A Steel Helmet of the German Afrika Korps
By Peter Nash

In 1941 Hitler sent German forces to North Africa to avoid the defeat of Mussolini's reckless Italian Expedition into Libya. As the German forces built up and became largely successful they began to get a certain amount of respect from the Allied troops. With the arrival of Rommel a legend was born. The Afrika Korps, as they became known, were engaged in a Theatre of Operations where some chivalry amongst foes still existed despite the savagery of fighting. Captured souvenirs of the Afrika Korps were eagerly sought by British troops and the tactical symbol of Palm tree and Swastika is still well known today even in the non-collecting world.

Helmets of the DAK (Deutsches Afrika Korps) were amongst some of the first items sought by collectors of WW2 memorabilia in the early Sixties and today probably rank next to SS helmets in desirability.

Unfortunately a great many of the Afrika Korps' helmets around today are not genuine examples and although some have a genuine factory paint finish of light olive tan/beige these are helmets from other Theatres of Operation, Greece, Italy and Southern Russia and were not produced before 1943 when a similar standard beige colour began to be used as a basic factory finish for many items of equipment and vehicles.

The first sand camouflage used by the DAK appears to have been a very light pink which was simply washed over the army green finish in the field. In Tunisia this was sometimes improved by the addition of a stippled brown paint to form more of a camouflage effect. Later helmets were finished in a darker orange-yellow like that of the famous DAK Tiger 1 at Bovington Tank Museum before it was unfortunately stripped and re-painted in red oxide primer. It should be remembered that in common with most other field applied camouflage on helmets, the DAK helmets were painted for use in combat, not for the parade ground and should show considerable wear and tear. A mint camouflage helmet is almost a contradiction in terms. Most of these helmets were painted in the field by men not particularly skilled with a paint brush. Liners were not removed as a rule and so you should expect to see some original finish on the inside although occasionally the inner brim also got a rough coat of paint. Helmets which show even spraying of camouflage paint inside and out, if not complete fakes are more probably later factory painted types.

Having made the point that the majority of camouflage finishes were painted by unskilled hands, there were undoubtedly some soldiers who were quite artistic and it would have been to these men that others looked to personalise their kit. Although it is generally thought that German troops did everything by the book, this is not really the case and it is not unusual to find helmets and items of equipment showing signs of personalisation. Such was the way that the DAK symbol of Palm tree and swastika began to find its way onto a small number of front line helmets. The general similarity of known genuine examples points to only a few small Units having been permitted the privilege of using this symbol as helmet insignia, perhaps only two or three soldier-artists were responsible for these creations but we will never know for certain now. No standing orders exist to authorise the use of this insignia on helmets.

The helmet shown above has the DAK symbol painted onto its left side (stated by Jacques Scipion in ‘Afrika Korps’ to be the most usual positioning) replacing the Heer eagle and swastika. On the helmet illustrated here the symbol is painted onto a dark ochre finish. Our helmet is an M42 which shows either some continuity of use for the helmet symbol, or that the symbol was not used until the later stages of the African campaign.

The interior of our helmet is still original Army dark green and has traces of a paint inscription to an SS trooper. As the SS were not involved to any extent in Africa (although a photograph of Waffen SS men in Africa does exist, they are not in combat) it appears that the helmet was not new when supplied to the DAK, and probably involved a movement of stores or personnel from Greece in late 1942 or early 1943 where elements of 1 SS Leibstandarte Adolph Hitler had been based. Although this helmet has a 41 dated liner it may be original to the helmet, earlier production liners sometimes being used in the first M42 helmets.

The goggles illustrated were taken from an Afrika Korps prisoner and are dated 1941. Many other types of goggles were used for protection against sun and sand including British anti-gas goggles famously used by Rommel himself.

From a study of contemporary photographs it seems that few steel helmets were worn in the desert before mid 1941, most photos of helmets dating from late 1941 or early 1942. The original kit issue being tropical helmet rather than steel helmet.


Illustration shows M42 Afrika Korps helmet. Courtesy of the author.

Article abridged from ‘Armourer’ magazine. Courtesy of the publisher.