Original Item: Only One Available. This cap is a great "salty" service worn example of a German WWII Wehrmacht Heer Army Pioneer Combat Engineer EM/NCO Schirmmütze (visor cap), with a lovely "Crushed" shape. This "saddle-form" shape is highly desirable, and accomplished by removing the crown support stiffener ring. It features the typical feldgrau (field gray) "doeskin" 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 is decorated with a well detailed stamped aluminum insignia on the peak and and an open aluminum wreath surrounding an metal tri-color cockade on the band. The insignia are in great shape, and the cockade still retains the bright red felt center inlay. The cap has the correct black patent leather EM/NCO chin strap with double buckles, which shows some crazing/checking in the finish. The visor / peak on this cap is the typical black-finished "vulcanfibre" pressed composite material, which is checkered beige on the underside. The top of the visor shows a lovely pattern of fine crazing and checking due to age, with some flaking on very edge. The visor is a bit loose on the cap due to the attachment threads stretching over time.

The cap is lined with lovely cream colored rayon faux silk, which is in good condition, showing staining from use, particularly towards the front. The celluloid diamond sweat shield is fully intact with complete stitching, and there is even a printed name in the name tag slot, which looks to read Wachsenegger. There is no size marked, but it seems to be about a 58cm / 7 1/4 US. The sweat shield still has the full original marking visible:

Extra-Klasse

Stirndruckfrei

This indicates that it is a high class cap with a "forehead pressure free" design. The beige finished leather liner is in very good condition, and still attached over much of the circumference. The leather is still supple, with the only discrepancy being some wear around the edges on the rear. It also has a lovely regimental marking on the underside, which reads:

Geprüft
3. / Pi. 70

This would be for the 3rd company, 70th Pioneer Battalion. Definitely some great research potential here with both a name and unit!

Overall condition is just lovely, with a fantastic "broken in" look. The colors are very well retained, and there is no major staining on the exterior. It has however suffered many moth holes to the underside of the crown, and the top shows tracks through the "nap" of the fabric.

This is a very nice, high quality named German Heer Pioneer EM/NCO peak visor cap, offered for sale in very good service used condition. 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, issued 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.