Kriegsmarine Side Cap

Product Description: This enlisted issue Kriegsmarine Side Cap is a great example. It’s in outstanding condition, and does not appear to have been worn at all. The exterior of this cap is constructed of a fine wool fabric, in a typical dark blue Kriegsmarine color. There are no holes or damage, and the surface retains the original nap. The front of the cap is adorned with a complete set of insignia. Both the eagle and cockade are Bevo style, machine woven, and both are originally applied to the cap, with hand stitching for the eagle and straight machine stitching for the cockade. The interior of this attractive Kriegsmarine Side Cap is lined in black rayon fabric. It’s marked with ink stamps in white ink, with “58” indicating the size and also the letter “w.” This cap was found in an unnamed veteran’s footlocker, together with other insignia. It’s a beautiful, untouched piece, that would likely be impossible to upgrade. The condition rates as near mint.

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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