Tropical Heer M41 Field Cap

Product Description: This late production tropical Heer M41 field cap is a beautiful, untouched example of this very desirable piece of Army tropical headgear. It’s in outstanding, near mint condition, and does not appear to have ever been issued or worn. The exterior is made of a sturdy green cotton twill fabric. It’s spotless, with no fading to the original color. The front of the cap bears a complete set of insignia. The Heer cap eagle and national colors cockade are both factory applied with perfect machine zig-zag stitching. There never was any soutache, as this cap was made after the soutache was deleted by regulation in 1942. Each side of the crown features two textbook ventilation eyelets that retain all of the original green paint. Inside, this tropical Heer M41 field cap is lined with a typical red cotton tropical fabric. It’s nicely stamped in black ink, with the R.B. number maker code “0/0250/0906,” the size “55” and the production year “1943.” The sweatband is complete and intact, with no evident darkening from wear. This cap is a choice piece that would be extremely difficult to ever upgrade.

Historical Description: Even before the outbreak of WWII, the designers of German military equipment had begun tests to engineer uniform items for wear in tropical climates. In 1940, with the German invasion of North Africa imminent, the German military quickly instituted a wide variety of tropical uniform and equipment items. Tropical uniforms were used in Africa, as well as other parts of the “Southern Front” including Italy and the Mediterranean, the Baltics, and southern Russia. The soft headgear used in the tropics took various forms. There was a tropical version of the M34 “overseas”-type cap, which lacked a visor, but the cap which came to be most widely associated with the Afrikakorps was the billed M40 type field cap, which was based on the cap issued to German Army mountain troops. The German Army M40 tropical cap was made of a lightweight fabric, in shades that ranged from tan, to brown, to olive. The interior of this cap was lined with a red fabric, which German engineers believed would help the interior of the cap stay cool. Other branches of the German military, including the Kriegsmarine, utilized this same pattern of cap for their tropical uniforms. Early on in the Afrika campaign, some Luftwaffe troops were issued the M40 caps from Army stocks, but by 1941 the Luftwaffe had its own tropical cap, known as the M41. The insignia used on these caps featured the national eagle specific to each military branch, manufactured in special tropical colors, as well as the national cockade. Army caps were additionally adorned with a branch of service soutache, over the cockade, though this was deleted and ordered to be removed in 1942.

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