Austria-Hungary Austro-Hungarian Sun Helmet

[Peter_Suciu]

Well, considering that Austria-Hungary had no overseas colonies it would seem strange that the country would ever produce sun helmets. But in fact the Austro-Hungarian army did on two occasions. The first was when they sent troops to Crete in 1895, and then again in World War I. The Austrian Army sent men to the Palestine Front. I never expected to be able to track down such a desireable piece... but luck favored me. I was stressed out waiting for this to arrive, and probably drove my wife and friends to near insanity as I was like a five year old waiting for Christmas Day!

But it was worth the wait:

[Tony]

The chinstrap appears to be very similar in design to the Great War Austrian steel helmet.

I know absolutely nothing about these helmets but can imagine they're very rare especially in such good condition.

Tony

[Guest Rick Research]

The K.k. navy wore them right in home waters in hot weather before the war. Here-- despite the flag-- is a group of Austrian navy officers in mix-n-match whites at Scutari in 1913 during the Balkans Wars emergencies:

[Peter_Suciu]

The K.k. navy wore them right in home waters in hot weather before the war.

Great photo Rick. That's fantastic. The sun helmets were mainly used byt he Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Foreign Service before the war. What's interesting is that the early sun helmets, like those of the Anglo-Indian makers were cork. By the time of the war heated up in the Near East in Palestine the Austrians began to use the straw helmets.