Original German WWII Army Heer EM/NCO Infantry Visor Crush Cap with Leather Visor & Embroidered Insignia Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a great looking German WWII EM/NCO Infantry Schirmmütze Visor Cap, with a lovely “Crushed” shape. This “saddle-form” shape is highly desirable, and later in the war caps were made without stiffeners, so they would have this shape from the start. Even better, it has a very desirable solid leather visor! This type of crusher is the ultimate in form fitting style, with a great service worn look.

The cap shows high quality fabrication, made with typical Heer army feldgrau (Field Gray) green / gray wool with a forest green band and a traditional high front, with matching white Waffenfarbe (corps color) piping along the top edge and flanking either side of the band, indicating the branch to be Infantry.

It is decorated with a well detailed hand embroidered silver bullion eagle insignia on the peak and and an open silver hand embroidered wreath surrounding a tri-color cockade on the band. The cap does not have a chin strap, and there is no indication that it was made with one. As the chin straps were not really used, they were omitted sometimes, especially on the EM/NCO versions, which did not need the bullion strap to denote officer rank. The visor / peak on this cap is black-finished single piece leather, not the “vulcanfibre” often used on cheaper examples. It is not however the pressed multipiece patent leather type seen on officer’s examples.

The cap is lined with tan light satin fabric, which shows wear and soiling from service. The celluloid diamond sweat shield is however completely missing, and there are no longer any types of maker or size markings present.

The tan leather sweatband is present, and is in good shape, with staining and wear consistent with the rest of the cap. The stitching holding it in looks to be intact, and it is still supple. We were not able to find any type of size marking on the underside of the sweatband, but the cap seems to be about a size 58cm.

Overall condition shows service wear with a lovely patina. There is no major mothing or other issues to note. This is a very nice, high quality German Heer EM/NCO Infantry peak visor cap, offered for sale in very good condition with a beautiful saddle-form shape. Ready to display!

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, issue 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.