Tropical M43

[Troy101]

Is this any good or is it junk?

[Troy101]

insignia

[Troy101]

side

[Troy101]

inside

[anmarlodz]

It looks to be made of italian olona cloth ( used in very late period of war -44/45- for making tropical uniforms ) so maybe it have chance. Let's wait for other opinions.

[Zauberflöte]

Would not be one for me.

Nice try but post war fantasy garment IMO...

[90th Light]

Every chance of being an Italian made cap before May 1945.

The sweat band and visor sewing are typical of Italian manufacture.

This type of cap with WH badges could be worn by a German but it is more likely to be an Italian fighting in a German army or fascist unit.

Also sometimes German construction units like Todt / NSDAP or other second line units wore Italian made caps.

Can post more images later of such caps when I find them but here are a couple from WAF for now. Note the German breast eagles and cap eagles (also Italian made ?) are being worn in the second photo,

Chris

[90th Light]

Inside of an Italian made LW M43,

Chris

[Troy101]

thanks for the info guys!

[Willi Z.]

I wouldn't bother with it Troy.

[Zauberflöte]

Hi Chris,

I understand there are certain features also seen in Italian manufactured caps, and I happily stand corrected if I'm wrong, but honestly I'm still not convinced by the subject cap.

The period photo's are too blurry for me to see it is the same style: f.e. the grommets, upper brim stitching...
All Italian made cap I have seen are late war and followed very close the German design (like your LW example). Also they appear always to be M43 style caps and not M40 like the subject cap.

F.

[90th Light]

Hi Chris,

I understand there are certain features also seen in Italian manufactured caps, and I happily stand corrected if I'm wrong, but honestly I'm still not convinced by the subject cap.

The period photo's are too blurry for me to see it is the same style: f.e. the grommets, upper brim stitching...
All Italian made cap I have seen are late war and followed very close the German design (like your LW example). Also they appear always to be M43 style caps and not M40 like the subject cap.

F.

Hello Zauberflöte & Willi,

I can certainly see why this cap could be seen as a fake and without having it in hand, I can not say for sure. It would not be a hard type of cap to fake.

As anmarlodz has noted, the cloth is "italian olona cloth". Italian made caps vary a lot from one maker to the next. There is less consistancy than German made caps.

But I have seen this type of tropical M40/ M41/ M42 made by the Italians and used by both German forces and Italians. The main type is the LW M41 but there were examples made for the WH, KM, SS & various Italian RSI/ Fascists units. Also German second line such as construction units. Sometimes they were made like M43 caps with 2 buttons and a flap. Others had 1 button or no flap.

Here is the inside of a 101% examples which can be found here of WAF to compare with. I will post some more images later,

Chris

[Tim O'Keefe]

Hi Chris,

Nice photos, any thoughts on the insignia, & the application on the threadstarter ?

& Troy, would like to see photos of the inside of the grommets if possible ?

[90th Light]

Hi Chris,

Nice photos, any thoughts on the insignia, & the application on the threadstarter ?

Anyone's guess when the badges were applied Tim, but the Italians did use that badge combination sometimes.

Here is my veteran brought back Italian made M43 with the same badge combination. The badges on my cap were on it in 1945 when the NZ veteran brought it back,

Chris

[90th Light]

Top image;

Il Gruppo Corazzato “San Giusto” dal Regio Esercito alla RSI. 1944, 31 may, Slovenia wearing Italian made SS & WH trop. M40/42 caps

Bottom image;

German POW wearing a field made or Italian made trop. M40/42 cap