Consisting of a tunic, trousers and an early pattern crash helmet/beret, this uniform set is attributed by a previous owner to Lieutenant General Harry Hoppe, veteran of both World Wars and winner of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Born in Braunschweig in 1894 (as Arthur Hoppe, changed at his request in 1943), Hoppe first entered the military as an enlisted man in 1914; over the course of World War One he would be accepted as an officer candidate, spend multiple stints in the hospital from illness and injury, and earn the 2nd and 1st Class Iron Cross. After the war, he managed to stay on with the reduced German Army, minus a brief period in 1918/1919 when he was detached for service with the Freikorps van Huelsen, a paramilitary unit, which put down the Spartacist Uprising in Berlin. In 1940, he was an infantry regiment commander for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union; units under his command would be responsible for the seizure of Schluesselberg, which severed the last land connection between Leningrad and the rest of the U.S.S.R., which earned him the Knight's Cross. Later active in Italy, he commanded the 278th Infantry Division, which was responsible for trying to hold back the Allied advance up the peninsula and which later integrated battalion of local Italian Social Republic forces. Taken into captivity when Army Group C as a whole surrendered to the Western Allies, he spent a few years with the British before being released. After the war, he published a history of the 278th in Italy and collaborated on "Die Deutsche Infantry 1939-1945". The exact circumstances that led to him owning and wearing a panzer uniform are unknown, though there were armored units under his overall command, and notes mention a (now-absent) photograph of General Hoppe in the uniform about the time of his surrender. 1) The beret is in the early, two-piece style, with an outer beret fitted with a set of eagle and cockade patches on the front, and the padded inner lining with a gray leather sweatband marked "56 1/2" and the rubberized cloth inner lining with a Robert Lubstein "Erel Sonderklasse" label, both constructed from black felt. 2) Black wool "wrap" style Panzer tunic, with a set of gold-on-red collar tabs and a red-trimmed set of generalleutnant's shoulder boards, a "WORDA/INNSBRUCK" label inside the collar, gold bullion Nazi eagle on the right breast, and the following on the left (from top); a 1939 Iron Cross spange/clasp, infantry badge, silver wound badge, and a 1939 1st Class Iron Cross. 3) Straight-leg trousers, black felt with red trim and piping, with Worda markings on the buttons. A set of English-made "Tuf" brand boots are also included; they are not explicitly attributed to General Hoppe.
1) Fine, with some cracking of the inner lining and stains on the patches. 2,3) Very good, with light spots and wear. Some of the buttons are worn, with the fly buttons on the pants cracked and chipped. The medals are noted by the prior owner as being later additions.
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