FJ Helmet with marking

[JYN]

Hello,

This picture has been sent to me a couple of years ago by a friend. This helmet has been found in Britanny. The unknown marking is on the LW decal. Any ideas ?

Jean-Yves Nasse

[Matt L]

Hi Jean-Yves,

That doesn't look like any eagle I've ever seen- it's not a Luftwaffe eagle...

Assuming it's a wartime helmet, maybe it's a paratrooper helmet for another Axis nation- Rumanian, Hungarian, etc.? Were LW Fallschirmjaeger helmets issued to anyone else's forces?

Now of course, the important question is was the helmet acutally 'picked up' in Brittany or simply bought there? If it was found there, unless France used German helmets after the war, it suggests it is from non-German Axis troops. If it was simply bought there, it could be anybody's. Reissued or even produced after the war and simply had the new owner nation's insignia put on it.

I suggest asking people (perhaps there are some here) who are familiar with the insignia of Eastern European nations.

Matt

[JYN]

Dear Matt,

As you, I thought that this helmet has been re-issued to French but the guy get a lot of his stuff by local collectors and fle markets. The helmet has a pure WWII nice camo and I was wondering if this marking was not the tactical marking from a unit which was stationed in Britanny. Anyway....
Jean-Yves

[Matt L]

Hi Jean-Yves,

Ah, I see. Well, I've only ever seen a few different FJ unit insignia, but this wasn't one of them. I've also never seen one painted on a helmet in any photographs. The main thing that comes to mind is that I really doubt a unit insigna would be placed where the eagle should be located, even if the helmet hadn't ever had an eagle decal applied.

In fact, the only thing even close that I've seen was an experimental aircrew steel helmet tested by ZG26- it had a winged 'Holzschue' decal on the front.

Matt

[Willi Z.]

Hi Jean-Yves,

It is tough to tell from your photo if there is a Luftwaffe decal under that painted emblem. Is there one underneath? If there is, then I would believe that it is unlikely that it is some kind of unit marking which would be painted over the eagle. Likely a postwar addition. But, if there is no decal present, then that is the EXACT location of where the FJs did place a unit emblem. The few surviving Sturmregiment (later FJR12) helmets have the komet painted at that location....even the bad ones have the emblem painted at the right location.

Regards,

WZ