It is difficult to overestimate the importance of helmets for ordinary soldiers, sometimes this is the only chance of salvation. After all, a helmet is able to protect your 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.
Since 1916, German troops began to be massively equipped with special steel helmets M-16. The prototype for their creation was the helmets of the French, to which the Germans drew attention 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 elbow, the purpose of which was to cover the ears from sound waves and fragments.
This model was also equipped with a cap comforter, which was mounted on a special leather hoop with rivets. Over time, they were replaced by clasps - buttons with legs, antennae, which were unbent after installing the mount in the helmet. But this fixation was not very reliable, and over time, the skin was replaced by metal. A 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 in connection with the end of hostilities he did not receive distribution.
The first appearance of the German helmets that soldiers had during World War II dates back to 1931. It was at this time that a special holder for the comforter 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 his 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 overhangs that did not protect the head, increasing the thickness of the metal, changing the technology for creating ventilation holes only increased the strength of helmets. Of course, these light, comfortable, but at the same time reliable German helmets of the Second World War did not save direct bullets from the head, but nevertheless they could help many Aryans to 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 appearance of metal fasteners on the helmet straps. In addition, ventilation holes began to be stamped (they used to be 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 the dull helmets of gray-green color, then at the front the color changed depending on the time of year, the place of warfare and, of course, the type of troops. Only in the middle of the war began to use special camouflage covers and nets.