M42 size 66/59 Freikorps Sauerland

Description

This original restored German M42 helmet is marked NS66 indicating it was made by Vereinigte Deutsche Nickelwerke AG, Schwerte. The heating lot number indicates the shell was made after the decal drop.

The helmet’s restoration was inspired by those worn by member of the Freikorps Sauerland during the waning days of WWII. Freikorp Sauerland was a Volksturn unit organized in September of 1944. The unit fought on the Western front and took heavy casualties during operations in the Ruhn pocket.

The helmet was totally stripped of post war paint then repainted the correct shade of aluminum oxide textured field gray. The dome was ink stamped with the correct inspector’s mark for the Nickelwerke factory. The helmet has been fit with a museum quality liner and chinstrap. Both are RB marked as was typical with most late war helmets.      Only a handful of original Sauerland helmets are known to exist. All are NS marked with a late war heating lot number. Freikorps Sauerland was raised in the area where the Nickelwerke factory was located logically the helmets would have been sourced from there.

The helmet has been distressed to have the look and feel of an original. The chips, scuffs and dings are meant to reflect the limited service such a helmet might have seen, but there is an overall nice patina from handing damage from years of being displayed by a vet, perhaps on his bookshelf. Few of these helmets were made and fewer survived the war. Here is a great example to fill that hole in your collection.