Also on the Grenadier site for those interested in the origins of Blitzkrieg in the Reichswehr, which itself is more interesting than the hum drum bios of whichever garden variety Ritterkreuztraeger, is this model 1920 cap of the Kraftfahrtruppen of the Reichswehr, i.e. motorzied troops within the strict limits of the Versailles Treaty. This is an early model of said cap, with Rosa piping, but in a form scarcely every found granted the small size of this branch of the German army in period in which ideas of operations and tactics were reformed under Seeckt in the famous regulation on combined arms warfare of 1924. This is an exceptional piece of headwear.
Dear Ben, how can you place a value on such history, when we are all staggering around about to join the line of those selling pencils.
Look in Kurt von Schleicher's eyes and look at his hat and try to gainsay the historical and aesthetic importance of it all.
As the great Ron Manion said three decades ago in his off putting and oily home spun manner, "....the high prices of today are the bargains of tomorrow..." and, actually, even though the man was a total fraud, he was quite right when one thinks of 1979 and today.....
Or, to quote Moltke the Elder: "...erst wieg es, dann wag es!"
Of course, poor old Schleicher here got gunned down by the SS in June of 1934, but such makes his hat and those around him very interesting.
Dear Ben, please forgive me. I am partial to the history of the era 1919-1933, and find headwear from then very interesting. You are a man of refined and sophisticated taste to do likewise. Best wishes that we all somehow survive the reprise of the world economic crisis of 1929, or we, too, will end up like Kurt von Schleicher, and all the others....and what nice hats exist in 2009 to be our memorial?
Maybe one of these smiling faces grew up to wear one of these caps? These are the denizens of the famous military orphanage in Potsdam, a grand institution of the Prussian-German military state. This picture was made about the time the officer's cap from the Kleiderkasse was made....ein bisschen Colorit of happy headwear.
The building that housed these young orphan boys in Kraetzchen in early 1932 still stands in Potsdam, where many of the wonderful buildings there are long gone....
There is much more to all of this than the check list of cap maker conceits....
Sometimes one should consider the people under the caps.
re: Heer Infantry NCO's schirmutze
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by BenVK
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