THE WAR HELMET

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 June 1936, Page 10

THE WAR HELMET

GERMAN OFFICER’S OPINION. Lieutenant-Colonel Justrow (retired) ! of the German Army has a low opinion jot the German steel helmet and exI pr- sess it in “Die Umscliau.” He I thinks the helmet has fine, severe, sol|dicrly Roman lines, but that it is a I po :r thing. I !:> the first place, the German “coal sen'tic” of a. helmet is too heavy. It off rs some protection to the skull, bu . interferes too much with seeing an : with hearing orders and calls, lii tlr- World War German soldiers who were lying prone, repelling attacks from the air, studying the enemy’s position through “scisfwrs” telescopes or manipulating range finders and oil er measuring instruments often dir-arded their helmets becaijse tlrey w: re- too much of a nuisance. In trench w:'-fare the helmets were excellent 1;?' o!:; because of their shape and si.-

Against modem bu'l-'ts, which can I pi' .co shields three-tenths of an inch jthi' k, no helmet is of any use. Bullet ■■ may bo deflected; but Justrow points out that glancing blows fall on tiro side of a helmet at angles flatter th: n 60 degrees. He wonders whether a man would hot be missed anyway under the conditions. MODERN HELMETS VARY. Bullets and fragments of shells and gnnades that pass through a helmet i cftmi cause injuries worse than those that would be sustained without protec; ion. Even a glancing hit mav be fat"’ because the blow, like that of a hammer, dishes and drives in the steel straight to the skull. In the process the helmet may even straighten out ai glancing bullet, so that it can penetratei th:■ metal and kill. !

Nearly every modern army has developed helmets that depart not only from those introduced during the World War, but from the German desig::. It. is generally agreed that the metal cannot be thick. In all countries research has been conducted to obtain tough, hard sheet steel alloyed with nickel, chromium, vanadium, molybdenum and other metals. Germany may need these for other more vital purposes. Against vertical hits no metal is of any use. It has therefore been seriously considered whether heavy steel helmets should not be abolished altogether or whether it would not be advisable to adopt ahi-! minium even at the expense of higher' vulnerability. i

Probably steel will be retained (perhaps unalloyed) and the shape of the German helmet changed. The brim will be narrowed and bent more outwardly, so as to deflect bullets more easily. In fact, helmet brims have Feon abolished or reduced in some European armies because shrapnel, once feared because of its downward discharge of missiles, has lost its impel lance. .lustrow approves the ridge-liko thickening of the metal helmet along the longitudinal axis of the helmet which has been adopted by some general staffs. He holds that this affords some additional protection because it heightens the deflecting effect, along the most vulnerable line.