German Afrika Korps M35 Helmet

This is a Model 1935 German Army Afrika Korps helmet.   Originally, it was green but painted in desert camo for the North African Campaign.   Good condition complete with leather liner and original chinstrap.   Inside of the helmet is still original green paint and also visible under the camo where there are chips and nicks in the paint.   There is a name marked inside the liner, "Lentz", with some sort of ID number below.   I'm sure someone out there could probably ID this guy.  My guess is he was probably among the thousands of Germans who surrendered at the end of the North African campaign in 1943 to the US Army.  We don't have much of a story with this one but it walked into a gun show along with a bag of small goodies including photos of the G.I. who brought it or shipped it home during World War 2.   The seller had purchased some other souvenirs from the family including SS items and so the photos stayed within that grouping.   We know this came from an elderly woman in Oklahoma but are still attempting to get more information from the seller as to who the GI was.   As you can guess...pickers are often reluctant to reveal their sources until their watering hole has run dry...but we will keep asking and/or forward the info to the purchaser.

MARKINGS:

The chin strap is marked:

G. SCHIELE
LOBURG
1942

Inside the liner on the aluminum band it's marked:

64NA
56

and

SC ??? (can't see without removing liner) G ---probably manufacturer...marking is great, just not visible without removing...which I have no idea how to do.
D.R.P
1939
BRAUNSCHEIG

On the leather liner itself, it's stamped with the number "56" and handwritten in pen:

USSJ. LENTZ
31473 or (could be 37473 depending on how you interpret the upper slant on his 1's and 7's)

I can find no markings inside the pot itself.   All in all, just a good untouched German Afrika Korps helmet.

Item# 1237

SOLD