WWII German Visor cap | ||
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Posted 10 years ago
baldwinloc…
(22 items)
I finally found out what it is, it's a post WWII German railway cap that someone applied a WWII veterans breast eagle to... The veteran eagle is real but the cap is not WWII.
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The Denazification program initiated by the Allies soon after WWII banned the wearing of any insignia with a swastika. I think either the two pieces came together to create a fantasy piece, or it might somehow be related the Volksturm in the closing months of the war.
maybe I should have waited to research before I speculated in my first post. I now think this may be a WWII era version of the Reichskriegerbund (Veteran's association) cap.
If the inside says "clothier for" the Bundesbahn, then it's not necessarily a rail service cap at all. I did a Google images on Reichskriegerbund and found a variety of caps, some with piping indicting branch of service, and also depicting the eagle you have here. Many have the eagle shown here above the national cockade or the Kyffhäuserbund insignia. I don't know how rigorous the veteran's organization was on uniformity or if a veteran could have created his own cap.
I'm reminded of another example of a breast badge on headgear. Years ago when I left the Army, I gave my girlfriend one of my airborne berets. At some other point she got my air assault wings. Last I seen them she had my wings pinned to my beret.
The point of my story is there are any number of ways two items could come together like this. It could me as simple as both belonging to the same aged gentleman, and one of his grandkids pinning them together so they wouldn't be separated. Unless research turns up some information about this combination being a common practice, we may never know.
Looks like another drive by post. Everyone take a drink.