Originally designed as a piece of safety gear, the paratrooper smock was designed to be worn between a jumper's combat load and their parachute, keeping the shroud lines from being caught on their gear, and then discarded along with the chute once on the ground. Embraced by the troopers, the smock became a piece of signature gear, being adapted into a general wear item even after combat parachute drops were stricken from the Nazi playbook. This smock is an evolution of the earlier "step-in" pattern, replacing the fixed legs with a set of quick-release snaps, allowing nature's call to be answered without needing to take off half of one's gear. The print on the smock is a one-sided "Afrika" variant of the Luftwaffe "Splittermuster 41" (Splinter Pattern, 1941) camouflage, retaining the basic pattern but swapping around the colors, using tan as the base with green and brown shapes, creating a pattern more suitable for scrub and sand. A white-on-green Luftwaffe eagle is fixed to the right breast, with leather tabs on the zippers, a set of blue plastic front buttons, gray finished metal wrist snaps, integral flare gun holster on the back right hip, and white cloth pockets, the left breast pocket being marked "28/5 44" over "R.B.Nr 0/0125/016". The tunic is tan twill construction, properly unlined, with a set of yellow trimmed enlisted man's shoulder boards (no pips or other decoration), a close cut white-on-tan Luftwaffe eagle on the right breast, and the interior of the left breast bears a "BEHA" makers mark over the size markings "42/72", "90" and "43/63". A small round circle of absent stitching is visible on the left breast suggests the former location of a small badge. The cap is of similar construction, with a triangular eagle patch, "poofy BEVO" style cockade, and a tan cloth interior marked "W42", "WALTHER (illegible)/WARCHAU" (Warsaw, Poland), and "56 1/2" in the left side. The shirt is light tan cloth, with a triangular white-on-tan eagle patch, a set of yellow trimmed enlisted shoulder boards, a twill tie, and a faint marking inside the collar. The trousers are tan twill construction, with buckling adjustments at the waist and ankles, and white twill inner lining. The interior is size marked "74/(faint, possibly 117" and "84/100" beneath a faint mark for a maker in Litzmannstadt; otherwise named Lodz and briefly renamed during the German occupation of Poland, Litzmannstadt was a major center of Nazi forced labor activity, supplying both the military and private business. A white-on-blue polka dot bandanna/neckerchief, about 24 inches square, is also included. The shirt and smock are attributed to the George Petersen Collection

Excellent overall, with mild wear and staining. The trousers show some rust spots at the contact points with the metal buckles, as well as some damaged interior buttons. The tunic is missing one of the detachable front buttons, and shows some rust on the others. In total, an excellent Afrika Korps Paratrooper uniform set.