Original German WWII 1938 Dated Heer Pioneer EM/NCO Schirmmütze Visor Crush Cap by G.A. Hoffman – Size 56 ½ Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This cap is a lovely example of a German WWII Wehrmacht Heer Army Pioneer Combat Engineer EM/NCO Schirmmütze (visor cap), with a lovely “Crushed” shape. This “saddle-form” shape is highly desirable, and accomplished by removing the crown support stiffener ring. It features the typical feldgrau (field gray) “whipcord” weave wool construction with a dark bottle-green (flaschengrün) “badge cloth” band and a traditional high forward crown. It also has matching Schwarz (Black) piping along the top edge and flanking either side of the band. This is the Waffenfarbe (Corps Color) for the Pioniere (Combat engineers), as well as Assault, Armored, Fortress, and Railway engineers.

It is decorated with a well detailed silvered cast aluminum eagle insignia on the peak and and an open silver cast aluminum wreath surrounding an metal tri-color cockade on the band. The eagle and wreath are still mostly bright, however the cockade looks to be nickel plated zinc or brass, and has oxidized a bit. The cockade still retains the bright red felt center inlay. The cap has the correct black patent leather EM/NCO chin strap with double buckles, which shows some crazing/checking in the finish. The visor / peak on this cap is the typical black-finished “vulcanfibre” pressed composite material, which is checkered brown on the underside, and also shows the usual crazing and checking due to age, with some flaking on the edge.

The cap is lined with orange brown “service cloth” type fabric, which is in very good condition, showing light staining from use. The celluloid diamond sweat shield is completely missing, however the stitching is still present, and it is marked with size 56 ½. The brown leather sweatband is still fully intact, with no tearing or cracks. It is a bit stiff, however we were still able to lift it up to find a fully intact maker marking on the underside to the left of the 1938 date:

G. A. HOFFMANN
BERLIN SW 29

Overall condition is just lovely, with a fantastic “broken in” look. There is just a bit of fading to the colors and staining around the edges of the crown, but nothing out of line with wear from service and storage. It does show some moth damage on the crown, and also rear underside of the crown.

This is a very nice, high quality German Heer Pioneer EM/NCO peak visor cap, offered for sale in very good condition with a lovely service used look. Ready to display!

The German Schirmmütze Visor Cap:
The visor cap (Schirmmütze) was an important part of the headgear worn by German uniformed military, civil, paramilitary and political organizations during the Third Reich. This was the standard cloth headgear worn as a part of the service uniform. Visor caps were worn outdoors as well as indoors, and were often required to be worn by all personnel on duty. Visor caps were made in versions specific to each organization and were often further differentiated through the use of insignia, colored piping, or style of chin cord, to indicate rank, role or branch. The insignia used on these caps ranged from simple stamped metal emblems, to elaborate hand embroidery. Visor caps were issued to enlisted soldiers and NCOs in the military and in some other organizations. Officers had to purchase their own hats, and lower ranks could choose to purchase caps that were of a higher quality than the rather basic, issued examples. The private purchase caps were generally made in very high quality, with fine materials. A wide variety of fabrics were used, from Trikot and doeskin, to heavy wool, or even lightweight white fabric for summer wear. In the military, issue of these caps was generally suspended shortly after the outbreak of the war, but they continued to be worn by some troops until the end of the war.