WWII German visor cap of an officer of the Gendarmerie (state rural police)

A pristine visor cap of a WWII German visor cap of an officer of the Gendarmerie (state rural police) The cap body is constructed of police-green wool, with orange piping (state Reich police visors were piped in green) with a brown badge cloth cap band The two-piece nickel-silver police eagle is mounted on the cap band with the Reich’s cockade centered on the upper cap body. The silver chin cord completes the exterior presentation. Inside, the cap is maker marked on the celluloid rhomboid “G. Nolte, Uniformützen, Kassel, Fischgasse 18”, The interior liner is date-stamped “ S. P. Kassel, 1942”. The piece has a black composition peak with the underside being brown with cross-hatched surfaces. The interior shows light wear, the exterior is without flaw. The fact that this visor cap was manufactured, and likely sold in Kassel is interesting in that this city was the Headquarters to the Reich’s Wehrkreis IX. Nearby was a sub-camp of Dachau which supplied slave-labor to the Henschell factories (produced tanks). The city was bombed by the Allies, one raid alone killed 10,000 people and made more than 150,000 homeless.