Luftwaffe EM Cap

Product Description: This Luftwaffe EM Cap is a textbook, original example, in near mint condition. It shows hardly any wear. The cap is made of a typical, wartime type dark blue Luftwaffe wool, that retains virtually all of the original nap. The front has an original Luftwaffe eagle and swastika branch emblem, and a national colors cockade. Both of these are machine embroidered on a blue wool backing, and are hand sewn to the cap, in a typical factory application style. There is no trace of any other insignia ever having been applied. There are no moth holes or any other damage to the exterior. The interior of this Luftwaffe EM Cap is lined with a typical twill cotton fabric. The lining is stamped with the manufacturer name, a 1942 date, and the size, 56-1/2. There is extremely slight discoloration from wear along the edge of the lining and in the forehead area. This is a really nice example of this standard issue enlisted field cap, that would be difficult to upgrade.

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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