Germany, Luftwaffe. A Rare 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring Officer’s Cap from the Estate of Dr. Karl Roßmann

(Einheitsfeldmütze M43 für Offiziere der Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1 Hermann Göring). A rare, owner-attributed, and exceptionally well-preserved 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring Officer’s cap, constructed of black wool. The cap is fully surrounded by fold-down side panels, scalloped at the front, providing optional ear and neck protection to the wearer. When not in use, the panels are rolled up and secured in place at the front with a single pebbled zink button which emanates from the right button and meets an analogous reinforced buttonhole on the left flap. The outer edge of the crown is fully trimmed with a length of silver aluminum wire piping. Stitched onto the peak is an insignia consisting of a black wool backer bearing a machine-embroidered silver aluminum wire Luftwaffe eagle clutching a mobile swastika, measuring 66 mm (w) x 46 mm (h). Directly below the eagle, the cap also features a tri-colour cockade consisting of silver and blackened aluminum wire surrounding a central red wool cockade, measuring 24 mm in total diameter. Completing the exterior features is a protruding card stock-reinforced visor, fully lined in identical black wool. A brown leather sweatband measuring 40 mm in width surrounds the interior, which is also fully encompassed by a multi-piece dark blue rayon liner. The crown bears a stamped black ink size mark of “56”, but the cap is otherwise unmarked. It measures approximately 21 cm (w) x 25.5 cm (l) x 13.5 cm (h). Retrieved from the estate of highly decorated Oberleutnant Dr. Karl Roßmann (Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, 12 November 1941; with Oak Leaves, 1 February 1945), this scarce cap is in a near mint condition.

Footnote: Karl Franz Joseph Roßmann was born on 23 November 1916 in Kempten, Bavaria. He was drafted into Wehrmacht service on 1 April 1936 as a Fahnenjunker of Flak-Regiment 5. He later transferred to the elite 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring and achieved the rank of Leutnant by the outbreak of the Second World War. Appointed commander of a flak battery, Roßman distinguished himself at the Battle of Uman when, on 2 August 1941, he led German forces in preventing a breakout by an encircled Red Army force despite being under a fierce assault for over 14 hours. For this effort, which resulted in the destruction of the Soviet 6th, 12th, and 18th Armies, Roßmann received the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross on 12 November of that year. After serving in France and Italy from late 1941 until the beginning of 1944, Roßmann returned to the Eastern Front and continued to service with distinction in East Prussia through to the Vistula-Oder Offensive, receiving the Oak Leaves to his Knight’s Cross on 1 February 1945, before surrendering to American forces at the war’s conclusion. He subsequently pursued a career in medicine, and died in Bad Kreuznach on 1 April 2002, receiving a funeral with full military honours.