Richard Porter
Battlefield Guide
Artefacts
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Combat Helmets
One of the most powerful images of war is a soldier’s helmet resting on top of a wooden cross or a rifle speared bayonet first into the ground. This symbol of respect also has a practical use when the helmet is used to protect the fallen soldier’s identity. Harry Fellows of the 12th Northumberland Fusiliers explained how during the Battle of the Somme he was detailed off to help bury the dead:
“The routine for burying the dead was as follows. First remove the equipment…We dug graves 8ft long by 6ft wide and 2ft deep. When you have the man at the grave side you took his pay book out of his right-hand breast pocket where it was always kept. The pay book contained all the details, a man’s religion, next of kin, his regimental number and his will. In the left-hand pocket was the wallet. Then we’d cut the man’s identity disc from around the man’s neck, put the wallet and the pay book together, tied with some string. Then when the man was in the grave, 6 to a grave, head to tail. A bayonet was placed by the grave and the little parcel put on the boss of the bayonet, then the steel helmet on the top to protect it from the weather”.
Combat helmets are thought to date back as far as the 23rd Century BC, over 4,000 years before the Great War. The earliest helmets were made from leather followed by brass, bronze and iron. Around 950 A.D. they were made entirely of forged steel.
As the weapons on the battlefield became stronger and more powerful helmet design and construction also needed to be innovative. Helmets adequately protected the combatant from arrows, swords and low velocity musket balls.
However, at the end of the 17th Century helmets became obsolete as very powerful and accurate weapons were being developed and used with a devastating effect. Steel helmets were useless as protection against rifled muskets and canons balls.
Sallet helmets like this example (above),
circa 15th Century were used as inspiration for the German Stahlhelm (steel helmet) of WW1 (below)
When war broke out in Europe in 1914 none of the mobilised countries issued their infantry with a protective steel helmet. Most soldiers were issued with cloth caps or leather headgear. As the war went on the number of lethal head wounds became unacceptable. The only practical answer was to issue the soldiers in the trenches with steel combat helmets. The helmet wouldn’t be bulletproof nor would it prevent fatalities inflicted by high velocity jagged shell splinters.
When a high explosive shell explodes it lifts earth creating a shell hole. On the Somme Battlefield for example the earth clods would be mixed with pieces of chalk and sharp flint. What goes up must come down! By issuing helmets it was hoped to reduce the high number of wounds and fatalities from falling debris.
Introduced in 1915, the Adrian helmet (Casque Adrian) was inspired by the French fire fighters helmet
The French were the first army to issue their solders with a steel helmet in 1915 followed by the British and then the Germans in 1916.
At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 soldiers in the French Army wore the standard kepi cap which provided no protection against injury. The early stages of trench warfare proved that even basic protection of the head would result in a significantly lower mortality rate among front line soldiers.
By the beginning of 1915 a rudimentary steel scull-cap (calotte metallique, creveliere) was being issued to be worn under the kepi.
Consequently, the French staff ordered the development of a metal helmet that could protect soldiers from the shrapnel of exploding artillery shells.
The helmet proved to be fairly effective against shrapnel balls and it was cheap and easy to manufacture. As a consequence, over 3 million Adrian helmets were produced and they were widely adopted by other countries.
Early helmets were painted ‘horizon blue’ (light blue-grey) for French troops and khaki for colonial forces. Those made after 1935 are usually painted khaki, reflecting the French armies move towards a more camouflaged uniform in the 1930’s.
In December 1915, Winston Churchill while serving as a major with the British Army was presented with an Adrian helmet by the French General Emile Fayolle. He is seen wearing it in photographs and a portrait painted by Sir John Lavery (Right).
Brodie’s design resembled the medieval kettle hat
The British combat helmet, the Brodie was designed and patented in August 1915 by John Leopold Brodie.
There were two alterations to the original design of the Brodie:
The original design, Type A was made of mild steel. It was only in production for a few weeks before the specification was changed.
The second model, Type B (Raw Edge) featured a new harder steel known as ‘Hadfield steel’ after Sir Robert Hadfield who had suggested the improvement. The Type B was painted a light apple green colour and first issued in October 1915.
The third model, the Mark 1 was issued to the British Army in May 1916 just before the Battle of the Somme in July. This was the most widely used model and remained in service until the end of the First World War. Initially the helmet was painted with a smooth Khaki finish. To eliminate refection from the smooth paint the helmet was rolled in sawdust, crushed cork or sand whilst the paint was still wet to give the helmet a matt finish.
Some officers, or those who could afford to privately purchased a replacement suspension liner for their helmet. The issued liners were neither comfortable nor robust. A number of private firms made special liners to ensure a comfortable and firm fit. The best liners were produced by Hawkes & Co of Saville Row, London.
(Left) A group of Australian soldiers wearing slouch hats and steel helmets. (Right) Pte Jenkins of the Australian Imperial Force made his Brodie more comfortable by replacing the original liner with a slouch hat. He also used a leather German rifle sling for a chin strap.
Something baffling happened when helmets were introduced. Statistically the number of head wounds increased.
The previous statistics did not include the fatal head wounds, only head injuries. With the introduction of steel helmets more men survived a head injury hence the number of head injuries increased statistically.
Another reason for what seemed to be an increase in head wounds was the false sense of protection by some soldiers thinking that it would be safe to put their heads above the parapet whilst wearing a steel helmet. Steel helmets in the First World War were not bullet-proof.
Sgt Pollington DCM, MM & Bar used his helmet in a way in which it was not intended. The latter section of his DCM citation explains:
"....On a later occasion he was in command of the same post when a large raiding party of the enemy penetrated our front line and fired into the post from the rear with a machine gun. He immediately led his men into a communication trench where a hand to hand struggle ensued during which he was knocked down and dragged half way across no mans land by the enemy. He then pulled off his steel helmet, hit his two captors in the face with it and made good his escape. Thanks to his initiative and great courage the enemy were prevented from capturing the post."
The Germans were the last of the three main protagonists to introduce the steel helmet, the German stahlhelm design was to prove the most efficient of them all.
The Imperial German Army began to replace the traditional boiled leather Pickelhaube with the stahlhelm early in 1916.
The design of the stahlhelm was carried out by Dr Friedrich Schwerd of the Technical Institute of Hanover. In early 1915, Schwerd had carried out a study of head wounds suffered during trench warfare and submitted a recommendation for steel helmets. Schwerd then undertook the task of designing and producing a suitable helmet broadly based on the 15th century sallet, which provided good protection for the head and neck.
After lengthy development work the first stahlhelms were tested in November 1915 at the Kummersdorf Proving Ground and then field tested by the 1st Assault Battalion.
30,000 examples were ordered, but it was not approved for general issue until January 1916, hence it is most usually referred to as the ‘Model 1916’.
The stahlhelm, with its distinctive ‘coal scuttle’ shape, was instantly recognizable.
Reserve Lieutenant Walter Schulze of 8th Company Reserve Infantry Regiment 76 described his timely issue of the stahlhelm on the Somme, 29th July 1916:
“… Suddenly, with a great clanging thud, I was hit on the forehead and knocked flying onto the floor of the trench…. A shrapnel bullet had hit my helmet with great violence, without piercing it, but sufficiently hard to dent it. If I had, as had been usual up until a few days previously, been wearing a cap, then the Regiment would have had one more man killed.”
In contrast to the Hadfield steel used in the British Brodie helmet, the Germans used a harder martensitic silicon / nickel steel. As a result, and also due to the helmet’s form (progressive tooling) the stahlhelm had to be formed in heated dies at a greater unit cost than the British helmet.
The steel was pressed around 12 times in this progressive manner, this retained most of the steels strength.
The stahlhelm design had side mounted horn like ventilator lugs which were intended to be support for an additional steel brow plate or stirnpanzer, which only ever saw limited use as it was very heavy.
The helmet was not without flaws. The ventilator horns often made a whistling noise on windy days, requiring the wearer to block the vents with mud or fabric.
Brow plates were made with 1/4 inch hardened steel and weighed about 7 lbs
The large, flared skirt tended to make it difficult for soldiers to hear, distorting surrounding sounds and creating an echo when the wearer spoke. The helmet was modified in 1918. The M1918 had cut outs in the skirt along the sides of the helmet. These cut outs were to accommodate using headphones while wearing the helmet. These cut outs also improved hearing and reduced the echo created by the large flared skirt.
As a final thought it's interesting to think about the modern combat helmets and how they compare with the steel helmets of World War One.