My Afrikamuetze

[Kohima]

Good day all,
Just thought I would share my ‘Afrika-muetze’ with you...
I am surprised there does not seem to be a running thread of examples in member’s collections (at least, none that I can find).

As you see, it was made by Franz Richter & Sohne (though I cannot discern the address), in 1942, and used by a member of a Transport & Supply unit.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do,
Bob

[Bill Garvy]

Look here: WWII Heer Tropical Caps - An Overview.

[Kohima]

Thank you Bill,
I really didn’t believe there wouldn’t be such a thread... just didn’t know where to look, I guess!

I’ve had this cap for well over 25 years (probably closer to 30!), and payed the princely sum of £100 for it. Oh, to be that jammy again!

All the best,
Bob

[mseagerthomas]

[Aldo]

That is a stunning cap! Stonemint recently posted this thread with an invaluable reference to tropical headgear. The amount of detail in this publication is mind boggling. You can download the whole volume as a pdf and refer to it at your convenience

Excellent Tropical Headgear Internet Reference!

[mseagerthomas]

I should credit the photos of the first of these caps to "Alphared6", who posted them elsewhere.

[ErWeSa]

That is a stunning cap! Stonemint recently posted this thread with an invaluable reference to tropical headgear. The amount of detail in this publication is mind boggling. You can download the whole volume as a pdf and refer to it at your convenience

Excellent Tropical Headgear Internet Reference!

I have posted the link to these documents myself on several occasions and what worries me is that I can't find the maker Richter there (neither in the original cap volume nor in the fake cap volume - which is, hopefully, not due to my eye-sight) - can anybody enlighten me as to the authenticity of this maker (the Dresden adressbook lists him, though, see below) and this cap? Thanks a lot!

Dresden addressbook 1943:

[Aldo]

In the aforementioned publication it refers to it as a maker of "uncertain authenticity" on the bottom of page 16. I'm not sure if this is simply because they do not have an example in their database of caps used in this study. I'm not really sure, this is all above my pay grade.

[mseagerthomas]

Richter is in volume 3, as Aldo says, under caps of uncertain authenticity. At the time these papers were written, the evidence available to me suggested, but only suggested, that Richter was a maker of WW2 German Army tropical peaked caps, but it was not possible for me to state this with certainty. Since then a couple more Richters—including that which started this thread—have been brought to my attention and I am now convinced that Richter was indeed a maker of these things.
I would like to see a few more photos of Kohima's cap, but from what he posted above, it looks OK to me. It also shares distinct features in common with the other "Richters" posted here and elsewhere.
My papers are the current, not the last word on the study of WW2 German Army tropical peaked caps, which I hope is ongoing.
Cheers
Mike

[ErWeSa]

In the aforementioned publication it refers to it as a maker of "uncertain authenticity" on the bottom of page 16. I'm not sure if this is simply because they do not have an example in their database of caps used in this study. I'm not really sure, this is all above my pay grade.

Thanks Aldo. I am no expert for these either. Seager mentions Richter in vol. III of said publications as exactly this "uncertain authenticity". And it is surely above my pay grade, too!