Hybrid Legion M67 and M76 "Rocks" Amoeba Jacket

Here are some pictures of a strange jacket that has some M67 and some M76 features.

M67 - oval stitched elbow pads, left arm pocket, old style Legion embroidered epaulets

M76 - simplified cuffs, reinforced split above cuff, button front

Steve

First type M76.   This is exactly like Gilles 's first type M76.   Franco era Legion embroidery without royal crown and a sleeve pocket..

 It appears  first typeM76 had sleeve pockets; sleeve pockets are sometimes seen on second type M76 as well ( likely early second types; they lack sleeve flag common to M76s ).

Elbow reinforcement pad and cuffs are consistent with M76.   Roundish VS pointy for M69.


Photo shows difference of Legion embroidery between first type and second type. *
 Looks like the second type in this photo also has a sleeve pocket.  





                                                                                                 



* Photo is taken from Santiago's book. And so is information on both types of M76s.

Excellent! Well, now I know what it is

I wonder what the thinking was about the arm pocket being dropped. Did they find nobody used it? Cost savings measure?

Steve

No telling. But uniforms that came after M76s had no sleeve pocket .


These M76s also have sleeve pockets. One has sleeve pocket with flag sown onto the the pocket cover, the other has had epaulettes removed ( possibly indicating non Legion use ) and is quite worn.  

First one is a second type M76.    No telling which type the other one is with epaulettes having been removed .




                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                           

                                                                                                           

Yeah, I saw that second one (sans epaulets) on eBay and figured they were Legion and removed by COE member. Pretty well beaten up, unfortunately.

I am a little confused. I thought there are only two M76 variants, with the early one being the type in this thread and the later (standard) one having no pocket or elbow reinforcements. Therefore, if something has either arm pocket or elbow reinforcements it is a standard M76. If it has arm pocket and elbow reinforcement, but button front and simplified cuffs, then it is early M76. If it has arm pocket, elbow reinforcement, loop on cuff, and velcro front then it is M69. Or am I missing something?

Steve

CollectinSteve wrote:Yeah, I saw that second one (sans epaulets) on eBay and figured they were Legion and removed by COE member.  Pretty well beaten up, unfortunately.

I am a little confused.  I thought there are only two M76 variants, with the early one being the type in this thread and the later (standard) one having no pocket or elbow reinforcements.  Therefore, if something has either arm pocket or elbow reinforcements it is a standard M76.  If it has arm pocket and elbow reinforcement, but button front and simplified cuffs, then it is early M76.  If it has arm pocket, elbow reinforcement, loop on cuff, and velcro front then it is M69.  Or am I missing something?

Steve

Sure , it does get a bit confusing, but here it goes. All 1st type M76 ( I have seen so far ) have Legion embroidery without royal crown and have a sleeve pocket, no flag.


All  2nd type M76  have Legion embroidery with royal crown .

Some 2nd type M76s ( likely early 2nd types ) have a sleeve pocket.  Some have a sleeve pocket and flag. Some have no sleeve pocket with flag, and some have no pocket, no flag.

So, so far, we have seen, at least four (4) versions of 2nd type M76s with small differences. .



All M69 ( both green dominant and brown dominant ) have Velcro front closure and a sleeve pocket ( no flag ) . Cuffs and elbow reinforcements also have features unique to M69s.

M69 cuffs have a tongue and loop affair; elbow reinforcement is oval shaped .   M76 have simple button / button hole cuffs, and pointed elbow reinforcements.




And to complicate things some more, here is an M76 ( no sleeve pocket, no flag ) that someone modified by removing front closure buttons and replacing them with a Velcro strip ( a la M69 ).  

I can see how some could mistake this particular M76 for an M69..  Just have to pay attention to small details with these uniforms.  



                                                                                                                                              

Thanks for that! Way more complicated than I knew.

For what it's worth, a friend of mine who was a reserve officer in the Spanish Army said that some soldiers preferred velcro for their front closure, so they modified their M76 to be velcro instead of buttons. I am pretty sure I have, or at least had, a Spanish OD jacket (i.e. not camo) that fit this description.

Steve

Quite welcome

The only real complicated thing is that there are 2 types of M76s with a few small variations. That can get confusing.

M69 are fairly straightforward ( except for some shade difference in base color of the green dominant type).

One thing to know is that M76s were originally intended only for the Legion ( and thus they alone had Legion embroidery on epaulettes). M69s were primarily issued to COE and other Spec Ops units. No ebrroidery  

Another small clue is the color of the inside fabric. Yellowish on M76, grayish on M69.


That is really pretty much it !