Figure 1.--This was the Christmas portrait for these German boys. They wear identical Hbar shorts. (Only the younger boy's collar is differet. The inscription on the back reads, "Weihnachten 1942, Hermann und Bruno, Der Preuße und der Schwab". That means "Christmas 1942, Hermann and Bruno, The Prussian and the Swabian". We don't know how the boys acquired their nicknames. Christmas is Germany's most important holiday. Christmas 1942 was not a very happy time for Germany. At the time the German 6th Army was cut off and starving in Stalingrad. Click on the image for additional information.

We have noted many German boys wearing H-bar pants. It seems to have been a popular style. We are unsure if the popularity was a practical matter or more of a fashion statement. The cross bar was practical, keeping the suspender straps securely in place and preventing them from sliping off the boy's shoulders. There was also a fashion element, at least in Germany. H-bar pants looked rather like Lederhosen. The H-bar was comparable to a Lederhosen halter. Notably, H-bar shorts were more common in Austria and Germany than in other countries. A reader writes, "In Austria and Germany, H-bar pants were quite common. Beside the praticality of keeping the suspender straps in place, the style was influenced by the popularity of lederhosen. Many mothers were fond of the lederhosen style. Thus they also made suspenders style for wool pants as well." We have perhaps noted H-bar pants in Germany because we have a larger archive of images from Germany especially. They seem, howver, much less common in other countries.