| The box says German Infantry 1939-1945 but looking at their uniforms they are wearing early uniforms because of the pleats on the shirts ... |
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If you're doing early war, their M35 tunic was worn, later, the M40, both had pleated pockets. The major difference between the two was that the dark bottle-green collar was eliminated on the M40.. All German uniform issues were worn until the end of the war, although as the new uniforms came in, soldiers would exchange them and new recruits were issued them... Some veterans, however, kept their M40 uniforms, since they were of much higher quality than the late-war uniforms...
| Is it safe to assume that every solider carried gas mask canisters at the early stage? |
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Pretty much, since the threat of chemical weapons was there..
| I noticed in many photos they didn't carry those blunky canisters at the end after D-Day or so. Was it due to shortage of resources or they finally realized there will be no chemical warfare? |
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Once it was apparent to the Germans that the Allies weren't going to use chemical weapons, the German soldiers pretty much left their gas masks with their rucks... American soldiers pretty much threw them away...
Hitler was no fan of chemical warfare, having been gassed himself during WW1...