Kriegsmarine EM Overseas Cap

Product Description: This handsome Kriegsmarine EM Overseas Cap has great character, showing just the right amount of age and wear. The exterior of the cap is made of a fine wool fabric, in a typical dark blue Navy shade. The wool shows a mild patina, and slight wear, with no holes, stains, or other damage. The front of the cap is complete with the original insignia. The eagle and cockade are Bevo machine woven, and both have been factory applied to the cap with straight machine stitching. The insignia shows slight wear and toning that matches the rest of the cap. Inside, this Kriegsmarine EM Overseas Cap is lined with a black oilcloth fabric. There is a maker mark stamped in white ink, but wear has made this illegible. The circular shape of the maker mark suggests possible French manufacture, common for Kriegsmarine headgear. The lining is also stamped with the size, “58.” This is a very nice example of a factory made, enlisted issue Kriegsmarine field cap. It displays extremely well.

Historical Description: The “side cap” 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 side cap gave it the nickname “Schiffchen,” meaning little boat, due to its shape. The side caps were made in the same type of fabric as the uniforms, in the uniform color particular to each organization. The side caps were adorned with branch-specific insignia, usually bearing some form of the German eagle and swastika national emblem. Many side caps 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 side cap with a new, more practical cap featuring a brim, by 1943. But the side cap continued to be worn by some troops until the end of the war.

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