M40 Camo W/ Bring back Paper

**Sgt Rock** · 07-05-2014, 03:17 PM

I scooped this one up out of the sticks of Indiana 2 years ago. It's a nice rather subtle camo, consisting of a nice brick red and some tan here and there. What I love about this helmet is the combat-look to it. It has whitewash remains inside the skirt and still has dirt on the outside and all over the inside, even between the liner band. I even found a woodchip rolling around beneath the liner. There is a Heer decal beneath the paint also.
What's left of the chinstrap is dated 1941, I can't read the liner band date. The bring back paper is dated February 5, 1945.

ET64
1070

Lots of pictures, thanks for looking!

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 07-05-2014 03:17 PM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**KradSpam** · 07-05-2014, 03:30 PM

That's a nice one Tommy, one that didn't sit out the war in an office for certain. Cool to have the paperwork too, I would like to find a helmet one day like this.

**Tank Destroyer** · 07-05-2014, 04:54 PM

Tommy, all I can say is WOW!!!! That is a really nice camo and with papers you did well. Marty

**harryamb2** · 07-05-2014, 07:16 PM

v/nice.

**helmet2id** · 07-05-2014, 10:48 PM

Nice!

**ObKrieger** · 07-05-2014, 11:00 PM

Very nice! I researched the 499th Armored Field Artillery Battalion and found that it was part of the 14th Armored Division. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia which details the whereabouts of the division in January and February of 1945:

"As the fighting in the VI Corps sector intensified, the Germans committed the 21st Panzer and the 25th Panzer Grenadier Divisions to the attack with a breakthrough to Hagenau. On 9 January, German armor was able to penetrate the center of the VI Corps sector. This caused Brooks, the Corps commander, to commit his final reserve force, the 14th Armored, in an effort to stop the German XXXIX Panzer Corps advance. Ordered to take up positions in the vicinity of Hatten and Rittershoffen, the 14th assumed command and control of units from the 242nd Infantry Regiment and the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 315th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division . With heavy fighting in and around the towns, success was measured in how many buildings were controlled by each side as the Americans controlled the western half of the villages and the Germans the eastern half. On 15 January, the Germans strengthed the forces in both villages with elements of the 20th Parachute Regiment from the 7th Parachute Division, and the 104th Infantry Regiment from the 47th Volksgrenadier Division. As the fighting raged, the 14th Armored found itself increasingly on the defensive. The resupply of the division was becoming very difficult due to the constant reorganizing of forces, the evacuation of the wounded and the shrinking perimeter. But the divisions' 11 day stand at Hatten and Rittershoffen allowed the VI Corps and Seventh Army to withdraw to prepared defensive positions. On 21 January, after the rest of Seventh Army had withdrawn to the south bank of the Moder River, the 14th and its supporting units withdrew from Hatten and Rittershoffen and moved south to join the rest of the army.

Following the battle, the division's G-4 (staff officer) reported to the commanding officer that the division was still short of 62 medium tanks despite having received over 60 replacements during the month of January. The 136th Ordnance Maintenance Battalion's report for the month listed approximately 150 tanks that had been knocked out in combat, repaired and returned to the division's tank battalions. An example of this is seen in the operational reports of the 47th and 48th Tank Battalions. At the height of the fighting the 47th reported that it had a total of 17 operational tanks out of an authorized strength of 50, all were committed to holding its portion of the line. The 48th Tank Battalion report for the same period included the comment that its tank companies were now of approximately squad strength. Lieutenant-General Jacob L. Devers, commanding general, 6th Army Group later commented that the Battle of Hatten-Rittershoffen "was one of the greatest defensive battles of the war." The 14th Armored Division was nominated for four Presidential Unit Citations for its actions at Hatten-Rittershofen. Of these, two were awarded. Col. Hans von Luck, who commanded the 21st Panzer Division at Hatten-Rittershoffen wrote in his memoirs "Panzer Commander" that the battle ".... was one of the hardest and most costly battles that had ever raged on the western front." These are strong, telling words from a professional German panzer officer who had fought with Rommel's famed Afrika Korps in North Africa, served two tours of duty on the Eastern Front, and led the only armored counter-attack to be attempted against the Allied beachhead in Normandy. A veteran officer who served on the staff of Army Group G during the battle wrote after the war that the American defense of the town against overwhelming odds was "heroic."

**Sir Payne** · 07-05-2014, 11:06 PM

Very nice one looker! And you can't beat provenance like that.

**FALLSCHIRMJAGER** · 07-06-2014, 09:09 AM

That's another beauty mate! You Americans certainly know how to tuck these gems away for 70 years or so. Nothing ever seems to surface like that over here in the UK and have not for a long time. Leon.