pockets, it's insane! Just look at this! Two large pocket at the waist:

Two more large pockets and one small on the chest:

Three more around the back

There is even one inside the jacket, running along the entire lower back. Are you fricking kidding me.. This is just getting plain ridicules..

On one hand, this is pretty stupid, especially if you, like me, are used to trotting around the piles of nearly identical uniforms from the late 50s, early 60s. They all have the same cut. Just plain old combat fatigues. Green, made of though cotton, and everything you need strapped onto your back.

But then it hit me. This is not stupid, this is actually pretty damn innovative. Okay here is what you do, you scroll up the page, and then you look at the front of the jacket. You may have to squint and drink for a while, but eventually it might dawn on you, as it did me, that it actually kinda looks like a modern chest-rig. You just don't wear a chest rig, you wear your supersoldier jacket instead!

2. Trousers

The first question that came to mind when i said the jacket looked like a chest rig, was probably something like: "Oh yeah smartass? Whats in the pockets then?" First of, no need to be rude, secondly, i have no idea. Finding sources for this is pretty hard, and i have only found the answer for one of the pockets, and it's not even on the jacket, but on these:

THE MIGHTY; THE BEASTLY, THE FUCKING AWE-INSPIRING COOL LEG PROTECTERS! The 1957 World Trouser Championship winner! I love these trousers so much! WHY? i'll get to that when i talk about The Build below, but first, the pocket!

There are two of these, one on each thigh. "What's in them!?" you sneer with excitement, and i'll tell you: Ammunition. Magazines, Clips, Bullets, Death pellets, you now the thing. The Swiss didn't issue any ammunition pouches, but instead choose to integrate them into the the trousers:

WHY!? Is probably the question in your mind right now, but the answer actually makes sense, you just have to think like a Swiss "Insert bad joke about chocolate and/or Swiss Cheese". 

In 1957 the Swiss had cemented to the world that they were going to take no part in inter-European wars. "You guys can kill each other as much as you like, but we ain't haven non of it" one Swiss milk maid was reporting saying. So the Swiss were neutral, but they also knew that being neutral didn't mean safe. As had happened with Denmark in World War 2, the declared neutrality meant shit when the Danish government didn't have the capability to properly defend it's borders. The Swiss therefor adopted a strategy of Aggressive Neutrality, meaning they would keep a huge army ready to defend the borders, should the country ever be invaded. This is an important point when looking at the uniform. The Swiss Soldier had no need for Large packs filled with food, water, sleeping bags and what have you, as they always expected to defend and never attack. A lot of work was put into a uniform system that made defense as easy as possible, and this meant no huge unwieldy packs. 

The Feel:

The Swiss and the Belgians are probably the two most strange peoples in the world when it comes to camouflage, as they insist on making camouflage patterns from the weirdest colors. Red, Yellow and Blue are not colors normal thinking people would add to a piece of clothing that is supposed to make you blend in. But the Swiss have made two rounds of these, the TAZ57, and the TAZ83 which i will also write about in a later entry, And every time the peoples of the world shook their collective heads, but the Swiss stood fast, and yelled "FUCK YOU" in their faces. I like that, that gives me the opportunity to own one of these beauties! 

The Build:
The fabric is heavy cotton, meaning it feels soft yet strong. However most of the uniforms have probably seen service since the 60's and that has also done to the cotton what, age does to cotton. Made it sort of weirdly soft, like not in a good way but strangely uncomfortably soft.

The trousers will get an honorable  mention here, as they are very good, they fit well, they are comfortable and have a bunch of neat features

Features:

Alright you guys, i'll tell ya, there are a lot of features, and some have a function i have yet to discover, so i'll give you a quick talk-through of it all:

1. Jacket:

The Collar can be raised, and tightend as to act like a sort of windshield for ya ol' neck.

There is a hood on here, which can be rolled up when not in use, and it works well, as well!

The wrists have an elastic sewn into them, and a zipper can open op the side of the sleeve. I believe to get your gloves on easily and then hold 'em in place.

Then there's this thing! at the middle of chest! i have no clue what it is.

Loops to keep your belt in place!

Integrated back suspenders, to even out the load.

The most interesting feature on the jacket is this:

What are those? Those are used to attach a very small, three roomed, rucksack. Which i will do a review on, over at Rucksack Mania. This is pretty cool, as the rucksack then becomes an integrated part of the Jacket!

2. Trousers:

No Belt loops! Integrated suspenders!

 

A Handy backpocket!

A way to fiddle with your junk without having to remove your trousers at all!

And the best feature of all! being able to tighten everything. 

Are you tired of your magazine pockets flapping around when you run out of ammunition? TIGHTEN THAT SHIT:

Or tied of loosing 30 kilos of leg fat, and not being able to fit your trousers? TIGHTEN THAT SHIT!

Are all the gentlemen at the ball sighing and dropping their monocles because your ankles are showing? TIGHTEN THAT SHIT! 

The Fit:

When i first bought this, i only got the jacket, and i was terribly disappointed. It was horrible to wear, it was too short, to heavy, the balance was way of, so i put it away. But a couple of months later i bought the trousers, and that really saved the jacket! 

You see, inside the jacket are these pieces of cloth:

And they attach to the trousers here:

And you have perfection. The jacket is no longer short as the trousers fill up the empty space. It's no longer heavy as the trousers and the jacket take the weight of each other, and the balance is perfect!

It became great as a whole!

Overall verdict:

Shit Jacket, good Trousers, Terrific uniform! I understand why the Swiss still issued these in the 1990s It was great, and still modern at the time. 

The one downside, however, is that this is not a civilian jacket. I know it's army surplus, but understand me right. You won't be able to use this as a day to day jacket, as it is so specialized as a combat jacket, that it just doesn't work on the outside. This jacket doesn't get leave, You feel me?

But it is really nice piece of history that i am immensely happy that i own!

Thanks for reading
Chris

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Greek "Lizard Pattern" Combat Jacket

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1. History:

This right here ladies and gentlemen, is the Greek Lizard Pattern, it entered service with the Greek army in 1976 and is still widely used today.
The official name is Hellenic Lizard Camouflage, as the official name for the Greek army is: Ελληνικός Στρατός or Ellinikós Stratós, meaning: The Hellenic Army.

The camo was originaly copied from the French Lizard Camo: 

And the Greek Version:

The French picture is taking with a larger zoom, but you can clearly spot the similarities.
But as time went on, the Greeks sought to differentiate their camo from the French, and thus, the Modern Hellenic Lizard Camouflage was born:

   
My jacket is from 2004 and is the basic infantry version, three other types exist:
One made for the Greek Navy which has blue in it,

Sorry, i found this on ebay, shame on me...

One made for the Greek Airforce, introduced in the 1990s, also with blue in it, but with grey as it's main color:

 and a desert version, which, as you might have guessed, looks sort of like sand.

And while the Lizard Pattern is still widely used within the Greek Army, they have made the same choice as many other modern armies, and are slowly integrating a pixelated version.

2. The Jacket:

The jacket in it self, is a solid piece of kit, and i really like it, and for a mass produced jacket, this is a really thought through combat jacket.

2.1. The Feel

I originally spotted this jacket on ebay, at british surplus store, and thought to myself "Would you look at that right there! Lizard Pattern! don't own one of those!" 'Click, click, click'
I think the camo is awesome, it looks really cool. The best thing being that the Greeks choose to stay true to their own camouflage instead of just buying into the american m81 Woodland, like so many other countries did. Respect!
This jacket is a unique design, that you won't see anywhere ells,(not that other countries haven't had a go with the lizard pattern, but the Greek one is one of its own) but it's not as unique as the Belgian Jig-Saw or the Swiss Alpenflage, and you can actually wear this in  public.

2.2. The Build:

The Jacket is made of 80% Cotton and 20% Nylon, and is tightly woven making it a fairly stiff jacket, so it's not that comfortable by itself. Wearing a thick sweater underneath, or at least a long sleeved t-shirt is a must.
Because of the tight weave and the Nylon it provides a reasonable amount of windproofness, but i wouldn't wear this in the rain.
I'm probably going to use this as a fall jacket, since the Danish fall is cool and windy but not cold enough for wearing insulated jackets.

2.3. Features:

Considering that this is a fairly simple jacket, it does have many cool features, and it's clear that the evil masterminds behind this, were given free hands in developing upon the original design, making it better and better.

Firstly, the pockets:

Two breast pockets and two hip pockets, they are roomy, and made to have more than just paper put in them. When not in use they do WHAT THEY DAMN WELL SHOULD! and stay their place, without flying all over the place. 

The Elbows and shoulders have been reinforced: 

I really need to empathize how big of a deal this really is, because this is an ongoing problem with combat fatigues. It often seems like the different uniforms were designed with marching and parades in mind, and not really made for tough outdoor use. 

But in this case it seems that the designers have realized that war isn't just walking around tulip fields and picking flowers, but once in a while, you need to crawl around on the ground. 

This is a perfect civilian bushcraft jacket, as it, in my opinion, looks stylish enough to were on a daily basis, but is also tough enough to take to the forest for days at a time, without worrying that it'l rip apart.

A thing you'll notice is that, apparently, the Greek army has a big fetish for Velcro. there are 3 pieces of it on the jacket, two of them being ridiculously big:

This patch is about 2.5 cm wide, and 5 cm long.

And i believe this is for the Greek flag.      

The name tag above the left pocket is about 2 cm wide and an insane 20 cm long.
but then again if your name is Konstantinos Papakonstaninou(Κωνσταντίνος Παπακωνσταντίνου) i can see why your nametag would have to have some extra miles added.

This patch right here is about the size of my fist, in my opinion, a little much. I think this is the place were your unit insignia would be placed.

2.4. The Fit.

The way this fits is probably the only thing that bugs me about this jacket.
My jacket is a 42 Inch chest(about 100cm) and i am about 96cm around the chest, so it should be a perfect fit! well it isn't, because apparently, Greeks seem to have very narrow waists. I have no problem buttoning the buttons at my chest, but at the hip it becomes a problem, not that it doesn't fit, it's just not that comfortable.
BUT, luckily the designers made it so you can adjust the waist, "Oh good, i was getting worried" but it can only be tightened.. "WHAT THE HELL!?" and only about 2 cm. "this is getting stupid.."

Apart from the narrow waists, i have learned something about the common Greek soldier. They have CRAZY thick wrists! from the design of the cuffs i have concluded that the average Greek wrist is about as broad as my F'ing thigh..

This can however be adjusted so it will fit you no matter how broad or narrow that your wrists are.
But if adjust this to my size, i will look like someone who is wearing balloons inside my sleeves, and it won't be that comfortable either, as it is very tight around the wrists.

3. Overall verdict.

This is what we danish people would call "En Slider" A workhorse, it won't break, it's windproof, it's Insanely tough, it looks awesome! only problem is the fit. But if you have a narrow waist, and you can live with the cuffs, you will get one sweet jacket that'll last you a life time without bitching about having to get washed or sprayed with all kinds of weird stuff to keep it weatherproof.

Thanks for reading

Chris

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