Original German WWII Army Heer Feldgendarmerie EM/NCO Schirmmütze Visor Crush Cap Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This cap is a very good example of a German WWII Wehrmacht Heer Army 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) “doeskin” wool construction with a flaschengrün (dark bottle-green) “badge cloth” band and a traditional high forward crown. The cap has matching Orange-gelb (Orange-yellow) piping along the top edge and flanking either side of the band, the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) for recruiting and replacement (Wehrersatzwesen) and Military Police (Feldgendarmerie). Usually recruitment personnel are officers, so we believe this is for the Military Police.

It is decorated with a well detailed silvered zinc alloy eagle insignia on the peak and and an open aluminum alloy wreath surrounding a metal tri-color cockade on the band. The insignia look great, with the eagle still retaining a good amount of the silver wash, and the aluminum wreath and cockade still bright and shiny. The red felt insert in the cockade is still present and vibrant. The dual-buckled black leather chinstrap, designating the wearer to be an enlisted man, is attached to black lacquered buttons on either side. The finish has degraded a bit, with a lovely pattern of checking and crazing in the patent leather finish, which can “melt” over time, as this example has a bit. The vulcanfibre visor has a smooth black leather-look upper, exhibiting light wear along the edge and is checkered brown on the underside. The top of the visor has a lovely pattern of crazing and checking, showing that it has not been refinished at any time. It is still firmly attached to the body of the cap.

The cap is lined with lovely ribbed cream fabric, which could be brushed cotton or more likely a cotton rayon blend. It shows staining from use on the top, and also the fabric is a bit frayed. The top plastic sweat shield diamond is mostly missing, having torn away, and the original stitching is also mostly missing. There are traces of a maker name and logo, probably Deutsche Wert Arbeit. (German Workmanship). The sweatband is made from leather, however it is very stiff and now torn, with one part completely detached, held on lightly by old plastic tape. It will fall off rather easily, as the tape is old.

The cap looks to have seen light service during the war, and shows some wear on the bottom edge as well as on the edge of the crown. There is some moth damage on the rear of the crown and underside, and also the metal inside of the piping is protruding near the rear as well.

A lovely example of the classic hat worn by German Army Gendarmerie Military Police NCOs in WWII. 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.