Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very good service used condition German WWII EM/NCO Infantry Schirmmütze Visor Cap. The cap shows high quality fabrication, made with typical Heer army feldgrau (Field Gray) “Whipcord” weave wool with a forest green band and a traditional high front, with matching Black (Schwarz) 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 a tri-color cockade on the band. 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. The visor / peak on this cap is the typical black-finished “vulcanfibre” pressed composite material, which is brown on the underside.
The cap is lined with brown light weight oilcloth, and unfortunately the celluloid diamond on the crown is completely missing, which would usually have the manufacturer information. There is however a faint size 56 visible under where it used to be. The tan sweatband shows significant wear from service, and has a portion missing at the back, with the rest in delicate condition.
Overall condition of the cap shows some great period wear, which is simply impossible to duplicate. The insignia are still bright, and the visor has a great lightly worn look.
This is a very nice, high quality German Heer EM/NCO Pioneer peak visor cap, offered for sale in very good condition with a lovely service worn 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.