Original Item: Only One Available. This cap is a lovely service used example of a German WWII Wehrmacht Heer Army Infantry Officer Schirmmütze visor "crush" cap, with a fantastic saddle form shape. Made with no crown reinforcement and sometimes even leather visors, these were quite flexible, and easily took on the iconic shape. The wear on this cap gives it a fantastic well broken in look that is impossible to duplicate, and many consider these to be the "true" crusher cap, flexible enough to almost be folded up.

It features the typical feldgrau (field gray) "doeskin" weave wool gabardine construction with a flaschengrün (dark bottle-green) "badge cloth" band and a traditional high forward crown. The cap has matching matching Weiß (white) piping along the top edge and flanking either side of the band, the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) for Infanterie (Infantry) and Motorisiert Infanterie (Motorized Infantry.

It is decorated with a well detailed silver bullion wire BeVo machine embroidered eagle insignia on the peak and and an open silver BeVo embroidered wreath surrounding a tri-color cockade on the band. The insignia are still in great shape, showing very little wear or oxidation, with the bullion still bright. There is no chinstrap, and no indication that it was made with one. However, the cream rayon interior and silver bullion insignia indicate that this a wartime produce cap for an officer. The black fiber visor is still in very good shape, showing a lovely pattern of checking and crazing on the top, while the bottom is unfinished brown fiber. The stitching has deteriorated over time, so the visor is not firmly attached to the cap anymore

The cap is lined with lovely cream colored rayon, which shows heavy staining from use and age. There is not any celluloid diamond sweat shield on the inner crown, or any sign that there ever was one, and we were not able to locate any type of markings on the interior. The sweatband is made from brown oil cloth, and shows a lot of loss of the finish around the edge, as well as cracking and other deterioration. The forehead area has had the stitching come completely undone, which is also why the visor is so loose.

A great "salty" example of the classic hat worn by German Infantry 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.