The uniform shown
here is comprised of the Gesellschaft jacket and trousers. The
Gesellschaftanzug or Social Dress was authorized for wear during formal or
social occasions. The Gesellschaft uniform was worn by both officers &
generals and was worn with white shirt, gray Nationale Volksarmee tie, the
stone gray trousers with the red stripe or colored waffenfarben of the
respective service branch, dress shoes and visor cap. The wear of the visor cap
varied depending on the occasion or event attended by the General.
There were two basic
ways of wearing the Gesellschaft uniform: the Kleiner Gesellschaftsanzug
'Lesser Social Dress Uniform' was a variant of the Gesellschaft uniform which
was worn with ribbon bars and the officer's academy badge. The second variation
of the Gesellschaft uniform was known as Grosser Gesellschaftsanzug or 'Greater
Social Dress Uniform' which was worn with the four highest ranking medals, gold
General's aguillette and General's parade dagger. The jacket itself was the
same for both the Kleiner & Grosser Gesellschaftsanzug, only the
accoutrements worn differed. The
Landstreitkräfte Generalmajor Gesellschaft jacket pictured here is outfitted
for the Kleiner Gesellschaftsanzug. The tunic has a four button double breasted arrangement made with a very light gray colored material which was almost white in appearance. As in the case of many Generals and Admirals in the
Nationale Volksarmee, each General's Gesellschaft uniform was completely custom
tailored and made. It has the shoulder board insignia of a Generalmajor of the
Landstreitkräfte similar to the insignia depicted on the previous Generalmajor
Dienstuniform.
The Generalmajor rank
is denoted by a single five pointed silver star mounted on a gold and silver
braided shoulder cord set against a bright red base. On the left of the jacket,
a ribbon bar or medal bar would be worn each individually suited to the General
officer wearing the uniform, with the cloth ribbons being assembled in the
proper order of precedence and then stitched onto a cloth backing that matches
the overall material of the jacket. The whole thing is then stitched down onto
the surface of the jacket.
The triangular shaped
academy badge designates that the wearer was a graduate of one of East Germany's many service academies. The Nationale Volksarmee had a vast assortment of military academies with the Friedrich Engels Academy serving as East Germany's premier military academy. Although some graduates of the Friedrich Engels Academy
did rise through the ranks to attain the
rank of the General officers, it was way more common to see East German general
officers wearing Soviet academy badges as many were sent to the Soviet uniform
for higher education.
The pants of the
Gesellschaftanzug, which are generally the same stone gray trousers worn by
National Volksarmee personnel with the red striping running along the length of
the leg signifying the wearers status as a General officer.
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