Distinctive « half-basket » chicken wire cover, as visible on original photos.
In addition to painting helmets in camouflage colors, the Germans used different materials such as wires and mesh to attach foliage as well as cloth covers.
Different grades of wire were used to provide the framework for which foliage could be attached to helmets. In many cases, the wire itself served as a means of camouflage without the aid of leaves or branches, by simply breaking up the outline of the helmet. A variety of methods were used to attach wire to a helmet. Both strait bailing wire as well as fencing wire (often called Chicken wire) was also used in various gages. The wire types and grades applied to helmets often differed depending on the theater of combat where the helmet was being used. Helmets that used wire for camouflage were typically found in the Italian and French theaters in 1943 and 1944. However as a whole, continental Europe with its strong agrarian base was an abundant source of farm yard and fencing wire. It should be noted there are various types of chicken-wire; various gauges of wire and different size hexes which would have been available to German soldiers in France at the time. Collectors of German helmets often categorized the types of wire by the number of twists on the hexes in the wire. Generally wire of the era was woven with three, five, or sometime six twists.

Original or repro chicken wire covers are very hard to find.
You will receive the model presented in photo. Each model is unique.
⚠️ The helmet is not for sale! You only buy the cover.
⚠️ This cover was made on a M42 Stahlhelm helmet. We cannot assure it will fit other types of WW2 German helmets : M35, M40, M37, M38, etc.
⚠️ There are different sizes of M42 Stahlhelm shells. The helmet on which this cover was made has a diameter of 69cm (at the base of the rounded dome). We cannot guarantee that this cover will fit your own helmet. You buy with full knowledge of these elements. No return will be accepted because the cover does not fit your shell.