Bundeswehr armored beret olive

Service in an armored vehicle is associated with special physical challenges, which are also reflected in the uniform. For this reason, the armored forces have always had their own special clothing, which differed from the other uniforms of the army.

After the founding of the European Defense Community (EDC) failed, the Bundeswehr had to look for a new uniform when it was established in 1955. This was to be as practicable as possible and represent modernity and a new understanding of service, but could not completely turn away from German military traditions. Despite the fear of offending the neighboring countries that had been under German occupation barely ten years earlier, various borrowings from Wehrmacht uniforms were adopted alongside new elements.

The newly designed headgear for tank soldiers was olive-colored, just like the Bundeswehr’s combat suit, still based on the EVG uniform. However, the two-piece shape is clearly based on the Wehrmacht’s armored protection cap, albeit less voluminous. Underneath the felt cap is a padded cap, which was intended to protect the wearer’s head from impact in the confines of the tank without, as with a helmet, transmitting the vibration of the machine to the head and further restricting the ability to hear.

Much simpler than that of the Wehrmacht, the Bundeswehr protective cap was decorated only with a German cockade woven onto an olive-colored background and the crossed swords of the army.

The manufacturer’s name of the beret “Codeba KG” is an abbreviation of “Companie deutscher Baskenmützenhersteller”. One of the founders of this company, alongside Belgian manufacturers, was the Wuppertal company Peter Küpper Ronsdorf, which had been in existence since 1885. Under the abbreviation “Peküro”, the company became one of the largest manufacturers of military headgear during the Second World War.

Like the Wehrmacht, the Bundeswehr also rejected this padded version of the beret in favor of a simpler, more practical headgear. In 1971, the armored troops received the black beret, which is still worn in a similar form today.

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