SS pith helmets

[Edelweiss]

Here's a topic on which little is available in the bibliography. On several occasions, we had the chance to dicuss on this subject here and in the GD forum, but at the end of each thread, few definitives conclusions appeared, and too little info was added.

In a recent thread about tropical headgear, Bill Grist showed us what we firmly believe to be a real SS pith helmet ; the characteristics of the shields and the story behind the item make of this helmet a reference item IMO. This point has, still IMO, to be much more highlighted, as the authors even doubted recently the existence of such helmets. But photographical evidence exist, and a well known period photo was posted in this forum in the past ; here it is below. Regarding these shields in general, they have to be looked at with a very critical eye, as they are heavilly faked ; Dennis S in particular, gave us in the past some very precise details about how a (one) fakery on those began.

Back to the pic below, you will surely notice that the placement of the shields show an interesting point in common with Bill's. I'll add my contribution to this thread a bit later, and I think that several other collectors also have theirs to make here. Among them I will name Cees and Darryl for the pics (I missed the one you posted in the past, Darryl, and it's not available any more ; but it's maybe the one below), DaveJ, Merdock and John Hodgin for some items, and Dennis S too ; plus anyone interested in the topic, of course.

So, let's go for it, hope it will be an interesting (and informative) thread.

[C. Kleijn]

Thank you for starting this new thread Chris. This photo shows that some pith helmets were worn with SS shields attached, in the same manner as on the helmet Bill has shown in the other thread, but fact remains that most SS-Männer who were equipped with their specific tropical gear wore pith helmets without shields. Personally I believe that these pith helmets with shields were only worn by LSSAH troops when they were stationed in Italy. It is therefore that I think that the photo Chris posted, shows members from the LSSAH when they were stationed in Italy.

To date, I have not seen any photos from the 4. SS-Polizei-Division and the 16. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Reichsführer-SS", the two other divisions which were issued with tropical garment, depicting pith helmets with shields, actually. Below I will include two pictures of members from the 4. SS-Polizei-Division. They were part of an album with some great photos, which I sold last year, unfortunately.

With all the best,

Cees

[C. Kleijn]

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[Bill Grist]

SS tropical Pith Helmet

Here are some more picts of My SS tropical Pith Helmet and the story of how I got it...It came from a attic on Providence rd., Charlotte, N.C. in 1965.. There had been dirt dobbers/wasp nest built in the helmet and on the outside the stains are still present, along with the helmet there was a moth eaten Ike jacket with a 45 inf. Div. patch on the jacket, I still have the patch with a few moth nips, there was also a 1937 Luger in a 1940 dlu holster which I still have.. I went to High School with the person who's father had brought the items back..This was the summer of 1965 and everything was purchased for 75$.. I was making 55$ a week.. The reason that we went into the attic was that there was a high powered rifle a Drilling in the attic and my friend wanted to see if it would shoot through a engine block.. He was a wild man, and a 4 years ago died of a heart attack..Now I know about stories with militaria, But I get a kick every time I think of him shooting up a car with the drilling...Enjoy BILL

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