DDR stahlhelmet 1962

**Irish1965** · 08-09-2021, 06:41 PM

At last; being on holiday in the former DDR I got an early NVA/DDR helmet to get all types of German helmets . It's a m56, I believe, stamped 62. It has a nice used paint job with a dark field grey showing through the lighter Blumentarn green. Also it is named.

Of course I got the East German cover with it. I hpe you like it.

Cheers Paul

Cheers Paul

**Rakkasan187** · 08-09-2021, 08:06 PM

Paul,

Very nice indeed I like the patina and age..

Saw plenty of these while stationed in Berlin..

Best regards, stay safe

Smitty

**BlackCat1982** · 08-09-2021, 08:09 PM

This has definitely got some character, nice find.

**JesperS** · 08-09-2021, 08:47 PM

I like it a lot. Still need one of those

**Reibert** · 08-09-2021, 09:04 PM

A couple of days ago high water flooded parts of my hometown, also, my cellar and a lot of my helmets were covered with mud.
Among them some NVA lids ...
Now they´re rusting in my wooden hut ...
It´s a pitty ...

**Rakkasan187** · 08-09-2021, 10:22 PM

Reibert,

So sorry to hear about your misfortunes.. We monitored the flooding closely as my wife has relatives in the area.

These items can be replaced, and although it is sad to see things like this happen, your life was spared..

Hang in there..

Best regards, stay safe

Smitty

**Watchdog** · 08-10-2021, 09:32 AM

Great helmet with good patina.

Yes you are correct it is an M56.

The colour did vary quite a lot over time and this one seems to be overpainted on the factory grey with a shade very similar to the Soviet Army green. I'm not sure why that would be but given the huge Soviet Army presence in the DDR during that period there could be many reasons. I've never seen an M56 painted that shade before so it is interesting. Maybe it has something to do with units that were in close co-operation with Soviet troops?

I don't know what you mean by "Blumentarn green" though? Blumentarn was a camouflage pattern of uniforms and field gear - see the picture below. I've ner heard a shade of green described that way. Did you hear/read that somewhere? I am keen to learn.

Blumentarn camouflage pattern.

Regards

Mark

**Irish1965** · 08-10-2021, 06:35 PM

I also bought a badly restored early M56. it was painted field grey over a lot of pitting and had a fake liner and decal. So I painted it with some colors like 'Flecktarn green' (not Blumentarn, my mistake and does not look like the original complete M56) and DDR green to mimic a Croatian/Bosnian civil war helmet. Just for fun and to use as helmet for airsoft.

First

Later:

**Watchdog** · 08-10-2021, 08:34 PM

by Irish1965

I also bought a badly restored early M56. it was painted field grey over a lot of pitting and had a fake liner and decal. So I painted it with some colors like 'Flecktarn green' (not Blumentarn, my mistake and does not look like the original complete M56) and DDR green to mimic a Croatian/Bosnian civil war helmet. Just for fun and to use as helmet for airsoft.

First

Later:

Ah, I see it is a kind of trade name. The green shade is the base for the Bundeswehr camouflage pattern known as "Flecktarn"

Yes that was a terrible restoration but what kind of liner does it have? If it is the early M56 proper then it might be better to do something along the lines of the original finish if you didn't remove it.

Regards

Mark

**Irish1965** · 08-10-2021, 08:50 PM

It's a dark leather liner. I think it was hand cut. I'll leave it as it is or it will be to costly. I still have the complete original one for my collection. It was to have one of the last WW2 helmet designs in the collection. Most of my collection is WW1 but sometimes I can't help myself.