Interviewed January 2001:

The perspective of a Fallshirmjäger (paratrooper) was captured during a conversation with a veteran of most of the major Luftwaffe paratrooper missions.  This veteran saw extensive action in the Mediterranean and Western Front battles.  His comments on helmets are noted below:

"Our helmets had a very short brim and very little protection on the sides.  We felt like our faces and the sides of our heads were very exposed.  The helmet was not as favored as the Infantry helmets that had a very long brim in the front and sloping sides.  We wished that our helmets had been like those.  The strap was very good and the helmet fit on our heads tightly.  Sometimes our helmets had decals and sometimes they did not.  As I recall, the blue-gray helmets had two decals and the green ones had only one decal.  Sometimes they did not have them at all.  The blue-gray  painted ones had a shiny surface and the green ones had a very dull green paint.  We liked the dull helmets because they did not shine very much and that protected us from the enemy.  If I could redesign the helmet I would make it have a brim and more protection on the sides."