My new DAK helmets

[Dennis J]

You can still get these types of helmets...
http://www.virtualgrenadier.com/sale_item.php?iid=2124

Yep....that's them.They came in Mod 35,40 and 42 same liner,cs and color.

Dennis J

[GAMS1]

Directly from the Album of a WSS Polizei Division member Greece Summer 44 !
He said they were issued the complete tropical outfit including a ...brand new sand helmet !
Not only repainted on the outside but completely sand colour !
That was in a logistic center in the north of Prag, a city called Mlada Boleslav now .
When he came back from Greece and went to the Ostfront , he gave back the whole tropical outfit he had and received a russian front outfit again .
And left his sand colour helmet in Mlada Boleslav !
Some of the pictures in his Album were given to " Der Freiwillige" and never came back...some were used for the book on the uniform of the WSS issued
in the 80's .
Nick

[GAMS1]

The czech Border Guards were equiped with repainted helmets in olive green.
The Czech Firemen were equiped with repainted helmets in black .
These helmets were often repainted on the original colour and you could find them in sand colour but also with original paint+decals ! Even WSS !
Before the wall went down , these sand helmets were very rare on the market,even in Czechoslowakia but appeared also worn , not only brand new .
Worn before or after May 45 , impossible to say ...
As the first posts in this discussion they come "en masse" after the wall went down, when the whole stocks of the CS government units came out !
They had to be able to mobilize 3 millions of soldiers for the Warsaw Pact !
But when the stocks were opened , you could even see Adrian helmets stocked for that purpose , or italian helmets WW1 and 2 !
I had 500 pieces of these helmets in front of me and i learned there was more stocks existing ! How many ? I don't know ...but a lot , and a lot at the same time on the market is never good for the business !
Manion's sold them as a lot of other dealers , but in the 90's,not in the 80's .
A confusion was first made with the Norwegian ones ( appeared in the 80's ) but they are different and were all of them with original german liners+straps .
These helmets have been directly stocked by the CS government in 45 for the civil defence and were not intended to be sold to Egypt or somewhere else...
This ( bad ) rumor came out then because somebody showed a picture of an Egyptian soldier with a german helmet ! and finding so many helmets at one time could only be suspicious !
When 3000 or more G43 pouches came on the market , many said as well they were fakes because it was so few pieces on the market before that ?
Made in Russia ! Especially the leather ones !
Nick

[ROBB]

Shame the photos are so small can't really tell much except they look much lighter than the ones that started the thread , and he told you they were brand new and painted on the inside and outside in the same color ? did he give that info freely or did you say " were the helmets painted on the inside and outside " ? Rob

[ITALIANWARFRONT]

Shame the photos are so small can't really tell much except they look much lighter than the ones that started the thread , and he told you they were brand new and painted on the inside and outside in the same color ? did he give that info freely or did you say " were the helmets painted on the inside and outside " ? Rob

[GAMS1]

Thanks for the pictures , they look better like this ...
I have some more pictures in the album where you can see these helmets but also more WSS tropical outfits worn .
I asked him how was its helmet and the answer was : sand colour , totally sand inside and outside !
He noticed that because everything was sand colour in the outfit except the leather belt he received ...and industry made sand colour ,not locally overpainted ! in the stock found you had several shades from very light colour to a darker sand a bit orange .
Nick

[Willi Z.]

Nick, thanks for the information and photos.

[panzer nco]

These Pics are very Intresting, Looks like SS wearing Shariana's ..

Rare Pic !! Looks like My Shariana i have listed with Mike Davis..



Mike..

[Tim O'Keefe]

"Directly from the Album of a WSS Polizei Division member Greece Summer 44 !
He said they were issued the complete tropical outfit including a ...brand new sand helmet !
Not only repainted on the outside but completely sand colour !
That was in a logistic center in the north of Prag, a city called Mlada Boleslav now .
When he came back from Greece and went to the Ostfront , he gave back the whole tropical outfit he had and received a russian front outfit again .
And left his sand colour helmet in Mlada Boleslav !
Some of the pictures in his Album were given to " Der Freiwillige" and never came back...some were used for the book on the uniform of the WSS issued
in the 80's."
Nick

Very interesting thread and a lots of great info

Does anyone know if all those tropenhelms (mostly LW) that were found some years ago came from the same depot in Mlada Boleslav ? Along with the other tropical gear that has been found post war coming from there as well ?

Yes Mike those are saharan's their wearing.

[GAMS1]

Many tropical helmets came from the same area ...
Mostly sand ones , LW or shield traces ( WSS?WH or KM ? ) some
green ones .
If it was directly from this logistic depot ? i don't know but it could be the case ...
Nick

[Tim O'Keefe]

Thanks again Nick for the info on the sunhelmets. As well as clearing up the mystery around those "Egyptian" helmets that are really Czech.

[90th Light]

Just so we are clear on this one ,

Based on the photos that Nick ("GAMS1") has kindly posted in post number 92 of Waffen SS soldiers in Greece 1944. The feeling now is that these sand coloured helmets found in Czech in the 1990's are original German helmets made or refurbished before May 1945 for tropical service that were stored in a a logistic center/ depot in the north of Prag, a city called Mlada Boleslav.

These helmets were stock piled by the CS government in 1945 for civil defence forces and held in storage until they were sold onto the market in the 1990's

Have I got this right ?

Chris

[Aries22]

22

Almost true...only this helmets you can buy before 1990 s, because german helmets were used in civil defence or firedepartment storages and on some places were slowly replaced with helmet M 52 from 1960 s after 1990 s only a lot of dealers take it abroad in big numbers....

[GAMS1]

Correct !
Nick

[90th Light]

You can still get these types of helmets...
http://www.virtualgrenadier.com/sale_item.php?iid=2124

I am not surprised that this helmet is now sold at only US$375. Given that the evidence now clearly points to the SS using such helmets. These tan helmets must have been one of the better bargains on the market in recent times,

Chris