Army (Heer) early Waffenrock ‘alter art’ Infanterie-Regiment 16 ‘Oldenburg’ army airborne unit

Description

Early first pattern Waffenrock (dress tunic) so called ‘alter art’ pattern ca. 1935. Complete with all its original insignia attached. All early silver coated brass buttons are still present. No major damages visible. The sleeve show an early marksmenship stripe. The tunic has white piping on the insignia, shoulder boards and middle seem, indicating this was an infantery tunic. Shoulder boards show regimental cyphers ’16’ for Infanterie-Regiment 16 ‘Oldenburg’. A very interesting unit that was actually an army paratrooper unit. More info below;

The regiment was trained as an airborne unit in the last year before the war (1938-39). On standby during the Polish campaign, the regiment was deployed on the first day of the Western campaign. The regiment landed in the greater Rotterdam area. The regiment’s III. Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel von Choltitz was deployed in Waalhaven and played a major role in the battle for Rotterdam. After a refresher course at home, the regiment moved to Romania and from there marched into the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. It marched through the Ukraine to the Crimea, where the regiment took part in the storming of the sea fortress of Sevastopol in 1942. After the end of the battle in June 1942, the regiment moved to Greece as an occupation force and from October 1942 to Crete. There the regiment was reorganized as the 16th Grenadier Regiment. After Italy’s secession, the regiment was sent to the Aegean islands occupied by Italian forces in combat groups. From August onwards, the regiment withdrew from the Balkans with the other parts of the German army, only the 2nd Battalion remained on the island as the “Füsilierbataillon Rhodos” until the capitulation.