Early Pionier Enlisted Contract Caps

Tonight I closed my eyes and stuck my hand in the magic closet, waved it around… and withdrew a Pionier visor cap. It’s a contract piece and has an unusually dark sweatband. I would think it was a replacement, but it is attached with the exact same thread as the lining. No stamps on the inside of the lining - as if they would be visible anyway as dark as it is - but the chinstrap is stamped "RAHM & KAMPMANN Wuppertal-Elbe" and is dated 1937.

For grins, I pulled down an even earlier contract cap off my display shelves. Note the lighter cap band on the super early cap. That one is stamped to "Stab P. B. 7" for staff of Pionier Battalion 7. The manufacture date is 9th of December, 1934. It has a sheet of newspaper folded in the back of the sweatband (tighter fit) and I think the illustration stuck in the name tag slot is cut from a cigarette pack or advertisement but not sure. Could be from the same newspaper he tucked in the sweatband. The unit received the designation of Pionier Battalion 7 on 15 October, 1935 and was initially in Munich but moved nearby to Rosenheim the following October. As part of 7. Infanterie Division it took place in the entire laundry list of campaigns. The march into Austria, invasions of Poland and France, and finally Russia for the rest of war with a lot of hard fighting and heavy losses. Here’s a an early history: (but auf Deutsch) Pionierbataillon 7

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