Winter Camo M35-ET66

[Wehrmi]

Hello forum,


i would like to introduce you this great „ M35 - ET66 Winter Camo “


The M35 helmet comes from Eisenwerke Thale/Harz in size 66

The Lotnr. is 4772

Based on lotnr. the Helmet was produced between January and March 1940.

Air Force, Army, W-SS and Police helmets are registered in this lotnr. series from 4770-4790


The helmet was found on a estate in the battle area of Demyansk.


At this area german SS Totenkopf Division and 5 german infanterie divisions of 16. Armee fought in Kesselschlacht from August 1941 to October 1942 till it´s liberation.

The helmet is a ground dug preserved fantasticly for over 70 years by blue clay.

It is in overall great condition.

As you can see the winter painting is in great condition as well and very well preserved.

From the wear tracks of the color the carrier has probably worn the helmet with this winter camouflage for longer time.

Inside it has the original apple green paint.


Liner system with double alu liner band and „rounded D-Rings“ is from:

Werner Zahn

Metall-Lederverarbeitung W.Z. Berlin Charlottenburg 5

it´s stamped with 1940 and size 59

Transition period to steel lining system from later 1940

Apart from the discoloration the liner is in good condition and fully flexible as well chinstrap and drawstring.


On left side under the air vent you can see the outlines of a decal under winter paint.
There are two black S-contours shimmering through in the middle of decal.

Decal outlines are 40 mm high and 33 mm wide and was off center to air vent but 5 mm to the right and 2 mm mounted twisted to the left.

On the right side there is a „ 10 “ in the neck shield wrapped?!

What could it mean a unit or....?

Also you can see the removed decal on the right.

The scratches and removing of decal seems to be very old.

In other places where winter camo is off the helmet has partially gray-brown-green color.

Maybe a camouflage color below winter tarn?


Maybe we can imagine what the soldiers went trough at this terrible time!


Would appreciate your thoughts!


Thank you very much

Wehrmi

[James C]

hi wehrmi ,im not a huge expert on these and can only comment based on owning two relic example's myself but i would say its good ,one of my examples has the exact type of paint loss around the decal i did wonder on yours why the whitewash looked more like white gloss paint untill i spotted the insides ,which appear to have been coated in some sort of oil ,i can only speculate the exterior has had the same treatment , is that a heer decal remnant where there is paint loss ? im sure there will be a few to denounce this as a contrived example but dont be perturbed as it comes with the territory when you post up your finds and is judged by pictures alone ,i hope im right on what looks like a nice example regards james

[Glenn66]

I am comfortable with the colour and shrinkage of the leather. As for the paint, it looks more like an enamel than a whitewash?

[Fabe]

I have a relic M40 helmet that "might" have some winter camo on it - I'll try to find some photos of it...but maybe it's just rust turned yellowish color...I can't tell:



And maybe I can help with some shots of my 2 winter camo SdKfz 251 wheels - these have winter camo on top of sand/gelb factory paint:


Cheers,
Fabe

[Wehrmi]

Thank's for your opinions and showing great helmets😃

The winter camo on my helmet looks a bit like enamel or oil paint.

A member of another forum had a good explantation.
Most likely the "Heer" decal was white washed and was rubbed to show the decal. Over time the decal deteriorated.

My thougts was maybe the party decal was removed.
On the left side you see shimmering two black contours under white wash.

So maybe a SS Helmet ?

What do you think?

Thank you
Wehrmi

[SteveR]

It looks good to me. Having a liner is a definite plus.

[SteveR]

I like the Roy Lichtenstein prints in the background.
Helmets are nice too.

[Nathan362]

I think this is a legit ground dug white wash IMO.. But I just don't see the SS runes in the pictures. Maybe you see it better in hand. Overall I like it!