I also went to school in Germany in the sixties, and I remember that at the beginning of every term in september the class would be informed, that it was not allowed to wear anything else but vest, gym shorts, socks, and shoes for sports lessons. The message given to us boys definitely said: 'no necklaces, no watch, no underpants'. But as far as I remember not too many took it for serious. Though, not because of the ban of underwear, about a quarter to a third of us occasionally went underwearless. One reason was that white cotton underpants with a leg longer than contemporary retro-shorts were not unusual for underwear, and these would definitely not 'harmonize' with the short shorts worn these days. Secondly, when we wore long johns in winter (I lived close to Switzerland in the foothills of the Alps) we often had no briefs with us to wear under the gym shorts. (As we were allowed to leave our personal P.E. gear in the locker at school, we would have to plan in advance to take along some briefs, which most of us would simply forget) But on the other hand, the gym shorts of these days were rather tight (though really short), and not too revealing. And as at least always a few boys were freeballing during any sports lesson from whatever reason hardly anyone cared.
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