German helmet: history of change

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of helmets for ordinary soldiers, sometimes this is the only chance for salvation. After all, a helmet is able to protect the head from fragments of bombs, shells, and in some cases even from bullets. Its use became especially relevant during the First World War: actions were often carried out in trenches that covered the bodies of soldiers, but the head was an excellent target.

Starting from 1916, German troops began to be massively equipped with special M-16 steel helmets. The prototype for their creation was the helmets of the French, which the Germans paid attention to in 1915. It was this model that became the most recognizable and memorable. The German helmet of the First World War was made in the form of a cylinder covering the head, equipped with a conical butt pad, the purpose of which was to cover the ears from sound waves and fragments.

This model was also equipped with a balaclava, which was attached to a special leather hoop with rivets. Over time, they were replaced by clasps - buttons with antennae legs that unbent after installing the mount in the helmet. But such fixation was not tooreliable, and over time, the skin was replaced by metal. The German helmet, equipped with a new metal hoop, was called the M-17. A year later, another version of the helmet was released, in which the ears were open, but due to the end of hostilities, it did not receive distribution.

The first appearance of German helmets that soldiers had during World War II dates back to 1931. It was at this time that a special holder for a balaclava was installed on the product, without which its functionality was limited. Only with the advent of this device did the German helmet begin to stay on the head while running, jumping and even falling.

The new M-35 models, released in 1935, were already able to even protect a soldier from bullets flying along a tangent. Reducing the overhangs that did not protect the head in any way, increasing the thickness of the metal, changing the technology for creating ventilation holes only increased the strength of the helmets. Of course, these light, comfortable, but at the same time reliable German helmets of the Second World War did not save from a direct hit of bullets in the head, but still they were able to help many Aryans stay alive.

But this was not the final version of the protective helmet. In 1940, the Germans created the M-40 model, which became the main one for the entire period of the Second World War. Unlike its predecessors, this German helmet was heavier, but thanks to this, it better protected against direct hits from shell fragments or mines. Another innovation was the emergencemetal fasteners on helmet straps. In addition, the ventilation holes were made by stamping (previously they were made by the manufacturer as separate hollow rivets and were inserted into prepared drilled holes).

Manufacturers paid attention not only to the shape, functionality, composition of the alloy from which the German helmet was made, but also to its color. If during the parades you could see dull gray-green helmets, then at the front the color changed depending on the season, the place of warfare and, of course, the type of troops. It was not until the middle of the war that special camouflage covers and nets began to be used.