TRENCH ARMOR

Evening Star, Issue 15907, 13 September 1915, Page 7

TRENCH ARMOR

The British War Office lias not yet issued steel helmets to the British Army, but has the matter under consideration. The French military authorities first issued a steel cap to fit the skull, and are nowreplacing it with a, steel helmet. The cap left unprotected the base of the skull, and it was found that wounds there were cornman among men lying down in the open under fire. The French steel helmet has a large rim like that of a fireman's helmet. It, cau be pushed back to protect the base of the skull when a man is lying down, and it can be pushed forward to protect the eyes when this is necessaa'y. It is made of heavy steel, which is'specially treated in order to increase its strength and resisting power. The weight of the helmet is considerable,. and on this account it could not be worn by troops engaged in open warfare. But as a protection in trench warfare, where wounds in the head are particularly numerous, it has pxwed to he of considerable value. According to a paper icad at the Paris Academy of Medicine, head wounds represent 13.33 per cent, of all the wounds inflicted on French so!d : crs. Shields and helmets have proved to be of considerable, protective value, but breastplates, under modem conditions of wa.r;are, are liable to add to the severity of wounds in the body. The difficulty is to make a breastplate light enough" for a soldier.to wear and strong enough to resist penetration by a bullet. To stop a German Ma-user bullet at a distance of 80 yards a toughened steel plate, about -Jin thick, and weighing per square foot, would be required. A man could not carry armor of this thickness as welt as his ordinary equipment. Even if the armor stopped the bullet, the force of the impact would knock the. man down. For a time the .Germans used breastplates made of wire gauze overlaid with small plates of steel, but the German military authorities have not officially adopted any armor for the body. Such breastplates axe sufficient to stop spent bullets and shrapnel, but not direct fire from rifles at close range. A rifle bullet at short range not only penetrates the breastplate, but carries part- of the broken steel into the body, and this adds to the severity of the wound. . From a suxgica! point of view, a man without body armor has a better ohanea of recovery after being hit in the body by a bullet than an armored man whoso armor' has been penetrated. But from a military point of view the only question fox decision is whether a light, armor for the body which, would protect a man front wounds by glancing bullets, spent, bullets, and pieces of shell is worth adoption, in spit* of the fact that such armor would undoubtedly increase the mortality among men wounded by direct, rifla fire. There have been hundreds of instances in which men have been saved from injury by spent bullets or pieces of shell through the missiles striking, a watch, cigarette case, 01 book which a, man had in his pocket.