In general, there is even such a term: interbellum, that is, the interval between the two world wars. And in this interval, from 1918 to 1939, specifically in Germany, they managed to fit two armies. The first is a kind of garbage of the imperial Reichswehr, permitted by the Treaty of Versailles, and, in fact, the creation of the Wehrmacht began in 1933.
At the beginning of World War II, when the Germans were very willing to shoot all kinds of newsreels, helmets with some kind of heraldic shields flicker in many videos. Somewhere made with the help of decals (these are decals of that time, a very funny thing), but somewhere they are easily painted with paint.
It is clear that in the chronicle they are all black-gray-white, but in reality everything was quite so colorful. But more on that later.
In general, the helmet of a soldier of the Reichswehr was another testing ground for artistic research.
But what is most interesting is that some of the arts quite survived to the Wehrmacht, and there they took root very well.
But let's go in order.
Our story begins back in 1920, when Bavaria came up with a seemingly good idea for marking soldiers of their Reichswehr units by applying decals or stencil paint on the helmet. The Reichswehr Ministry approved the idea and asked the rest of the federal states (analogs of the federal military districts) on the topic of whether they want to distinguish "their" soldiers from everyone else.
While everyone was discussing, the Bavarians rushed ahead of the rest of the world without a BMW, and already in 1921, all Bavarians in the army had the blue and white color of the national flag of Bavaria on their helmets on the left side, and the unit number was applied on top of the shield.
In 1921-22. "land ownership" was extended to practically all divisions. The colors of the lands did not depend on the inhabitants of which land served in the unit, but where the unit was currently based.
That is, if the regiment (for example) was transferred from Bavaria to a permanent deployment in Baden, then the color of the shield on the helmet also changed.
The idea "came up", and over time everyone began to say "we want it too!" In 1924, own "shields" were approved for the Kriegsmarine (Navy) - two yellow anchors on a white shield.
It is clear that in the German Navy, not everyone sported such helmets, but observers, signalmen, air defense and secondary armament teams, emergency and prize teams were worn.
This is not to say that everything was smooth and smooth; during operation, there were constant disputes over both decals and paints. Paints and films shone happily in the sun, giving the soldiers away to a potential enemy.
Since Germany did not wage wars, they looked at all this in Ruysweer without much interest, but the work was carried out. Reports were written, instructions were developed, appraisal examinations were carried out, the formulation and composition of paints were selected …
In general, until it smelled like war, everything was pretty nice.
And then … That's right, then Hitler came to power. The new Chancellor did not appreciate the innovations, the benefit of combat experience he had more than enough (it is a pity that they did not have enough).
Under the guise that Germany, which is building the Third Reich, is a united country and the Germans should not share the formations of the federal lands, Hitler canceled the land emblems on the helmets.
Instead, a single shield was approved in the colors of the new / old national flag - black, white, red.
The paint was also abandoned at first, relying on decals. Decals, in fact, are the same "translators", progressed well, and by the times described they had real strength and long service life.
And if you also treat it with a special varnish …
The changes led to the fact that the emblem with the national flag was applied to the right, and the silvery coat of arms of Nazi Germany on the left.
There were several types of decals, differing from each other in manufacturing and application technology.
There were, as I said, decals that were applied using a special varnish as an adhesive. Decals were produced with "water" translation, made according to the principle of conventional "translators". But best of all are the forerunners of modern stickers, made so that the image (front side) adjoins the transfer paper. These were the most durable and long lasting decals.
The further development of this entire colorful circus is quite interesting.
From 1935 to 1940, German helmets had two decals. On the right side there is a decal in the form of a shield with national colors (black, white, red), on the left side there is a Wermachtadler, an eagle of the Wehrmacht with half-folded wings on a black silver shield.
The color of the eagle was exactly silver, and not white or gray, as can be seen on modern replicas.
The Kriegsmarine wore the same golden eagle on their helmets. The Luftwaffe had its own eagle.
Eagles, as you can see, are a little different.
But the flag has disappeared. It happened in 1940. With the beginning of the war, the superfluous unmasking detail quickly disappeared from the helmets. Until 1943, only the eagle of the Wehrmacht was present on the helmets, but the situation on the fronts (yes, there, on the East) led to the fact that from August 1943, colored decals completely disappeared from all helmets in the Wehrmacht.
The fighters of the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine, not being in direct contact with the enemy, continued to wear helmets with decals, but in the end, a general order was ordered to leave one color - camouflage.
The Reich was bursting at the seams and there was no time for colored spillikins.
But it all started very colorfully …
