RKKA visor hat, I think its original..?

[ASR]

Two well known WW2 pics where we can see caps with rounded visors, like those which became standard issue after 1956.

[RichieC]

Some examples of prewar/wartime - courtesy of a colleague:

[Wesley's Dad]

It is because that same texture and color of fabric was made postwar as a wool/poly (natural/synthetic) blend. Once you learn it you can feel the difference. A burn test will also confirm the synthetic content. However in photos, it is usually impossible to tell if it is the wool/poly or the wartime-prewar fabric you speak of.

[Soljenitsyne]

Bonsoir,

Very beautiful!
J would like photos of Inside.

Marc

[ASR]

Hello,

My medical-legal service cap.

Is exactly the same manufacture as the previous example. Note that that the fabric is 100 % correct for WW2 period (the crown is made with two colours in the textile mill, being one thread brown and the other dark green. Seen from the distance this gives us a olive drab hue, lighter that the solid dark green we see from the mid fifties on. The pictures are a bit darker than reality.

Yet, on the label you can easily read <<Ministersbo Torgobli>> Which stands for Ministry of Commerce, which was set in place after the war.

It is not always materials, but many organisms stated on the markings have been created post war.

If not for this label, I would have placed it together with the previous pictures of wartime caps with rounded visors.

[ASR]

My field cap.

I bought this cap and a kittel from an old man in Kiev (although I do not think he was the original owner) about seven years ago. The cap lacked the star (although it had the hole) and the kittel lacked the shoulder boards. I found the attached star in Kiev that very same day.

Note that:

- The fabric is very like the one in the cap I've posted before and identified as post-war.
- The crown and the band have no welts, as many have ( i don't know if it is because it dates from an earlier period or because it is just to simplify production).
- The crown is smaller than the common M1935 caps, but still it has the padding at the front which is not encountered on M1927 / M1929 pre-war caps.
- The lining is something like grey artificial silk (rayon, coming from cellulose, is used in the textile industry since 1909, and stands the <<fire test>>) and is very much the one in my previous cap.
- The band is made from black oilcloth type material, but it has a curious art-déco pattern (I have seen it in some pre-war examples).

[Wesley's Dad]

This black oilcloth material in this "art deco" pattern is a standard material and is also seen on the sweatbands of Ssh39 steel helmets and the liner pads of Ssh40 helmets.

[RichieC]

I don't normally like to hijack threads and go off topic, but:

I have often wondered about these green enameled stars - both 22mm & 31mm. Were they actually ever issued? The only discussion that I (vaguely) recall was that they were made en masse and then put to storage and forgotten about. The market was flooded with them about eight to ten years ago and they were of course purveyed as "wartime, Frontier Troops, NKVD special troops" and other typical "tufta". The body and prong type to me seem like the pattern of 1947 - but that is only my opinion.

I should do some research on the Russian forums and/or drop Denis Rodichev an email as now my curiosity is aroused once again on these...

[Aleksander P]

I don't normally like to hijack threads and go off topic, but:

I have often wondered about these green enameled stars - both 22mm & 31mm. Were they actually ever issued? The only discussion that I (vaguely) recall was that they were made en masse and then put to storage and forgotten about. The market was flooded with them about eight to ten years ago and they were of course purveyed as "wartime, Frontier Troops, NKVD special troops" and other typical "tufta". The body and prong type to me seem like the pattern of 1947 - but that is only my opinion.

I should do some research on the Russian forums and/or drop Denis Rodichev an email as now my curiosity is aroused once again on these...

I agree that it looks like M47 pattern.

Please inform us about the usage of green stars Richie. For me, views on their use during the war have been contradicting.

[ASR]

Yes, Ihave heard these theories also.
the truth is that the seller in a flea-market stand had a tobacco tin with some stars, mainly 1950's enamelled red stars and only this green one. Whilst he was prone to bargaining for the red ones, he stuck to this green one as it was the only one he has had this type (green + enamel, not green paint) and was not cheap for UA prices at the time, he asked me about four times more than the red ones (although I did not show my interest on this particular one).
I've seen in ebay one or two pinned on pattern 1958 field caps of early manufacture (instead of the cockade)... But I know nothing for certain... could have been added afterwards.

I've also surfed around Russian forums, but still nothing really enlightening.

If you find something, please, do share it.

I completed my cap on the same day and it has remained like that ever since, although I can use a green painted or red enamelled star, I've decided to leave it like that until more conclussively info apperars.