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, made by the legendary EREL company. It is marked on both the inside of the crown and the sweatband, making it a VERY desirable DOUBLE MARKED example! Made with no crown reinforcement and even leather visors, these were quite flexible, and easily took on the iconic "saddle form" 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) "whipcord" 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 very good shape, showing light wear and some oxidation, with the bullion showing a bit of patination. 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, especially since it is an "Extra" version by Erel. The leather fiber visor is still in very good shape, showing a lovely pattern of checking and crazing on the top, while the bottom has less due to the thinner finish. The visor is still relatively well attached to the cap, though the stitching for the forehead area of the sweatband has degraded.

The cap is lined with lovely cream colored rayon, which shows heavy staining from use and age. There is tearound around the edges, and it definitely shows heavy wear. There is still the lower portion of the celluloid diamond sweat shield on the inner crown, with most of the stitching still intact. The metallic paint on the original logo is completely worn away, but we can still see the EREL trademark logo as a "shadow" on the lining:-

OFFIZIER
KLEIDERKLASSE
BERLIN
EREL
SonderKlasse
Extra

The cap also has an embossed stamp over the left ear on the sweatband: EREL PATENT / STIRNSCHUTZ, which refers to the "Forehead Protection" of the sweatband design. This means that the sweatband was never replaced, making this a "double marked" example. The swaeatband shows relatively heavy wear and staining, but no major damage such as tears or missing pieces. The stitching holding it in place has however rotted out in many areas, particularly aorund the rear left and front. There is no size marking present, but our hat sizer reads about about 55cm.

A great "salty" example of the classic hat worn by German Infantry Officers in WWII with a fantastic "crushed" shape, double marked by the legendary EREL company. 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.