Bundesgrenzschutz Feldmütze, Sumpftarn Camo, Replica Hat

I picked up one more needed item for my growing Bundesgrenzschutz camo uniforms....... a sumpftarn camo field cap, better known in German as a Feldmütze.  I found this hat on eBay for a true discount price, with free shipping.  I was the only one to bid on it!  It arrived today, and I have already upgraded it with the proper tri-color cockade.

The hat is a replica, sewn from original Bundesgrenzschutz field jacket material.  The original camo hats are nearly impossible to find, so this is the next best thing.  From what I understand, these replica hats that were sewn from the original fabric, we made back in the 1980's, after the BGS discontinued the use of sumpftarn camo uniforms.  This hat is unlined, unlike the originals that were lined in a cotton fabric, and it arrived without a front cockade.  I pulled out one of my "donor schiffchen hats" and removed the cockade from the front.  The BGS and Bundeswehr used the same cockades, so the match was perfect. (For those of you who are interested, I picked up 200 of these BW Schiffchen hats awhile back.... here's the link to the blog page on that part of the story:  http://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2011/02/bundeswehr-schiffchen-west-german-army.html ).

I pulled the cockade off the garrison cap and sewed it onto the BGS Feldmütze using my trusty, vintage,  Wards sewing machine...........  It turned out pretty darn good!  Here are a few shots of the cockade before I stitched it on.

The fabric that the BGS Feldmütze is sewn from is a waterproofed cotton fabric.  After a little detective work and BGS uniform inspections, I have determined that the fabric is the same as the waterproof fabric that was used on the shoulder yoke panels on the BGS field jackets.  An exact match!  Here are a few comparison photos.  You can see the jacket yoke in the first photo, and then the back of the yoke fabric in the next...... the last one shows the hat and jacket fabric backs, side-by-side.

And now on to the photo album of the finished hat:

To finish things up, let's take a look at a few archival photos of some BGS troopers wearing these Feldmütze.  The first photo is circa 1968, and the next photos are from 1964-65;