Original Item: Only One Available. In late 1940, with the impending German entrance into the North African campaign, tropical uniforms headgear and equipment were quickly developed and issued in time for DAK, Deutsches Afrika Korps, (German Africa Corps), personnel's arrival in Tripoli in February 1941.
The M41 tropical field cap was introduced in early 1941 and design of the cap was loosely based on the Mountain Troopers, Bergmütze with minor variations. Officer ranks caps were distinguished from EM/NCO's with silver piping for the ranks of Lieutenant to Oberst and gilt piping for the ranks of Generalmajor to Generalfeldmarschall while EM/NCO's ranks caps were not piped. The different branches of service within the army were allocated a particular identifying waffenfarbe, (Branch of Service Color), and originally the M41 tropical field caps had a branch of service soutache applied to the front consisting of an inverted "V" encompassing the national tri-color cockade but regulations of July 10TH 1942 abolished the use of the soutache and instructed it to be removed from the caps, although the directive was not strictly adhered to.
This is a very nice "salty", or service worn example of a German WWII Kriegsmarine Navy Küstenartillerie (Coastal Artillery) field cap, in Afrikakorps Tan. The uniforms of Coastal Artillery troops were for the most part identical to the Army Heer, except that the stitching on their National Eagles was gold, as with all Kriegsmarine items. The cap is correct in all respects, with the great look that only real use use during combat can produce. Issued to coastal artillery units it features ribbed khaki cotton twill construction, dual-ply, stitched down side and back panels that gently slope to the front center. The cap has ventilation grommets to each side positioned just below the outer edge of the crown seam. The top center seam is correctly stitched right through the interior liner for added strength. The front center of the cap has a machine woven national eagle in light yellow/gold threads on a cut-out, woven tan base.
The front center of the dual-ply, downward sloping scalloped panel has a machine woven national tri-color cockade on a woven tan diamond shaped base. Both the eagle and the cockade are machine-stitched to the cap. The cap has a cotton twill covered, forward visor with an internal cardboard stiffener. The visor has a subtly raised lip to the top of the forward edge and a row of reinforcement stitching to the bottom of the forward edge. The interior of the cap is fully lined in green cotton.
Condition definitely shows wear, and there is fraying and tearing in various areas, as shown. Caps like this do not come along very often at all!
The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (German: Deutsches Afrikakorps, DAK was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of their African colonies, the formation fought on in Africa, under various appellations, from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943. The term "Afrika Korps" is pseudo-German (so-called "cod-German"), deriving from an incomplete German title. The German term referred solely to the initial formation, the Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK), which formed part of the Axis command of the German and Italian forces in North Africa. The name stuck, with both news media and Allied soldiers, as the name for all subsequent German units in North Africa. The unit is known for having been commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
