M41 Luft. Afrika field cap

[Kube]

Who has one, and who has pics of one with a vanilla or green lining?

[Steve in Florida]

I have one....

unfortunately, I don't have photo posting capabilities right now. My scanner is toes up. It has a tan interior, very close to the exterior color. There is one just like it in Kurtz's paratrooper book.
Vanilla?

[J Melvin]

Kube, search my name and you will see two in a thread in the headgear forum. I've got photos of my green lined one and also of a "field" made one. The second is the one found in Kurtz's book on paratroopers.

[Ralph Heinz]

LW M41 cap

Attached is a photo of the tan lining of a LW tropical field cap made by Berolina in 1941. This was an issue item for enlisted men though many LW units in North Africa only received the tropical Flieger cap and never got these billed field caps.

I also have two LW officer's field caps and one has a burgundy lining and the other has a reddish orange lining. Both were private purchase caps and were ink stamped by the makers.

[John Hodgin]

Great cap Ralph. Good to see a non-field made example for a change. Superb condition.
Best,
John

[J Melvin]

That is a nice one Ralph. I'd like to see an exterior shot too if you can. I'll have a new one to post this week. Hopefully, it'll get thumbs up from some folks. Officer's version with a triangular eagle, though.

[Ralph Heinz]

LW M41 cap

Gentlemen,

Here is the front view of the cap as you requested.

[John Hodgin]

Hi Bill,

I agree. IMO Luft. M 41's had either tan or red interiors. Heer 40's were sometimes used by the Luftwaffe in North Africa, usually with the removal of the Heer eagle and the addition of a Luft. eagle. This could have been done with a KM cap as well, but I've never seen it. The reason for the use of Heer 40's was the lack of availability of Luft. 41 caps, at this time KM caps wouldn't have been available either.

Best,
John

[J Melvin]

John, go look at the green lined one that I posted. Its a straight up cap. I can't see any evidence of another eagle having been applied and the eagle on it is not sewn through the interior lining, so it is not a later application to an already manufactured cap. I, too, believe that it comes from a KM manufacturer. But, it would appear that it was fully manufactured in-house.

[Ralph Heinz]

LW caps

One other thought on this is that the KM caps do not have separate side panels sewn on as "false turnup ear flaps" -- they simulated this with two lines sewn close together with a piece of cord between them so that it looks like there is separate material.

However, some LW tropical caps were made like the Heer caps with separate material for these side panels and I wouldn't judge a cap as KM just because the lining is green instead of tan or red if it has the separate LW/Heer type separate side panels. Different makers used different linings and it's entirely possible that a maker like Franz Ritter who made many KM caps, may have also gotten an order from the LW to make caps and used the green lining material because it's what he had in stock and the caps were needed immediately. Remember that the LW was ill prepared for war in the desert when they first got there and had to wear Heer tropical caps, tunics, breeches, and boots because their own supply system wasn't able to provide them with LW tropical uniforms until later in 1941 whereas the Heer was ordering tropical uniforms and boots in 1940. There certainly just have been some rush orders to make tunics and caps for the LW in 1941.

Obviously, other LW tropical caps were made without these side panels or without the KM treatment of a "beaded cord" when you look at the 1941 Berolina cap I posted photos of but this style of cap is scarce and it is identical to the caps worn by SS units in Italy (except for the insignia. )

Many of these billed field caps worn in N. Africa by LW enlisted men were privately purchased. A FJ veteran of Tunisia told me over the phone that no one in his unit was issued anything but the tropical Flieger cap and that some NCOs and officers wore the billed field caps but that he thought they had purchased them on their own.

As to the color of linings in tropical caps -- two days ago I got another Heer M40 cap -- this one made in 1942 by Robert Lubstein. The lining side panels are distinctly red in color whereas the top panel is distinctly orange -- like the lining in the crown of a LW Tropenhelm I have. Clearly, it didn't matter a fig to them that the colors didn't match inside the cap and the colors of the thread on the outside didn't match either -- partly sewn in olive tread and partly sewn in an off white thread.

Today we think that everything military is uniform and exactly alike but it just ain't necessarily so. We are quick to rush to judgement on an item because it's different from ones we've seen before but the longer I collect this stuff, the more legitimate variations I see and it's often because of the time constraints on getting things made to fill orders with a war in progress. Even American WWII web gear is made of different colors of canvas on the same item.

[John Hodgin]

Hi Ralph,

Years ago I had a KM 41 cap with the seperate false side panels. Will try to find a photo to post.

I think that Luft. 41's have no hard criteria with which to judge them. I stated this on a thread by Steve from Florida. I'm sure Jack's green lined cap is good, but to me it's a KM cap procured and used by the Luftwaffe. Just as Italian sunhelmets or tunics used by the Luftwaffe are a legit tropical pieces. They are part of the history of the DAK. However, to me they are still an Italian uniforms and helmets used by the Germans, not German standard uniforms.

I would not use the lack of standards within Luft. M41 caps as a method by which to measure other pieces of militaria. Fj jump smocks, for instance, are made in precise patterns with only certain types of materials. All the many makers of jump smocks followed these guidelines faithfully.

Regards,
John