Dutch Converted to Heer Overseas Cap

Product Description: This is an exceptional and historically significant Heer Overseas Cap, originally manufactured for the prewar Dutch Army and later reworked and reissued by the German Army during World War II. These reissued caps are highly sought after by collectors due to their unique construction and adaptation by the Wehrmacht.

The cap is made from high-quality, slightly bluish field gray wool, characteristic of prewar Dutch military materials. The interior is lined with durable twill fabric, a typical feature of these early war reissues. As part of the reworking process, German tailors modified the original Dutch design, adjusting the seams on the front to more closely resemble the standard Wehrmacht pattern. This cap is correctly fitted with a pre-1943 German two-piece insignia set, featuring the Wehrmacht eagle and national cockade. The insignia is machine-stitched, with the eagle applied using the zig-zag stitching method, a detail consistent with authentic German reissued caps of this type.

• Heavy wear is evident throughout, including mothing and staining, which is common for field-worn examples.
• No interior markings, which is typical for these reissued caps.
• Despite wear, this cap displays exceptionally well, maintaining its structure and historical integrity.

This reissued Dutch cap stands as a testament to wartime resourcefulness, reflecting Germany’s widespread repurposing of captured military stock. It is a genuine artifact of the period, perfect for serious collectors of WWII memorabilia. Don’t miss the opportunity to own this remarkable piece of history!

Historical Description: The “sidecap” was a part of the uniform worn by nearly all military, paramilitary, political and civil organizations in the Third Reich. It was a narrow hat that could be folded flat and tucked into a belt or haversack. This was, at the time, a very stylish type of uniform cap; in the German Army, it replaced the round “pork pie” style of field cap used in the Great War. The German name for this cap, in most organizations, was “Feldmütze”- field cap. Despite the name, it was often worn as a daily service cap by postal workers and other personnel who would never be deployed to the field.  The men and women who wore the sidecap gave it the nickname “Schiffchen,” meaning little boat, due to its shape. The sidecaps were made in the same type of fabric as the uniforms, in the uniform color particular to each organization. The sidecaps were adorned with branch-specific insignia, usually bearing some form of the German eagle and swastika national emblem. Many sidecaps also bore red, white and black national cockades. The insignia were usually embroidered or woven, but metal devices were used on some caps as well. Officer caps generally were distinguished by silver braid along the top edge and/or on the upper part of the flap at the front of the cap, and were often custom tailored from fine fabrics. The German military, and many other organizations, had broadly replaced the sidecap with a new, more practical cap featuring a brim, by 1943. But the sidecap continued to be worn by some troops until the end of the war.

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