BGS Splittertarn hood

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

I have two of these hoods and they appear to be in the early BGS camouflage pattern. These hoods do not button onto a jacket. They appear to be made to be put on over the head and shoulders and then the jacket is put on. There are two draw strings. One that ties around the wearers neck and another around the opening for the face. There is a piece of cloth that overlaps at the front and fastens with a snap fastener. On one hood the snap front is smooth and silver coloured and on the other, a smooth, black painted snap. Both have a tag with the owners name sewn in at the same location. These two name tags are identical in design and appear to have been issued to the soldier and not made by him. Does anyone have any reference for these hoods?

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

#2.

[Gordon Craig]

#3.

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

A forum member has suggested that this BGS hood could have been used as a bag for a zeltbahn. A good try but the BGS hood is of a different shape. Here are two pictures comparing the too types of hoods. In one th zelt hood/bag is empty. In the second it has the zelt inside whith the buttons done up closing the opening for the face.

Regards,

Gordon

[malborghetto]

Hello Gordon,
this hood is for use with the Zeltbahn, not as a bag.

Regards, Christian

[Guardian 5]

Team - Here is a picture of a hood situated next to a BGS helmet cover with elasticized opening.

Christian - To your point, I understand that BGS jaegers wearing the the zelt as camouflage clothing could also wear the hood for added concealment. In other words, the hood wasn't used to carry poles and pegs. Very interesting indeed!

Thanks - TJ

[Gordon Craig]

Hello Gordon,
this hood is for use with the Zeltbahn, not as a bag.

Regards, Christian

Christian,

I know the BGS hood wasn't used as a bag. That is what I was trying to say in my last post. I guess I wasn't clear about that. It was another forum member who suggested that it could be used as a bag for the zelt. I posted the picture of the two different hoods side-by side to illustrate that the BGS hood could not be used as a bag for the zelt because it was the wrong shape.

Regards,

Gordon

[Collectinsteve]

I agree with Gordon. These are hoods and only hoods for use with the Zeltbahn, not the dual purpose hood/bag like many European shelter halves of the 1950s/1960s. I've had four of these hoods over the years and all were used, none had stamps on them that I can remember, a couple had name tags sewn into them (like Gordon's).

I did a quick check through my photos and I didn't find any with the hood being worn as a hood. I did find two that show them being worn as helmet covers.

Steve