my small but growing BW collection

[Ben1596]

Nice collection James, I've only got the basic uniorm right now but the flecktarn pattern is awesome.

[James C]

thanks ben ,when you say basic uniform do you mean the olive drab type ,i agree with you , the flecktarn cammo does look the business ,cheers james

[James C]

here's a referance picture of a bw mortar crew wearing the airborne luftlandertruppe stahlhelm fitted with amoebatarn covers of which i based mine on

[James C]

finnaly picked up an example of the earlier cap, an M56 Feldmützen made in hbt ,absolutely mint and dated 1956 it bears the heer crossed swords and roundel ,also i notice its lack of side ventilation grommits ,the frontal buttons are purely cosmetic and serve no function ,the size is a tiny 52 and cant fit my big head ,in fact my daughter struggled to fit on her head and she's 7 year old,still a great example considering its 57 years old

[oradour]

James...great cap ! it is part of the "Arbeitzug" or work uniform, made of HBT material, this cap did get grommets in 1959, so there are two versions of this cap.....later in the 1960's when the moleskin uniform began to be adopted a moleskin varient was added............they were worn in a variety of settings, not just on work detail............
You can see this commander of an M48C Patton tank clearly wearing his, during manoeuvres.
Prost ! Steve.

[James C]

many thanks steve for the nice compliments and also the great information regards these caps ,ive learned a lot more now for sure ,all the best james

[oradour]

James, here are my two HBT arbeitszug caps, early one, dated 1956 with out grommets and a later 1959 dated one with grommets.....I hope to add a moleskin version next week.
Prost ! Steve.

[Dean]

Lovely items, James! As you know, I'm a big fan of BW paraphernalia , in fact I just got a great deal on a lot of BW shoulder straps and slip ons for the battle shirt.
Thanks for sharing your awesome collection, mate!
Cheers,
Dean.

[James C]

thanks dean for the nice compliments it means a lot and nice to know im not on my own in collecting post war german militaria ,its funny but theres not a lot of interest generated for BW and NVA items ,perhaps one day this will change ,and thanks steve for sharing your beautifull pair of caps ,its nice to see the comparison of the later version ,i see yours are in mint condition like mine too ,nice finds ,im really fond of these early caps and to think made only 11 years after the end of ww2 but to look at mine you would think made yesterday ,now can i ask ,the moleskin version does this have the heer crossed swords or does it just have the single roundel im not to sure ,cheers james

[oradour]

James, you are correct re the moleskin version, no crossed swords insignia, just a roundel badge as below.....
Prost ! Steve.