Recon M34 Heer Overseas Cap – Kradschutzen

Product Description: This is a very nice example of a rare and desirable Recon M34 Heer Overseas Cap. The soutache on this cap is copper brown, for motorcycle recon (Kradschützen). This color of Waffenfarbe branch piping was only in existence for a few months, and is extremely hard to find. The exterior of this cap is made of a nice Feldgrau wool that shows no damage or mothing, and virtually no wear. The front of the cap is complete with the original factory applied insignia. The eagle and cockade are the 1939 pattern, and are Bevo, machine woven. They are neatly hand applied to the cap, as is typical, and the soutache is correctly applied, and machine sewn. Inside, this Recon M34 Heer Overseas Cap is lined with a gray cotton twill fabric. It’s nicely marked, with a maker name and number, the size “56” and the production year “1941.” This cap is extremely clean and does not show signs of having been worn. It remains in outstanding, near mint condition, and would likely be impossible to upgrade.

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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