Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice service worn example of a WWII German Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD - National Labor Service) Officer's "Robin Hood" cap. It is constructed of very nice olive brown felt wool with lovely "faux" ear flaps, with a top that is usually depicted sunken in, though it can be pushed out if desired. There is silver bullion piping along the top of the ear flaps, as well as across the brim of the cap. This indicates the cap is for an company or field grade officer, as EM / NCOs had black piping, and General Grade officers had gold.

The front of the cap has a chocolate brown cap band that goes under the side flaps, which has a lovely BeVo machine embroidered RAD shovelhead logo, executed with silver bullion threads. It features a canted black Swas (hook cross) in the middle, with 2 sheaves of wheat extending from the bottom at 45 degree angles. The border of the shovel is correctly highlighted with red.

The interior of the cap does not have any sweatband or other type of liner on the interior, however we do not see any stitch holes indicating that one was installed previously. There is a black rectangular issue marking on the inside of the cap, however we are unable to read what it says. The cap seems to be about a size 56-57cm.

This cap looks to have seen light service during the war, and shows only light wear overall. There has been moth damage to the felt body, particularly on the right side of the cap just above the bullion piping. The front visor cardboard stiffener also has some creases and possibly a crack in it.

A very nice example of a RAD Officer's cap in very nice condition, ready to display!

The basis of the RAD, Reichsarbeitsdienst, (National Labor Service), dates back, at least, to 1929 with the formation of the AAD (Anhalt Arbeitsdienst) and the FAD-B (Freiwillingen Arbeitsdienst-Bayern). Shortly after AH’s appointment as Chancellor in Jan 1933, the NSDAP consolidated all labor organizations into the NSAD (Nationalsozialist Arbeitsdienst), a national labor service, under the control of Reichsarbeitsführer Konstatin Hierl. It served as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarize the workforce and indoctrinate it with NSDAP ideology. It was the official state labor service, divided into separate sections for men and women.

On June 26 1935 the NSAD was officially re-designated RAD, and from then onward, men aged between 18 and 25 may have served six months before their military service. During World War II compulsory service also included young women and the RAD developed to an auxiliary formation which provided support for the Wehrmacht armed forces.

In April 1934 Hierl had developed a uniform, including the distinctive "Robin Hood" style service cap. The design of the cap was based on a cross between a traditional style peasant cap and the traditional hunters cap. Originally the caps were issued with rank distinction piping with black piping for the EM/NCO ranks of Arbeitsmann to Truppführer, silver piping for company and field grade Officer’s ranks of Obertruppführer to Oberstarbeitsführer and gold piping for General Officer’s ranks of Generalarbeitsführer to Reichsarbeitsführer. In 1940 the use of the black piping for the EM/NCO ranks was discontinued but the silver and gold Officer’s piping remained in use until the end of the war.