Camo Heer M40 ET66 Coastal artillery helmet HKB 33/ 977 Rossland on Holsnøy

[NARVIK1940]

I am generally not into salty helmets, but could not resist this one when it came up on auction in Norway recently. From the same source as my DD KM chickenwire helmet. This person digs helmets out of the woodwork, and has been very successful, particularly around the Bergen area. The story behind this one is that he bought it from an old man who lived in a house adjacent to a Heer coastal battery on an island northwest of Bergen (HKB 33/ 977 Rossland on Holsnøy, Artilliegruppe Hjeltefjord).

For those that have Google Earth, you can zoom in on this installation through this web site:

http://www.atlantikw...Norwegen/N.html

Rossland HKB map.jpg

Heer coastal M40 2.jpg

[NARVIK1940]

[ATTACH]2338830[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]2338831[/ATTACH]

HKB 33/ 977 Rossland (14/ 750 )
Equipped with 4 x 21 cm Mrs 18, range 16 000 m. Ready in Nov 43. Also equipped with 1x4,5cm Pak.® and 3 x 2cm Flak 38

As with many Norwegian woodwork finds, the leather is remarkably preserved, despite the salty appearance of the exterior. There is no doubting that this helmet has been stored away since the war, given the greeblies inside the liner. This is an ET66 M40, and the lot number appears to be very low (76). It has a hand brushed grey camouflage, probably meant to blend in with the concrete of the artillery bunkers and pads. Some might call this shipboard grey, as it does indeed have a blueish cast to it. But I think it is more of a concrete grey, myself (because I know where it came from). If we didn't know its origin, we could speculate that it was Heer helmet used aboard ship by the Kriegsmarine. But clearly, it is a Heer coastal artillery camo. Almost looks like a faded snow camo, but it is not. The grey paint is on the leather, where it is not as faded. Interesting to see that the chinstraps were removed when it was painted, as evidenced by the shadow of the chinstrap bale on one side. Almost looks like it was spray painted, but there are clear brush strokes on the exterior. Definitely a helmet one can learn from. The Heer decal does not appear to have been dug, the paint has just flaked off around it.

[NARVIK1940]

[ATTACH]2338832[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]2338833[/ATTACH]

[NARVIK1940]

ET66, Lot number 76 (I think).

Heer coastal M40 13.jpg

Heer coastal M40 lot nr.jpg

[NARVIK1940]

[ATTACH]2338836[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]2338837[/ATTACH]

[NARVIK1940]

[ATTACH]2338840[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]2338841[/ATTACH]

[NARVIK1940]

[ATTACH]2338847[/ATTACH]

[KradSPam]

Looks great, a bit salty but unquestionably honest

[NARVIK1940]

The paint looks a bit washed out in the first pictures. In hand, it is a darker grey, more similar to the paint color in the decal closeups. Its a gloomy day here and for some reason my fancy new camera took rather dark pictures.

Here is an untweaked picture that shows the color a bit better.DSC_0013.jpg

[Lou58]

Nice pick up Scott and thanks for the history of the helmet

Lou

[whatthecrunchyo]

Great helmet...would love to own it!!!

[richardw]

Very interesting helmet, well worth picking up

[skorzenyVStito]

Nice helmet, interesting history!

[cobra-2001]

helmet

Nice find and the liner is in great shape .

[Luftm40]

Nice!...but I feel incredibly stupid. I initially thought your google earth screen capture was an extreme camo close up. When you glance at it, the terrain looks like a sand camo...