Winter Camo Stahlhelme

[MAP]

Question... why is it that most of the wintercamo helmets are in such very bad condition?
Didn't saw much very nice and good conditioned winter helmets yet...

My thoughts on this is that after winter was over, whitewashed helmets were then scrubbed down or repainted. No one wants to run around in a white helmet in the spring. Kind of like a "here I am" target on your back. Thus that is why I think we see mostly relics..that is...helmets, unfortunately no longer needed by the original owner.

[MAP]

James/Paul,

Thanks for throwing your nice examples into the helmet pile!!

[slados28]

My thoughts on this is that after winter was over, whitewashed helmets were then scrubbed down or repainted. No one wants to run around in a white helmet in the spring. Kind of like a "here I am" target on your back. Thus that is why I think we see mostly relics..that is...helmets, unfortunately no longer needed by the original owner.

I agree. Most of the winter camos seen appear to be relics and these, in turn, seem to largely come out of Eastern Europe. Fighting went on continuously for over 4 winter seasons on the Eastern front/in Eastern Europe, whereas the western front saw significantly less than that. A vastly bigger campaign over a higher amount of winter seasons = substantially higher need for winter camo in the east vs. the west, which again would equal a lot of these camos being left behind on the battlefield=relics.

Of course, forces on occupational duties on the quieter western front also winter camo'd their helmets but naturally to a lesser degree and, as noted by MAP, they tended to have the camo removed again for spring. Also, as a general factor, I seem to have read a lot about camos not being as popular back in the day with collectors, probably leading to a lot of the more "mundane" one colour scheme camos having this paint removed to reveal the original paint and possibly decals underneath. SO I guess a lot of western front bringbacks shared this unfortunate fate.

In Norway I have sen collectors finding a lot of nice winter camos "out of the woodwork", so there's certainly other sources for non-relic winter camos but surely the eastern front relic winter camos vastly outnumber these. The one I sold to MAP here came out of Eastern Europe but not a relic.

All in all I guess it's a combination of all of these factors that make winter camos in non-relic condition that much harder to find.

[NineLives]

Here is my M35 SE60. Lot number is hard to read but I believe it is 467.
Love the decal poking through. Original liner and chinstrap are still there but a little crispy!

[Heer 17]

I had the opportunity to buy this relic from a friend in Russia. It was ground dug from a bunker from the battlefield.

It is a size 64, difficult to see maker mark.





Ink stamped 8 battery







In my opinion, most original 'Winter' Camo's are relics - considering the number of German soldiers deployed on the Russian front and the few who returned, most helmets are rotting under ground.

Great thread.

Neil

[slados28]

Looks like a very nice Luftwaffe winter camo --- nice to see the decal peering through. Bet the stamp can reveal more--- FLAK RGT...

[MAP]

Nice examples guys!

[jamoros]

Superb thread and helmets

[Fabe]

hey guys - new possible pick-up - 'just dug out recently here in Hungary - M35 with green paint inside the dome and field repaint(?) with winter camo(?) - even some mud is still inside the dome. no cleaning, pins and liner ring un-touched - these are seller's pics, I don't have it yet...

any thoughts?

cheers,
Fabe

[MAP]

Looks like it might have a coat of white wash based on these pictures. In hand will tell but I don't see anything wrong with it or being messed with.