Original German WWII Army Heer Pioneer Officer Schirmmütze Visor Crush Cap – Service Worn – Size 56 ½ Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This cap is a very nice service used example of a German WWII Wehrmacht Heer Pioneer Officer Schirmmütze visor cap. The crown stiffener has been removed, giving it the lovely “saddle form” crushed shape which we all love. 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 has the correct silver bullion chin strap, indicating that it is for an officer, though the chin strap is attached to black enamel buttons, so it may have been “field upgraded” from an EM/NCO cap.

It is decorated with a well detailed silvered stamped aluminized zinc eagle insignia on the peak and and an open silver cast aluminum wreath surrounding a plated metal tri-color cockade on the band. The wreath and cockade are still mostly bright, however the eagle has definitely lost much of the aluminized coating, which has allowed it to oxidize. The cockade still retains the bright red felt center inlay. The vulcanfibre visor has a smooth black leather-look upper, exhibiting light wear along the edge, as well as overall checking and crazing in the gloss black finish, which has had some areas flake away. The underside is checkered brown, and shows light staining from use.

The interior of the cap is lined with orange “service cloth” type fabric, and shows moderate staining from age and use. The original celluloid diamond-shaped sweat shield is completely missing, along with the stitching, and there is a faint size 56 ½ marking still visible, with all other markings removed. The sweatband is made from brown oil cloth, and has become quite brittle over the years, as is common. It shows tearing around much of the edge, and has some glue repairs at the front near the visor.

Overall condition shows extensive use in the field during its service life. The bottom of the cap is worn through the fabric in many areas, showing the fiber ring that supports the interior of the headband. There are areas worn through on the crown, and there is light staining overall.

A lovely “salty” service used example of the classic hat worn by German Pioneer Officers in WWII. Very impressive and 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, 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.