M 42 help

[P.A.K.75]

This one has been in the war's but the question is , .... which war and when . Picked it from a customer I was working for , for a song so no risk of a broken heart , but what do you boys think ?
As always , all opinions appreciated .

[P.A.K.75]

small size

[P.A.K.75]

going back to the 2 small diagonal holes , even know I'm struggling to tell if there drilled or not . The only time I've seen holes drilled in a German lid were back in 1980 on a lovely uboat issue with an unofficial brass flotilla badge attached .

[P.A.K.75]

Yeah I've just seen it , should of been now not know if Brian's reading this , Bri but it is Friday night . Anyway back to my lid . The more observant of you will notice something I forgot to mention . " coats of different colour paint on the beast . The darker first coat is green but I had always thought that green had been discontinued in favour of field grey in late war helmet , IF that 's what it is

[Rickkb]

Looks like this helmet was repurposed post war by the Austrian Gendarmerie (Rural police).
A flaming bomb badge would have been afixed between the two small holes under the vent.

[RonR]

Looks like this helmet was repurposed post war by the Austrian Gendarmerie (Rural police).
A flaming bomb badge would have been afixed between the two small holes under the vent.

Indeed!

From Ludwig Baer's book...
...

[P.A.K.75]

Thank's , Rick , thanks Ron . This is a new one to me and makes perfect sense when you look at the picture . So it was originally wartime German , perhaps even unissued prior to being reassigned post war . Do you know if the stamp was wartime German even though there's no makers stamp ? The inked number 131 would obviously be some form of Austrian reissue number . The chinstraps would also been Austrian I assume ?

All's I need now is an original Austrian police badge . And finally , would the book you mention be one you would recommend ? Couple of years back being flush with Christmas book tokens I bought 2 very expensive white elephants . German Helmets of ww2 and its companion volume German camouflaged helmets by Branislav Radovic .

Packed with big glossy high quality photographs and absolutely devoid of any useful information ! they don't contain a single photo of a liner , just the outer shells . In short , just pretty coffee table books and more use as a coaster mat . Any recommendations for an up to date volume ?