Parkas & M43 cap

[Jorge MC]

any plans to include Parkas & M43 cap? in future modules,

[agusto]

There is something wrong with the german headgears in general.

As you can see in the picture below, the commander of the armored recon car is wearing that distinctive german cap. His rank is Gefreiter or Lance Corporal (?). However afaik, such hats were only issued to officers from 1939 onwards. So the correct headgear for the Gefreiter who is in charge of the armored car would be the Schiffchen the guy right to the commander is wearing.

[Saferight]

i was wondering about the m43 cap as well. was this really worn in combat situations?

[Fernando]

That visor cap is not a regular visor cap but a Feldmütze alter Art also known by collectors as a crusher cap. It was introduced in 1934 for officers. In 1938 the M38 field side cap for officers was introduced, so the M34 became "old pattern" and given a wear-out period until April 1942. However the alter Art was so popular that it was widely used after the wear-out period right until the end of the war. Some people went as far as removing the side buttons and chin cord from a regular Schirmmütze then "crush" it in order to get the fashionable "alter Art" look. Those caps are easily noticed because they had a Vulkanfiber peak rather than a "crushable" leather one.

In the Heer Alter Art caps were authorized to officers and officials only while it was also used by NCO's in the Waffen-SS. There is even a distinctive SS version with an ugly feldgrau cloth-covered peak used by Waffen-SS NCO's.

Unfortunately there must be some compromises regarding uniforms. At present there are two German Panzer uniforms. one is for the crew members and another one for the tank commander. TC are generic "officers" so you can easily tell them apart from their men. Could they have been NCO's rather than officers? Of course but then it would have been just one NCO rank and officers would have worn that uniform too.