Gentlemen,

I got these dark grey fieldcap. With it came a small Redcross pin, so my first thoughts were Red cross. Inside is no maker's mark, the sweatband is made from "Ersatzmaterial", a little bit like paper. In the back are the initials "KS", what - I presume - means the town of Kassel in Germany, not the personal owner of the cap. After a closer look I found some holes from prongs in front of the cap and a stiff band, wich holds the front of the cap up.

What do you think: Is that a red cross cap, or something other like RLB. Does anybody own a similar cap? Any information will be welcome.

Regards

Kolibri

,

.

..

.,

If the color of the hat is a dark charcole gray I would also think DRK."In the Service of the Reich" page 254/255 shows this hat with both the cloth oval DRK insignia and the metal insignia from the visor hat.The metal insignia I have has prongs top and bottom but the holes in your hat are side by side.Does anyone know if they came both way?There is a photo,page 252, in the book where the oval insignia looks to be metal.I don't know if this is true or just poor vision on my part.Has anyone seen this type?

Raymond,

thanks for your help. I don't own these books, so I cannot take a look. the prong-holes are side by side, as you say. All metal-insignias I have seen until today had the prongs top an bottom. So i'm not sure, wether this was a DRK-cap. But the colour is 100% correct for red cross. Is RLB impossible?

Regards

Kolibri

While anything is possible,I would think if the color is identicle to known DRK items it's most likely DRK.I've never owned an RLB uniform but, I thought they were blue.Similar to Luftwaffe.I think Johann used to have an RLB uniform.Check his website as he might still have photos of it.Maybe the insignia is uncommon which is why we have not seen one that would fit in the existing holes.I would bring it to a show and let someone who know cloth see it.

Usually the pins of the insignia didn't go thru the lining.It could be that someone replaced the original insignia with one from another branch(Heer,Luftwaffe..etc)either wartime or post war.Does it look like there are any other holes in the cloth?

Dear Kolibri,

Does this cap have functional buttons with buttonholes or are the buttons just decorative?

The pre-war Red Cross wore a Baschlikmutzethat had an enamel metal Red Cross disc that was sewn on in four corners. This cap was introduced in 1923.

Regards,