Original Item: Only One Available. This is lovely mid war M43 Heer Feldmütze (Army Field Cap), which is in very good lightly used condition. It is constructed of wool gabardine cloth, with fold-down panels with squared scallops to the front and forward sides, covering the entire neck on the sides and rear when in use. When not in use, the panels are raised with their ends resting upon the visor, being joined together by two non-magnetic painted pebbled buttons. It has rayon loops on the underside of the flaps, only seen on some examples.

Sewn in place in the front of the cap is a Heer cap insignia trapezoid constructed of BeVo style machine woven grey and green embroidered threading in the shape of a standard eagle over an embroidered cockade. This patch is original to the cap and is machine sewn to the outer fabric only. It is definitely in great shape, showing just a bit of wear. The interior of the cap looks to be olive brown rayon, fairly standard for these caps, and we can see faded RBNr. markings above a size marking of 59. There is some staining around the forehead area, and a bit of fraying around the upper rear liner.

Overall condition is very good, showing only light wear from service, and no moth damage that we can see. There is a bit of fading and staining to the exterior, with the original color well retained under the flaps. The front visor is in very good shape, though there is a bit of rippling to the cardboard stiffener, but no cracks or tears.

Overall, this is a great wartime used M43 Heer field cap, still in great condition and ready to display!

The M43 Feldmütze (Field Cap) is a variety of "Ski Cap" and was based on the Bergmütze (Mountain Hat) used by Austrian and German Gebirgsjäger (Mountain Troops) during WWI. Germany had adopted it in 1915, and after the war it spread throughout the military.

The skirt that surrounds the cap is made in the same wool as the cap, and can be folded down over the ears, though this was rarely done outside of the Mountain troops, which had a double-thickness skirt. The skirt has a small dip in the front quarter with a divide secured by one aluminum button which is covered by an embroidered cockade. The small section in the front quarter was built shorter to show the insignia, and cover the wearer's chin or mouth, without disturbing breathing by covering the nose. There were also later M43 caps, such as those used by the DAK, that omitted the skirt entirely, as it had little use in the desert heat.