Today, I was in the war room doing a bit more discovery on some pieces. I had this M42 Heer SD passed down from my Grandfather. He acquired the helmet direct from the vet. I never bothered to take the chin strap off the front rim of the helmet, because naturally markings are on the tip and this tip had been cut. Well, today I did and boy what a surprise… Odd as it is, I noticed the embossed marking of "V.A. SS 1938" on the strap. Very odd, an M42 would have this strap - my Grandpa didn’t know either! You can see the mark left by the strap when I removed it from the rim… I have only seen some photos of this marking and the RZM one, most bogus. But, this strap has been on this helmet for decades! Sorry, these photos are poor and I can take more as needed.

Take a look - would love your thoughts! Prost! Duff

Click to enlarge the picture