Original Item: Only One Available. This is a fantastic example of a German WWII Named Wehrmacht Heer Army Artillery Officer's Schirmmütze (visor 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! The cap has a lovely "Crushed" or "saddle-form" shape that is highly desirable, accomplished by removing the crown support stiffener ring. It features the typical feldgrau (field gray) "whipcord" weave wool construction with a flaschengrün (dark bottle-green) "badge cloth" band and a traditional high forward crown. It also has matching Hochrot (Deep Red) piping along the top edge and flanking either side of the band, the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) for Artillery, as well as General Level Officers. As this is an EM/NCO cap, this is definitely for an Artillery, Assault Gun, or Heavy Flak soldier. It has the correct silver bullion chin strap, indicating that it is for an officer.

It is decorated with a well detailed stamped aluminum eagle insignia on the peak and and an open aluminum bullion embroidered wreath surrounding a metal tri-color cockade on the band. The eagle is in great shape, still bright with little wear or damage, while the wreath shows some light fraying, and the cockade has lost much of the plating. The red felt insert also shows staining from the oxidation of the cockade. The chin strap is attached with the standard silvered pebbled buttons on either side of the cap. The vulcanfibre visor has a smooth black leather-look upper, exhibiting some wear along the edge, and is checkered beige on the underside. It also has a lovely pattern of crazing and checking on the black enamel finished top, though there is no advanced deterioration due to age.

The cap is lined with lovely cream colored rayon faux silk, which is ribbed on the sides, and shows little to no wear or staining from age and use. The underside of the crown has a fully intact diamond-shaped celluloid sweat shield, with just a bit of stitch pulling. Underneath it shows a clear Erel trademark logo in silver:

The nametag slot on this example has an old label inside, which reads Heesemann, a known German surname. The cap also has an embossed silver maker marking on the left side of the sweatband that reads: „Erel“ Stirnshutz / D.R.G.M. / D.R.P. angem., which refers to the "Forehead Protection" of the sweatband design. This means that the sweatband was never replaced, making this a "double marked" example. It is made from fine natural colored leather, which is in very good condition, showing only light wear, though the original stitching has rotted out on about 40% of the circumference. It is a bit delicate due to age, however there are no major tears. There is no size marked, but it seems to be about a 57cm.

Exterior condition of the cap is every good and looks to have seen very little use while in service. The colors are still vibrant, and there are just a few moths nips in areas, combined with some light overall wear.

A lovely named and unit marked example of the classic hat worn by German Wehrmacht Artillery Officers in WWII, made 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.