General's tropical peaked caps

[Lodsworth]

A General's tropical peaked cap

The cap worn by Neumann-Silkow (on the right with binoculars) has standard tropical insignia and a soutache of normal width, which is slightly darker than the caps piping — most likely Panzer pink. I assume it is a standard officers' cap.

[Lodsworth]

Crüwell's cap is more difficult to assess owing to the goggles he habitually wore with it but there is a photo in Pallud's The Desert War Then and Now, in which it appears to have a standard width, rather than a wide soutache (page 190) (see also page 203). Can anyone confirm this? It is an ECPAD photo.
This is the best I can do.
Mike

[RGD51]

One could read a lot into that.
Thanks
Mike

I have long thought that many wore silver piped caps and even enlisted models.... perhaps with the easy exchange or upgrade to bullion insig if it was available. Nice thread here, thanks for posting.

Robt.

[RGD51]

The cap worn by Neumann-Silkow (on the right with binoculars) has standard tropical insignia and a soutache of normal width, which is slightly darker than the caps piping — most likely Panzer pink. I assume it is a standard officers' cap.

Interesting shot..... Cruewell, von Thoma, and Bayerlein in that shot too? V. Thoma wore a cap without simulated scallop evidenced in other shots of him taken surrendering to Montgomery.

Robt.

[Lodsworth]

Generals' tropical peaked cap

Thanks everyone for looking and to the few of you who were able to comment. I'm disappointed that no one else has any photos they can/will show.
I'll finish with a few more with the wide soutache — from Spayd & Dittmar-Bayerlein's The Private Afrikakorps Photo Collection of Rommels Chief of Staff, Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein. Bayerlein himself appears to have been one of those Generals who when he was promoted continued to use his (by then) bleached-out standard officers' cap.
First Von Rintelen (unnamed in Spayd & Dittmar-Bayerlein's caption); then someone who's ID I'm not sure of but who might be Neumann-Silkow again — he has the correct medals and ear, but appears to be wearing a different cap to that he was wearing in the other photo of him I posted. He is standing next to Crüwell with his squashed hat. In this photo the soutaches don't look so different, but I'd still like to see a sharper image of Crüwell's cap.
Finally someone I think is Sümmerman, the first photo from Spayd and Dittmar-Bayerlein, who call him von Rintelen, and the second — on the far left — off the internet (where he is described as Walther Asel).
My summary — at the start of the campaign, these wide soutached peaked caps were much the same, and probably, by the same manufacturer. Over time, as with other officer and OR caps, the caps by this manufacturer were added to by others — some quite individual like the extant Hülsen cap and the caps worn by Vaerst and Schnarrenberger, some standard officers' and ORs caps, and some, which look a lot like factory-made Kubachs and Kerns.
Am I right to think these wide soutached caps are all alike? Do you think they look like caps by any other manufacturer. Does anyone know anything about continental side caps with the wide soutache — are they by a single manufacturer or by many? Are there in fact early variants of these peaked caps? Does anyone have any dates for these photos. You can probably see where I am going. I will not be commenting further on this topic here but I'd be very interested in hearing your views, and, please check your files for anymore photos of these and other generals who wore the tropical peaked cap.
Thanks
Mike

PS. Robert, I agree that the earlier Neumann-Silkow photo shows Bayerlein and Crüwell. But are you sure about the other bloke being von Thoma?

[RGD51]

Mike, regarding v. Thoma in that one shot, only a guess from the overall facial characteristics.... pretty iffy.

Robt.

[pauke]

Photos of generals from N. Africa arriving in Gr. Britain as POW's don't appear here but would likely be a good resource for this topic.