Luftwaffe Officer’s Overseas Cap

Product Description: This Luftwaffe Officer’s Overseas Cap is an attractive piece, that was worn during the war. It’s a tailor made, private purchase style, typical for officer caps. The exterior of this appealing original field cap is made of a fine wool fabric, in a typical Luftwaffe blue color. The material has an even, mild patina from wear and age, and shows a few small, scattered moth holes. The front of the cap is complete with a gorgeous set of insignia, with a scarce and desirable silver wire embroidered eagle on a wool backing. The cockade is machine embroidered. Both the eagle and the cockade are originally applied to the cap, with neat, tailor done hand stitching. The edge of the turn-down flap is piped in silver, indicating an officer rank. The interior of this Luftwaffe Officer’s Overseas Cap is lined in ribbed cotton twill fabric which shows slight soiling from wear. There is a black ink size stamp, indicating a size of 56-1/2. There is no maker mark, as is typical for these officer caps. This is a nice example of this desirable field cap style. The condition rates as excellent.

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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