A trade not-so-secret here at TimeGhost is that we love Star Wars. When we sat down in the editorial meeting for this episode, it was mentioned how alike the helmet of Darth Vader is to that of the Stahelm borne by the German soldiers of World War Two. As it turns out, the film makers made an explicit decision to have the Empire closely resemble Fascist societies of WW2, and the rebels to resemble depictions of heroic cowboys. Aside from modelling the Vader helmet on the Stahelm, what are some other example of this? Let us know. Join the TimeGhost Army to help us take down the Death Star: bit.ly/WW2_HARDWARE_015_PI Rules: community.timeghost.tv/t/forum-rules-and-guidelines/5
The Helghast in the _Killzone_ series are also explicitly coded this way as well, though with a slightly futuristic twist. Indeed, the entire series is World War 2 (and later Cold War-era Berlin) IN SPESS.
A random Helmet story for you. My Grandfather was a reservist in the 50s and 60s. He would do many parachute jumps and one time his helmet fell off and he lost it. He got in a lot of trouble and his friends made fun of him. Years later on a botched landing he crashed into a forest and when he pulled his head up from the ground there was his lost helmet, name written in the inside and all.
@@morstyrannis1951 It might have been to add strength to the helmet, to add protection from debris falling from directly above, which is much more likely in a fire, than in a combat situation.
Modern military helmets copy the same rough shape of the Stahlhelm, although nowadays they're made out of composite materials instead of steel. That shows how well-thought the design was, 100 years ago.
I heard a (possibly apocryphal) story re PASGT that after spending millions on finding the optimum helmet design from scratch, the US army noted the resemblance to the stahlhelm and tracked down a German engineer who had worked on the design for that (he must have been very old by then). They asked him how they decided the shape and his answer was "We based it on a Roman design".
German MG3 and Austrian MG74 are also just slightly modified MG42 still used nowadays. Rechambered for NATO ammo, heavier bolt for slower firerate, and some other minor modifications.
@@KatyaAbc575 True, those are some nice examples. Another example is modern AR-15 style rifles: 60's technology basically the same, except for some material changes (such as the stock, handguards etc)
Kudos for mentioning the helmet's use by the Chinese Nationalists, along with a lot of other German-imported gear and equipment throughout the 1930s. I have seen some Westerners react with puzzlement to Chinese war movies (The Flowers of War and The 800 just off the top of my head) because they were unaware of pre-WW2 Sino-German cooperation.
Used to think the same thing. It's easy to misunderstand as history isn't taught very well in US schools. We were deligated to rote about dates of wars not how or why things happened and their significance.
The East German Stahlhelm was based on a rejected simplified WW2 design of 1944. Contrary to initial Western observances, the East German helmet was not based on the Soviet design. Also note that the first Soviet designed helmets, the SSh-36, had a similar design to the Stahlhelm but was replaced by the more ubiquitous and simplified Ssh-40 helmet. The SSh-36 helmets in collector's market is rare and expensive.
11:45 the rejected Stahlhem ironically becomes the adopted M56 stahlhelm of the East German army (NVA) precisely because Hitler rejected it (and also the presses for its manufacture weren't destroyed in the fighting). There is some Soviet accounts that the helmet was actually used by German army cadets in the Battle of Berlin.
I suspect the biggest reasons why the East German army wore those helmets was that the Soviets wanted to impress on the East German population that the NVA was a German army and not a Soviet puppet army. If that meant trudging out former WW1 stahlhelms again then so be it. Anything but giving the NVA the Soviet helmet, like the Bundeswehr wore American helmets.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 East German dress uniform is also a lot closer to the earlier Wehrmacht uniforms, though from what I've seen at least later in the 80's they wore typical warsaw pact stuff, Afghanka jackets etc.
That extra armored plate he mentioned is called the Stirnpanzer, and wasn't issued very often mostly due to the extra mass. It took the center of gravity of the helmet forward, which could cause neck strain. As Indy mentioned, it was sometimes given to snipers, sentries, machine gun crews, and stosstruppe before assaults
Great Video! Just FYI: I'm a firefighter from germany (bavaria) and were still using bright yellow colored "Stahlhelme". It's the same shape and measuerments, just hass an added visor made from leather for further protection of the neck. I find it interesting how even the exact helmet and not just the idea a further protection lives on outside of parades and reanactments even in 2021.
I wish they did mentioned that. Also worth mentioning that they are made of much lighter aluminium tho, the things are crazy light compared to the steer combat helmets
Finnish army used these all the way into the 1970s for infantry. They were eventually slowly phased out and only used for ceremonial wear until the early 90s when they were replaced for good. Always loved the look of them on the troops, especially with the m62 camo uniforms.
IMA still has some of these M-40/55 for sale at about $70. I bought 3 and converted them to German ww2 liners and painted them as Heer, SS and Luftwaffe with reproduction decals they look good. It was a lot of fun and I can enjoy some military history without having to shell out huge sums of $. My wife thinks I am a dork. Maybe she is right?
10:43 to 11:05 Another surprising user of the _Stahlhelm_ is the Irish Defense Forces during the Interwar period. In November 1926, the Irish government approached the German consulate requesting a sample. The German Foreign Office declined citing that the export of steel helmets was prohibited under the terms laid down by the Treaty of Versailles. Thus, the Irish Free State turned to Vickers & Co. Ltd, London, and placed an order for 5,000 helmets which closely resembled the M1918 model. These helmets remained in use until it was replaced by the British Mark II Brodie helmet in 1940.
The Irish just love the Germans, don't they? Driving around County Wicklow when visiting my Irish aunty, she took me to see a cemetery full of drowned U-Boat men!!! Just what I needed to see on a holiday at the age of 23 (which was also a typical age of the dead sailors). 😎
@@maddyg3208 Probably isnt so much a love of Germany, as much as hatred for British tyranny in Ireland. Altho, the Germans did (for their own reasons) supply Irish freedom fighters with weapons and gear in the run-up to the misfortunate 1916 rebellion, and the Irish remember this.. "This Island of Ours has for long been half Free, Six Counties are under John Bull’s Tyranny..." from a popular Irish song.
@@maddyg3208 The graveyard in Glencree contains the remains of German sailors & airmen who washed up on Irish shores, or whose aircraft crashed here, during WW2. There's similar sites in the UK.
Well, the Stahlhelm become the world standard issue helmet in the world. Because the helm design is very effective for protection especially for the forehead and ears, unlike the kettle helmet that expose both area.
I agree, Indy. The Stahlhelm is clearly the inspiration behind current day kevlar helmets. It is also the inspiration for several Star Wars helmets in both sides... including Dart Vader's...
The Stahlhelm is just a medieval open-face sallet. It was not some ground-breaking German secret weapon. It was due to be replaced in 1944 but Hitler ordered that the old design be kept in production because he thought it 'looked better'.
What is innovative, is not the shape, but the manufacturing method. The stahlhelm is a quite complex shape. To press that shape out of a single piece of sheet metal was a serious accomplishment in engineering and metallurgy, considering it was a mass-produced item. I think i takes seven pressings to make a stahlhelm. That means every helmet will pass through seven different press machines, each needing their own operator, their own tweaking and adjusting. That makes for a more complex production line, where each step is a new opportunity for something to fail or someone to mess up. This is where the challenge lies: to mass produce at a reasonable cost and high quality standard. The brody helmet of the British is obviously a much simpler shape, but it was the cost-to-benefit ratio the British decided upon. The French adrian helmet is not pressed from a single, uncut sheet of metal, but has a seam under the crest, making it weaker and more labor-intensive to produce. A single medieval sallet probably took weeks of work by a skilled craftsman. In WW1 they needed millions of these, and they needed them ASAP.
The Great War references made me feel nostalgic. Apparently Indy was feeling even more nostalgic, because his voice didn't synch with the video in the end. ;-)
What you mention at the end is something I appreciate: lots of less glamorous pieces of equipment make for great stories to tell. The jerry can, the Higgins boat, camouflage smocks, the mess kits. With time, one starts to take interest not only in the big guns, but also in the small items that silently helped life for the common man during the war.
Although it probably wouldn't warrant a special the Ka-bar combat knife, first adopted by the USMC in 1942 as a replacement for the US Marine Raider stiletto (which was found to be excellent for silent killing of sentries, but had no utility outside of combat), also has an interesting development history. Like the Stalhelm, it also looks cool.
I was in the US Army also and wore both steel pots and kevlar. I don't know the actual weights of each but the steel pot felt lighter while worn than the kevlar ever did. We even had a term for it - "kevlar headache" - because there was something about them that made them not sit right on your head while the original steel pots were better balanced. We had to mess around with the headband and straps inside the helmet until we could get it to 'sit right' on our heads, and aftermarket padding was so common they even sold it at the PX. I'd be curious to know more about how the soldiers felt about the stalhelm from a comfort perspective, not just an aesthetic one.
@@Raskolnikov70 I'm in the Danish Home Guard, and we have the US kevlar helmets, and used to have the US steel helmets. I have a small head, so I've always struggled with them. I find them both best in winter, because then I can wear a fleece hat underneath, which makes them much more comfortable. But one day, thanks to a collector, I was able to try a German Stahlhelm, and I found it shockingly much more comfortable to wear. It's not as heavy as either of the US helmets, and sits much better on my head (must have lucked into the exact size match). I was really surprised how much more comfortable it was. It was more like wearing a baseball cap (albeit a heavy one), than wearing a helmet. The balance was really excellent, and it didn't bob back and forth, when I moved my head forwards or backwards, despite not being tightened down hard, the way I have to do it on the US helmets I'm familiar with (which may be the wrong size for me, but I've been unable to get replacements for).
@@MrAstrojensen Thanks. It seems to be more about correct balance than the weight of the helmet. I never felt like either of them was overly heavy - you get used to the weight - but if you didn't adjust the straps in the kevlar one just right it would feel like it weighed 20 lbs and would crush your neck. The ones modified for parachute jumps were even worse with the extra strap and pad in the back because you couldn't adjust them very much. The M1 steel helmets sat better, were more comfortable to wear and easier to adjust. It sounds like the Germans did a better job of paying attention to proper fit and balance, or maybe they just got lucky with their design?
@@Raskolnikov70 I am a military surplus nerd and I have worn both on my wheeler just for fun. The old one sits lower with it's weight, it's easier on the neck. The kevlar helmet feels like the weight is higher up and more forward
1 cm thickness sounds like the team misplaced a decimal point again. Like the "7.92 cm machineguns" described in the video on German tanks. A 10 cm x 10 cm X 1 cm plate would weigh (100 cm X 7.8 g/cm^3) 780 g, or about 1.7 lb, and be FAR too small to provide the needed coverage. I suspect actual thickness was ~1 mm.
I googled and found an article on rare historical photos with the same error. It might be a typo in the source material that both copied straight of it.
The Swedish fire brigades still use a derivative of the stalhelm, that differs by having a ridge along the top as an extra reinforcement to cope with vertically falling objects - the obvious direction of danger in a collapsing building.
In the States we have a weird hybrid of a Stahlhelm and some of the older traditional features of the American helmet design. The front, most notably, has a flat placard for a department badge or rank insignia. The sides extend further to the face but the basic shape for the crown is very similar to the Stahlhelm. For quite a few firemen (at least through the 80s) used to mount a high powered headlamp over the front. It doesn't really help visibility as your putting out a fire, ect but after the fire's out or a Mayday or search and rescue, having an extra light to hand is a huge comfort. My Uncle survived a mayday with his search partner and he credits having that light and the comfort and visibility it gave him for getting them out alive. He ended up having to drag his friend (who had a spinal injury from the midlevel apartment collapsing on him.) To a window where they were pulled out by guys using the truck ladder.
@@hurri7720 Helsinki got badly bombed by the Soviets both during the winter war and the continuation war. The Soviet chief of strategic bombing bragged to Stalin that he had destroyed Helsinki - fortunately the claim was based on poor intelligence reports.
To be fair, the Pickelhaube came from the time of blackpowder and cavalry charges. The spike was to protect the head from saber strikes from above and the shield on the forehead as some protection against the slower bullets. At least according to the Prussian reenactors I chatted with a while back. Bundeswehr Paratrooper helmets, at least till 2008, also had no visors and neck guard, and much better chin strap, at least I liked the paratrooper chin strap more, but preferred the design of the infantry helmet. I like the visor. xD
The emblem on the foreheard certainly was not intended to offer protection against bullets. A thin untreated metal emblem isn't going to stop bullets. Not even from something as antiquated as a smoothbore musket. The spike was also not for deflecting sword blows. It was another decoration with the ability to be unscrewed and replaced with plumes and alternate ornaments
@@_kommandant_3055 All sources I have found say that the Spitze was for deflecting saber strikes. So if you have a source with protective tests, please share, I'd like to learn more.
the stalhelm also tied in nicely with the medieval romanticism of the period. It looks close enough to medieval helmets that were popular in Germany and so propaganda could easily make modern German soldiers into idealized knights defending the empire. I have a picture of a statue of St Michael in medieval armor and a stalhelm that was made as a memorial to fallen soldiers in the 1920s
There was also a lot of ethnic connections between the countries; as it is also fun to hear Anglo-Chileans speak as they sound just like they walked out of Downtown Abbey and speak better British English than the British!
When the US worked on improving its helmet design immediately after WWI, an early design called the Model 5, which had been a clean sheet design based on combat requirements, so strongly resembled the Stahlhelm that it was rejected as looking way too German.
That makes sense if the US was still looking at Germany as a potential foe in a future war. The last thing you want is your own troops mistaking each other for Germans sneaking through their lines.
There was a recent study on the effectiveness of ww1 helmets and showed that the British Brodie helmets and French Adrian helmets were a bit more effective then many would believe. Even though those helemts were less effective in preventing shrapnel then the German Stahlhelm, in terms of protection from overhead blasts, the Allied helmet design performed well. More specifically, the tests done on the French Adrian helmet showed that not only did it protected the user from overhead blasts but in comparison to modern helmets, the 100 year old design outperformed today's designs. The study should not be taken as a excuse for modern soldiers to use WW1 helmets but shows that even in the modern age, we are still struggling to give soldiers adequate cranial protection and the lethality of modern war is still prevalent as it was 100 years ago.
They were also much easier and cheaper to make, particularly Brodie helmet which required two step stamping process, while Stahlhelm required around 7 steps iirc.
Also I dont think ww1 helmets would compare favorably to modern kevlar helmets. By NATO stanag standard they are required to be able to stop 9 mm makarov AP ammunition.
@@phunkracy They don't. The test he was talking about was specifically about the effects of shock waves from explosions, not any shrapnel or bullets. Because the adrian helmet had a ridge along its dome that helped it to dissipate shock waves overhead slightly better than modern helmets. It wasn't meant as a great measure of overall helmet effectiveness at all and the differences were pretty slight but dealing with pressure waves from explosions is pretty hard and is still a problem to this day.
I'm pretty sure the helmet you have next to you is the Spanish Helmet - Z. Based on the Stalhelm but lighter. The front metal piece was used to hold the spanish army insignia, while the real stalhelm had it stuck on the sides. Thus unless its a special german variation that's a spanish Z helmet.
For a couple of decades, the US Army was stuck with the M1 "Steel Pot" helmet - entirely because the various alternatives that were designed "looked too German."
Indy, you're exactly right. At the end you said it best that traditional WW2 documentaries lose out on the small, but critical, details like this. Or even just deep dives into events like Pearl Harbor. Growing up, you learn that the Japanese attacked, we went to war, we island jumped, we dropped the bombs and we won. I never knew that the Japanese were attacking many different locations on the same day as Pearl Harbor. Never before did I ever stop to consider the perspectives of the people who lived on the island during that day. Even looking at battles ongoing. Never once did I learn about how long the battle at Guadalcanal seems to be taking and how ferocious and desperate the fighting is. Never did I even consider the fact the Australians are doing a considerable amount of the fighting as well in the Pacific. And that's just one front! I so greatly enjoy what yall are doing with this project and support everything yall do. Keep up the great work!
It's kinda funny how the US M1 steel helmet almost became more iconic post-war during the Vietnam War, just think of the whole strapping bullets/cigarettes/painting symbols on an M1 helmet vs. the usually more basic look of WWII (although I am aware that some soldiers strapped extra M1 carbine mags in pouches to their helmets).
The East German National Volks Army actually ended up adapting the helmet that Hitler rejected as its helmet during its existence. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the US military began research to replace their old M1 steel helmets with Kevlar and they found that the stahlhelm shape was the best shape for a helmet and adapted a similar design, which is why the US Kevlar helmet was known as the "Fritz" helmet until the Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) or "Mitch" helmet was adapted in the late 2000s
I just got the original one, which the excavator dug while dredging the pond. Almost 80 years in the water and still looks like a helmet. It has a beautiful hole that one of my great-grandfathers made when he showed the Germans the way back home.
WW1-era versions of the Stahlhelm continued to be worn. I have seen a photo of German troops besieging Warsaw in 1939 wearing them (ironically, so did some Polish troops, especially cavalry) and an American who killed a German officer in Italy in 1943 recalled taking the man's WW1 Stahlhelm as a trophy.
In Diekirch I have seen amazing examples as used by the Luxembourg Freedom Fighters who used to hide away in caves they have a band in the mational colours going from the brim around the helmet. Amazing that Luxembourg had an equivalent to the Polish Home Army!
Interwar Polish firefighters and police had similar helmets. Army units using them in interwar Poland were mostly of "motorized" cavalry kind or motorbike units.
Polish cavalry never wore Stahlhelm, they wore French WW1 helmets. They were actually known for that, because infantry switched to more modern Polish wz 31 helmet, while cavalry retained the old French design.
@@PobortzaPl but it wasn't a Cavalry Brigade, it was Motorized Cavalry Brigade, which is in effect motorized infantry brigade equivalent in other countries. They also didn't recieve Stahlhelm until they became motorized.
Fun fact; The Helmet on Indy’s desk is Spanish as denoted by the tab on the front for attaching badge/crest. The Hungarian WWII helmets can be identified by a larger tab on the back that was used to hook the helmet onto equipment.
In 1926the Irish Army adopted a helmet based on the 1916 German design but made by Vickers UK as by then Germany was prohibited from exporting military hardware under the Treaty of Versailles.
The old M1 steel pots were still around in the late 80's for some units that hadn't updated yet. I wore one and liked it better than the kevlar, solely from a comfort perspective.
Absolutely worth talking about. Boots, helmets and gloves have always proven their worth many times over (sadly in blood as often as not, but that's just shows their level of importance) yet are the most underrated element in military history.
I love these special episodes about the equiment. Would love to hear about how and why the US switched form their own Broady style helmat into the M1 style
i do hope they do an episode about it but incase they dont; the main reason for dissatisfaction was the lack of stability on the wearers head, especially when running. the second was the lack of protection to the sides and rear. the stability problem was somewhat addressed with a new liner in the m1917a1, but it was still somewhat unstable. one of the 1st m1 mockups was made by cutting the sides and rear brims off and welding sides and back pieces similar in shape to the m1. you can see the m1917 lineage when you compare the sweep of the front brims of an m1917 and an m1. they are identical. another mockup was made by bashford dean of the new york metropolitan museum of art armor department. he hand formed it by hammering a piece of steel into shape.
How it influenced the modern helmet design is a testament to the original. Just think it knocked the venerable US M1 off its block back in the early 80s.
Interestingly, the Irish Defence Forces also wore a version of the Stahlhelm from the late 20's until 1940. It was a version of the model 1917 Stahlhelm with more sloped sides and the insignia of the Irish Defence Forces on the front of the helmet.
Slight typo I noticed - the Stahlhelm (and really all the helmets of the world wars) was around 1mm thick, not 1cm. A steel helmet 1cm thick would be stronger than most modern rifle plates, and absurdly heavy! Sorry for being that guy, and I also want to say that I love the video and what you guys do! (For anyone interested in the helmets of these periods, check out "Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare" by Dr. Bashford Dean, published in the interwar era and now freely available online.)
You could argue that if Germany would win loose the war depending on a small amount of saved material on a helmet, they were probably in it over their head anyway.
Cost cutting measures like that were common on all sides tbh. The logic behind it is less “this one helmet might make the difference” and more about making as many implements of war as possible.
you _could_ argue that, but then what did those savings in steel translate into regarding liters of petrol? Some amount would correlate, becasue less manufacturing steps equals less needed to produce overall- including less fuel to bring ore to a mill. But to say even a surfeit of material would have _won_ the war for Germany is a thing you'd have a hard time proving. It would assume that excess material would be used just where and when needed to provide an advantage, and that is purely hindsight.
I never knew something as trivial as the development of a helmet could be so interesting. Thank you Indy and team! I always did like the design of the German WW2 helmet, never knew the name until now.
Finland used plenty of different stahlhelm variants (all they could get their hands on) in WW2, most of which were WW1 era ones. As a result in Finland the helmet was generally known as sarvikypärä, the horn helmet, referring to the ventilation stubs of the WW1 variants.
Yeah, looking at an article about the use of steel helmets in Finnish use... Finland had access to all kinds of helmets at the end of the WW II. A set of around 15 000 steel helmets, both war surplus and captured helmets were bought from France in 1919. This included French m/15, and German m/16, m/17 & m/18 - also Russian helmets were tested. Stahlhelm was the performing best in the tests and in 1920 that helmet type was chosen. More were purchased later on though the ban of German exports hindered the matter. By late 1920s there were only really just Stahlhelms in the Finnish stock with French and Russian helmets being given to fire brigades or sold otherwise. Finns kind of missed the boat a bit on the acquisitions had therefore had pretty much just old WW I era German helmets in the Winter War. However purchasing more became a priority (in fact it was already in 1939 but that was a bit too late). Before the Operation Barbarossa started Finland had acquired a collection of helmets, ~ 70 000 x WW I era German helmets, ~ 75 000 Hungarian m/35, ~ 30 000 Italian m/33, ~ 50 000 Czech m/34. Additionally there were about 10 000 steel helmets classified as 'other' (so assorted collection of bits, including British, Swedish m/21 and so on). Later on Finland also started its own production of Stahlhelm derivative called m/40 (around 75 000 were made). And bought new German (m/35-40, m/35-42), Swedish (m/37) helmets (among others...) during the war. Also captured Soviet helmets were used, some even by front-line troops (incl. to some of the units of the Finnish Armored Division). Worth noting that not all of those were Stahlhelms or looked anything like Stahlhelms. There was plenty of variety. After the war army got rid of the excess variety of helmets but the Stahlhelm derivates stayed in use until 1960s. Last Stahlhelms varieties were reportedly removed from army stocks in 2000s (but had not really been used for several decades at that point).
Another Saturday morning where nothing productive was done at my house because I had to check out this video on the stalhelm. Thanks for enabling procrastinators everywhere. The combat boot video was pretty good too. Maybe I can salvage the afternoon.
Talking about the Stahlhelm, Adrian Helmet it seemed the Indy of Great War Channel has returned. Indy and the team you have done a great work on the Great War and Now WW2 it has been nothing less than excellent . Thank you for the great coverage of the wars.
@@hurri7720 The war was a Disaster and set the stage for nearly 70 year's of misery in Europe ..by paving the way for Hitler and USSR and we all know how that went...but the chronological coverage of the war by the Team was commendable.
@@rathinmajumder441 , As for the Team I agree and I wouldn't be here if not, but still I feel we should more often try to understand the horrific reality of it all. The damned thing is that we started to write history based on wars and still most of history is not, and most of the important things in any history happened during the immensely dull times of peace. And I must admit I hade to save these sentences by a British politician many years ago, Nick Clegg because there is a lot to that text, and no I am not German. In my opinion all you need to know about Brexit is also included there, " all nations have a cross to bear, and none more so than Germany with its memories of Nazism. But the British cross is more insidious still. A misplaced sense of superiority, sustained by delusions of grandeur and a tenacious obsession with the last war, is much harder to shake off".
@@hurri7720 I agree the times of Peace aren't covered in history books well even if they are important to understand the effects of the War ...which has been written in countless records... Taking the example of the former lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire..all the past glories and the failure's of the Empire have been played up in history books and portray it as a prison of Nations and showed the Empire as destined to Collapse..but very few point out that before the War started Emperor Franz Josef reform's of handing power to local government to govern the particular areas did end up quelling most of the Unrest in the Empire.. but it mostly simplified in history books has when "Emperor Franz Josef opened his arms to the people of the East with the Motto Viribus Unitis ..the people of the Empire accepted it as there father figure giving him credit for Saving the Empire" And after the war what horrors people had to endure during Nazi Germany and being satelite states of the USSR were being played up..to portray them as evil and barbaric...not pointing out that that blockade by the western powers and war brought misery to the people in unimaginable ways during the war..which led to figures such as 1 in 50 citizens of the Habsburg Empire was killed during the War..they seem to forget that..I have a personal grudge so my wording may be harsh and I am sorry to the readers..by being the grandson of an Austro-Hungarian Officer and hearing the stories from my grandfather about that Ancient Empire i just think why was that Great Empire dissolved which was closest to a democracy in the world of 20th century (even the Jews had official recognition in the Empire as citizens ,else where they were looked down upon in Europe).. Although our family is indebted to Archduke's Joseph for saving my grandfather from a certain death,he posted him to Prague Castle even though he was 19 years old and didn't have any physical disabilities(probably our family noble connection's helped )
@@hurri7720 Check out their Between Two Wars series on the Time Ghost channel, they cover that "time of peace" between the catastrophes, if you haven't already
Interesting video. I've also been noticing that the modern Military helmets from all over the world have the Stahlhelm shape too. But it's made out of composite materials instead of steel.
Definietly one of the most iconic pices of equpment from WW2. And for good reasons. Most modern military helmet desings are in esence Stahlhelm, just made of better materials.
Just a aditional info for what you said about it's usage after the war, Indy. The east german army, the NVA, didn't used it as it, as you said, resembles german militarism. Because of that, according to Doctor Felton on his video about the NVA, the DDR didn't wanted to offend the soviets but choose to wear a helmet prototype that was developed for the Wehrmarcht (i think around 43 or 44) but never saw service. And since it was never adopted by the germans during the war, it was perfect, since East Germany alredy had a helmet, and wouldn't offend the soviets neither the other countries of the Eastern Bloc.
I wondered if that was what he meant by a "single sloped style helmet." It rang a bell in my head and I thought "Hey, that sounds like it would look like the East German helmet."
The Polish regular army also used these helmets at the beginning of the war, specifically the elite 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade commanded by Gen. Stanisław Maczek. They also had black leather coats (hence their nickname "The Black Brigade"), which gave them a unique and really cool look but also made them easy to confuse for Germans, especially on the black and white photographs. Seriously, just google the name of the unit and you'll see for yourselves. I believe that the same was the case for the Warsaw Armoured Motorized Brigade, commanded by Gen. Stefan Rowecki, which was still being formed on the 1st of September 1939.
Soldiers wearing all black uniforms with black stahlhelm-style helmets? Now I know where did George Lucas get the inspiration for Darth Vader... :D (Just kidding, soldiers of Poland are of course second to none, as Sabaton would say... Cheers fron Slovenia!)
@@BHuang92 Also, speaking of the Warsaw Uprising, I think that the thumbnail of this video is based on a Polish propaganda poster from the Uprising, reminding the Home Army soldiers to use their extremely scarce ammunition well, with the line "Each bullet, one German".
One thing I like about some WW2 games is that with Tiger 1 or Panzer 4 cosmetics, you could have a stalhelm attached to the side, or a whole “necklace” of stalhelm going from one end of the tanks side to the other. I don’t know how accurate it is for tanks to have these helmets hanging off these vehicles, but it gives this feeling that the tank is still holding on to the spirit of fallen German soldiers by saving their helmets, like how a hat holder holds onto bowler hats
I don´t know very much about how effective or good this helmet really was (thx to Indy for enlightened me here) but one thing was clear to me (and many others) before - it was surely the most stylish helmet in war history perhaps aside the ancient greek corinthian helmets....... wonder how the stormtroopers would look like today without this stahlhelm inspirition..... :D ;)
I have a Stalhelm and a device that looks to me like a bayonet, but without obvious attachment mechanisms (any help?) That my Great Grandfather took from a fallen man during the Eastern Campaign. My grandfather didn't really know what to tell me other than that it was from an engagement East of Berlin. They are very cool and my prized possessions.
Fun fact: Sweden and Chile both still perform Prussian-styled military parades because their militaries were both trained by the Prussians at some point in history. It's a shame they aren't practiced in Germany itself but I can easily imagine why.
3:37 Ah yes. The famos *1 Centimetre* thick Stahlhelm. Only weighs 1kg, forged from Hitlerium by Krupp himself. There were tanks in the 1930's with thinner armor... I'm pretty sure you guys meant *1 Millimetre*
Very nice video, Indy. A few notes about your mentioning of the First World War iterations: The M16 Square Dip was the first batch produced, called that due to the square dip of the visor compared to later models. The M17 had both improved chinstraps and a new metal liner band instead of the older leather bands. The M18 you show is its own variant, commonly referred to as an “M18 ECO”, the M18 was very similar to previous models but removed the chinstrap lugs and connected the chinstrap to the liner itself. The M18 ECO you show is actually a very badly produced fake, the ECO was only produced in size 64 with the stepped ventilation lugs, and are much more iconic with the design. Thanks for another great video! Cheers!
I love the addition of what other nations used the stahlhelm. While looking into my Adrian M1926 to see if they fit into the Polish army during WWII I found out that Poland also use the stahlhelm. They seemed to have used the 1916 model for at least one Mechanized unit at the start of the war.. Then the Polish Home Army used any stahlhelm they could get plus they would paint or cover them in cloth with the Polish flag colors to distinguish them from German troops.
Indy Niedell! I missed you, I was sad to see you move on after The Great War series. I just wanted to say I love your style of reporting. You are a timeless person, if I had to go back in time, I'd bring you to help me fit in! Anywhoodles, I love your work and I made sure to hit the bell button again.
I noticed when mentioning the cheaper alternative Hilter said no to, there were no images shown. Where did you find that info? I'd like to see if I do some research into it. I could find one or try to draw it out from description.
The shape of the Helmet saved my Life in Afghanistan 2005. Deflected an 12,7x108mm Bullet, shot from over 800m just enought to slit a big Canyon into the Left Front and Side of the Helmet, but exit it to the left, instead of my Head. Knocked me out for some Minutes, K.O. But still alive! - German Veteran
11:50 The researching for a new shape of the Stahlhelm continued in DDR, Eastern Germany. The M56 helmet is somewhat like the upgrade of the Stahlhelm plus Soviet SSh-40 :)
Though shrapnel came to refer to any shell fragment, it originally referred to a specific type of shell: a cylinder filled with large lead balls that would be set off by a timed fuse after flying a preset distance. When the fuse went off, it would blow the balls out of the front of the cylinder like a giant shotgun. They used a lot of these during WW1, so that is probably what Lt. Schultz was talking about when he said "shrapnel bullet".
Fun fact; when steel helmets were introduced, those balking at the cost were quick to point out that wounded casualties quadrupled and that this proved those new fangled contraptions did not work. The thing is, that the number of dead by shrapnel was even greater than that of the increase in wounded. 😅 So yeah, statistics in isolation are useless, it's the context that counts.
A lot of modern right wing people who like to quote statistics about immigrants and PoC need to study this and understand that statistics can be manipulated to suit any beliefs. Thank you for bringing this to my attention though, I have another historical fact to look into now to distract me from work and my master's 🤣😩🤌🤌
Would be great at least another small episode on other countries. Even if it includes various helmets in the same video at the cost of lighter explaining, i would still find it pretty interesting.
Thank you for an interesting and informative video. And yes, I really enjoy learning about all the different things that go into the "kit" of a soldier, sailor, airman of all the warring nations.
Well done. Was good to see you in action again as I was an avid watcher of The Great War series. Personally own the 1917 Hungarian, the Sthalhelm of 1942, the Finish, the Luftshultz, the early war Afrika Korp light tan Sun Helmet and the second edition of the NSKK leather motorcycle helmet. Looking to add more.
As I understand, the production process for the stahlhelm especially in WW2, was so much more complex than something like the brodie, that it took away quite a bit of needed manpower and was not really simplified even as the germans started to really have problems with that. The same with the entire german WW2 uniform, being designed more to look good on parade than to necessarily be a good field uniform, with lots of fiddly stuff like tailored pockets and decorative touches that again, the germans really could not afford to produce as the war wore on.
I get your point. I would only argue, that it was expected from german soldiers to visit and pay tailors privately to make some adjustments, in order to have the unifom fit perfect or even make it more pompous for special occasions like parades. I mean.. that took some pressure off the germany industry.
@@Nauke90 Was it really? I'd understand something like an off-duty uniform like what the americans had, but in the field you're expected to constantly get fresh uniforms since they're expendable equipement.
Adolf Hitler believed smart-looking uniforms would bolster morale. To be fair, that may well be true, and considering morale wins wars, perhaps it was a fair sacrifice of function.
It didn't help that there were multiple helmet sizes with each helmet shell size covering two hat sizes. Compare that to the universal British and American helmet shell sizing. It's not a huge production issue but the logistics of getting everyone the right sized helmet is a drain on resources just for an aesthetic effect.
At the very last stages of the war the Germans basically copied British battledress, as it was much more economical and practical. It wasn't as 'smart' (hence WW2 British troops often just look a little 'scruffier' compared to other nations when both are spruced up) but it had been designed from the get go with production and ergonomics in mind.
Love this informative video. The design of the Fallschirmjägerhelm (8:20) wasn't concerned merely with the German paratroopers landing - but rather - problems encountered on exit from the aircraft. You have men jumping into a fast slipstream caused by the aircraft's speed (+/- 200 MPH - almost stalling speed albeit strangulation for some unfortunates). The helmet for the German paratroopers was designed to combat this and an almost identical design was also adopted for British Paras - (look at British Paras - and you will recognise the similiarity) they needed a more stream-lined helmet with a re-designed chinstrap to counteract the force of nearly having your head pulled off!
Plus Tip: Spain in the 20’s or 30’s adopted a variation of the M1918 helmet. It was lighter and more confortable. It even had a version without the front visor for motorcycles troops. But it had worst ballistics than the M1935 because of its more “vertical” shape and thiner steel. Both the socialist and the fascist used it during the war and saw use until the 80’s.
The German helmet was also superior (but far more costly) than others' because it was forged into shape as opposed to French/British and American versions that were pressed. Pressing resulted in a thinning of the material at the top of the finished product.
M35 helmet was indeed press-formed, in several stages, using sheets of molybdenum steel. But later, starting with August 1942, the M42 variant entered mass-production, and the older process of press-forming the shell, in combination with oven-heated tempering, had been replaced by hot-stamping - a faster and more efficient method. Many M42 helmets show signs of rapid hot-stamping: rippled stress marks in areas where the steel is shaped to form rounded corners.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
A trade not-so-secret here at TimeGhost is that we love Star Wars. When we sat down in the editorial meeting for this episode, it was mentioned how alike the helmet of Darth Vader is to that of the Stahelm borne by the German soldiers of World War Two.
As it turns out, the film makers made an explicit decision to have the Empire closely resemble Fascist societies of WW2, and the rebels to resemble depictions of heroic cowboys. Aside from modelling the Vader helmet on the Stahelm, what are some other example of this? Let us know.
Join the TimeGhost Army to help us take down the Death Star: bit.ly/WW2_HARDWARE_015_PI
Rules: community.timeghost.tv/t/forum-rules-and-guidelines/5
Imperial officer uniforms are somewhat reminiscent of German officer uniforms
The Helghast in the _Killzone_ series are also explicitly coded this way as well, though with a slightly futuristic twist. Indeed, the entire series is World War 2 (and later Cold War-era Berlin) IN SPESS.
So much of "keeping politics out of Star Wars"
The star wars weapons were slightly modified British Sterling SMG's (no magazine), Lewis LMG (no drum magazine) and MG34's (no belt).
Wasn’t Vader’s helmet based on samurai armor, though? Both Jedi and Sith have an "Asian knight" aesthetic.
A random Helmet story for you. My Grandfather was a reservist in the 50s and 60s. He would do many parachute jumps and one time his helmet fell off and he lost it. He got in a lot of trouble and his friends made fun of him. Years later on a botched landing he crashed into a forest and when he pulled his head up from the ground there was his lost helmet, name written in the inside and all.
They must have used that jumping spot often. The odds of him finding it were not so small then
@@Gangst3r4ever you're surely a hit on every party
Why do I not believe this story ? Mmmm...
@@tazman572 It's totally possible. My mom lost her necklace in my grandma's 500 yard vineyard. Grandma found it 1 year later
That's such a cool story 🙂
One of the most iconic pieces of military gear ever invented
Absolutely. Represented an entire war in filmmaking, digital video games, to lego sets.
No matter how bad the Nazis were, one must accept the fact that they had style
@@tredbobek That helmet design had nothing to do with style, it was all about functionality. That's something a werhaboo would say, honestly.
@@tredbobek It wasn’t nazi. The stahlhelm was made during ww1 in 1916.
@@shivmalik9405 Yes, I know. But it was part of their image in WW2 as well
The Stahlhelm was used by German firefighters up until the mid 2000's. There might be some volunteer units that still have some in stock.
yeah some where made out of glow in the dark plastic! would love to get one of those.
So many armies wear the stahlhelm design now
What was the purpose of the ridge down the centre? Was it simply ornamental?
@@morstyrannis1951 It might have been to add strength to the helmet, to add protection from debris falling from directly above, which is much more likely in a fire, than in a combat situation.
The Stahlhelm was also used by Danish firefighters well into the 2000's. I remember the local ones having them.
Modern military helmets copy the same rough shape of the Stahlhelm, although nowadays they're made out of composite materials instead of steel. That shows how well-thought the design was, 100 years ago.
No reason to fix what isn't broken. Just improve with newer tech.
@@jeremiahkivi4256 that and make it look a little bit less like the actual stahlhelm lol
I heard a (possibly apocryphal) story re PASGT that after spending millions on finding the optimum helmet design from scratch, the US army noted the resemblance to the stahlhelm and tracked down a German engineer who had worked on the design for that (he must have been very old by then). They asked him how they decided the shape and his answer was "We based it on a Roman design".
German MG3 and Austrian MG74 are also just slightly modified MG42 still used nowadays. Rechambered for NATO ammo, heavier bolt for slower firerate, and some other minor modifications.
@@KatyaAbc575 True, those are some nice examples.
Another example is modern AR-15 style rifles: 60's technology basically the same, except for some material changes (such as the stock, handguards etc)
Kudos for mentioning the helmet's use by the Chinese Nationalists, along with a lot of other German-imported gear and equipment throughout the 1930s. I have seen some Westerners react with puzzlement to Chinese war movies (The Flowers of War and The 800 just off the top of my head) because they were unaware of pre-WW2 Sino-German cooperation.
Are you in SciencesPo?
@@williamshortfilm5818 Used to be, years ago.
Indeed, this is always my first reaction. Also, WWII fans definitely need to see "The Flowers of War."
Used to think the same thing. It's easy to misunderstand as history isn't taught very well in US schools.
We were deligated to rote about dates of wars not how or why things happened and their significance.
The East German Stahlhelm was based on a rejected simplified WW2 design of 1944. Contrary to initial Western observances, the East German helmet was not based on the Soviet design.
Also note that the first Soviet designed helmets, the SSh-36, had a similar design to the Stahlhelm but was replaced by the more ubiquitous and simplified Ssh-40 helmet. The SSh-36 helmets in collector's market is rare and expensive.
11:45 the rejected Stahlhem ironically becomes the adopted M56 stahlhelm of the East German army (NVA) precisely because Hitler rejected it (and also the presses for its manufacture weren't destroyed in the fighting). There is some Soviet accounts that the helmet was actually used by German army cadets in the Battle of Berlin.
dude they should've shown pictures of it
Also turned out that the M56 was basically one of the most effective steel helmet designs ever.
I knew I saw that design for real somewhere, it was East Germany!
I suspect the biggest reasons why the East German army wore those helmets was that the Soviets wanted to impress on the East German population that the NVA was a German army and not a Soviet puppet army. If that meant trudging out former WW1 stahlhelms again then so be it. Anything but giving the NVA the Soviet helmet, like the Bundeswehr wore American helmets.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 East German dress uniform is also a lot closer to the earlier Wehrmacht uniforms, though from what I've seen at least later in the 80's they wore typical warsaw pact stuff, Afghanka jackets etc.
That extra armored plate he mentioned is called the Stirnpanzer, and wasn't issued very often mostly due to the extra mass. It took the center of gravity of the helmet forward, which could cause neck strain. As Indy mentioned, it was sometimes given to snipers, sentries, machine gun crews, and stosstruppe before assaults
That's why today they use counterweights on the back of a helmet when a night-vision optic is attached to the front
Counterweights for NVGs? Never seen them, your helmet just becomes front heavy and you tighten that chin strap.
@@someguy-somehow Yes counterweights is pretty much standard
@@someguy-somehow Often times the battery pack is in the back, acting as a counter weight.
@@someguy-somehow For them higher speed types. Regular bang bangs don't get that shit
Great Video!
Just FYI: I'm a firefighter from germany (bavaria) and were still using bright yellow colored "Stahlhelme". It's the same shape and measuerments, just hass an added visor made from leather for further protection of the neck. I find it interesting how even the exact helmet and not just the idea a further protection lives on outside of parades and reanactments even in 2021.
Haha, over in the Ruhrgebiet, I have seen firefighters from Dusseldorf and Hagen wearing those too.
You guys still have those? I wanted to get one as a gift to my boss who is a retired firefighter.
OH SHIT!
It is!
That is really cool
Same goes for the adrian helmet, I believe firefighters in belgium and france still use those, why fix what's not broken after all ?
I wish they did mentioned that. Also worth mentioning that they are made of much lighter aluminium tho, the things are crazy light compared to the steer combat helmets
Finnish army used these all the way into the 1970s for infantry. They were eventually slowly phased out and only used for ceremonial wear until the early 90s when they were replaced for good. Always loved the look of them on the troops, especially with the m62 camo uniforms.
IMA still has some of these M-40/55 for sale at about $70. I bought 3 and converted them to German ww2 liners and painted them as Heer, SS and Luftwaffe with reproduction decals they look good. It was a lot of fun and I can enjoy some military history without having to shell out huge sums of $. My wife thinks I am a dork. Maybe she is right?
@@theodorebennett7938 U can also buy these in Chile
@@theodorebennett7938 You are, painting nazi symbols is fucking weird
The Stahlhelm was introduced to the Bulgarian army too - the often forgotten third German ally in WWI (after Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans)...
Wow, thus leaving the Japanese and Italians to battle for fourth place?
@@danielmocsny5066 ww1 not 2
Блгари га издували на крају
@@danielmocsny5066 In WW1 the Italians and Japanese were the enemies of Germany.
and then during ww2 they had a distinctive design obviously influenced by the stalhelm. the 1st batch even being produced in german.
10:43 to 11:05 Another surprising user of the _Stahlhelm_ is the Irish Defense Forces during the Interwar period. In November 1926, the Irish government approached the German consulate requesting a sample. The German Foreign Office declined citing that the export of steel helmets was prohibited under the terms laid down by the Treaty of Versailles. Thus, the Irish Free State turned to Vickers & Co. Ltd, London, and placed an order for 5,000 helmets which closely resembled the M1918 model. These helmets remained in use until it was replaced by the British Mark II Brodie helmet in 1940.
The Irish just love the Germans, don't they? Driving around County Wicklow when visiting my Irish aunty, she took me to see a cemetery full of drowned U-Boat men!!! Just what I needed to see on a holiday at the age of 23 (which was also a typical age of the dead sailors). 😎
Good old British arms industry
@@maddyg3208 Probably isnt so much a love of Germany, as much as hatred for British tyranny in Ireland. Altho, the Germans did (for their own reasons) supply Irish freedom fighters with weapons and gear in the run-up to the misfortunate 1916 rebellion, and the Irish remember this.. "This Island of Ours has for long been half Free, Six Counties are under John Bull’s Tyranny..." from a popular Irish song.
@@maddyg3208 The graveyard in Glencree contains the remains of German sailors & airmen who washed up on Irish shores, or whose aircraft crashed here, during WW2. There's similar sites in the UK.
@@ronalddunne3413 It's definitely connected to hatred of the British
There is never an unload from this channel that I don’t watch as soon as possible, it’s just fantastic!
Well, the Stahlhelm become the world standard issue helmet in the world. Because the helm design is very effective for protection especially for the forehead and ears, unlike the kettle helmet that expose both area.
pasgt was heavily inspired
I agree, Indy. The Stahlhelm is clearly the inspiration behind current day kevlar helmets. It is also the inspiration for several Star Wars helmets in both sides... including Dart Vader's...
The Stahlhelm is just a medieval open-face sallet. It was not some ground-breaking German secret weapon. It was due to be replaced in 1944 but Hitler ordered that the old design be kept in production because he thought it 'looked better'.
If you watch the anime Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin, you can see Principlity of Zeon army wearing that helmet.
That's why those kevlar helmets are called Friz helmets *. . .*
Yep agreed, I mentioned Darth Vader in my own comment a few minutes ago, great minds think alike! 🤣
What is innovative, is not the shape, but the manufacturing method.
The stahlhelm is a quite complex shape. To press that shape out of a single piece of sheet metal was a serious accomplishment in engineering and metallurgy, considering it was a mass-produced item. I think i takes seven pressings to make a stahlhelm. That means every helmet will pass through seven different press machines, each needing their own operator, their own tweaking and adjusting. That makes for a more complex production line, where each step is a new opportunity for something to fail or someone to mess up. This is where the challenge lies: to mass produce at a reasonable cost and high quality standard. The brody helmet of the British is obviously a much simpler shape, but it was the cost-to-benefit ratio the British decided upon. The French adrian helmet is not pressed from a single, uncut sheet of metal, but has a seam under the crest, making it weaker and more labor-intensive to produce.
A single medieval sallet probably took weeks of work by a skilled craftsman. In WW1 they needed millions of these, and they needed them ASAP.
The Great War references made me feel nostalgic. Apparently Indy was feeling even more nostalgic, because his voice didn't synch with the video in the end. ;-)
Mine did as well, probably just YT hiccuping with lots of service, Friday night in Europe.
I came down here in the comments to see if I was imagining that. Thank you.
Ahh good to know it wasn't just me.
A very rare technical glitch from the typically perfect and infallable Time Ghost team. I think we can give them a pass this once ;)
@@Raskolnikov70 Absolutely, especially since it's only the final minute or so.
What you mention at the end is something I appreciate: lots of less glamorous pieces of equipment make for great stories to tell. The jerry can, the Higgins boat, camouflage smocks, the mess kits. With time, one starts to take interest not only in the big guns, but also in the small items that silently helped life for the common man during the war.
Although it probably wouldn't warrant a special the Ka-bar combat knife, first adopted by the USMC in 1942 as a replacement for the US Marine Raider stiletto (which was found to be excellent for silent killing of sentries, but had no utility outside of combat), also has an interesting development history. Like the Stalhelm, it also looks cool.
I recall examining an M1915 helm and was surprised at how light it was. The old M1 US steel pot was heavy in comparison, I was in the Army.
I was in the US Army also and wore both steel pots and kevlar. I don't know the actual weights of each but the steel pot felt lighter while worn than the kevlar ever did. We even had a term for it - "kevlar headache" - because there was something about them that made them not sit right on your head while the original steel pots were better balanced. We had to mess around with the headband and straps inside the helmet until we could get it to 'sit right' on our heads, and aftermarket padding was so common they even sold it at the PX. I'd be curious to know more about how the soldiers felt about the stalhelm from a comfort perspective, not just an aesthetic one.
@@Raskolnikov70 I'm in the Danish Home Guard, and we have the US kevlar helmets, and used to have the US steel helmets. I have a small head, so I've always struggled with them. I find them both best in winter, because then I can wear a fleece hat underneath, which makes them much more comfortable. But one day, thanks to a collector, I was able to try a German Stahlhelm, and I found it shockingly much more comfortable to wear. It's not as heavy as either of the US helmets, and sits much better on my head (must have lucked into the exact size match). I was really surprised how much more comfortable it was. It was more like wearing a baseball cap (albeit a heavy one), than wearing a helmet. The balance was really excellent, and it didn't bob back and forth, when I moved my head forwards or backwards, despite not being tightened down hard, the way I have to do it on the US helmets I'm familiar with (which may be the wrong size for me, but I've been unable to get replacements for).
@@MrAstrojensen Thanks. It seems to be more about correct balance than the weight of the helmet. I never felt like either of them was overly heavy - you get used to the weight - but if you didn't adjust the straps in the kevlar one just right it would feel like it weighed 20 lbs and would crush your neck. The ones modified for parachute jumps were even worse with the extra strap and pad in the back because you couldn't adjust them very much. The M1 steel helmets sat better, were more comfortable to wear and easier to adjust. It sounds like the Germans did a better job of paying attention to proper fit and balance, or maybe they just got lucky with their design?
@@Raskolnikov70 I am a military surplus nerd and I have worn both on my wheeler just for fun. The old one sits lower with it's weight, it's easier on the neck. The kevlar helmet feels like the weight is higher up and more forward
1 cm thickness sounds like the team misplaced a decimal point again. Like the "7.92 cm machineguns" described in the video on German tanks. A 10 cm x 10 cm X 1 cm plate would weigh (100 cm X 7.8 g/cm^3) 780 g, or about 1.7 lb, and be FAR too small to provide the needed coverage. I suspect actual thickness was ~1 mm.
I owned an M1916 helmet, since lost, and the shell was definitely not a centimeter thick.
Was looking in the comments if someone else spotted the "1cm thick helmet problem." Glad i found your comment.
I googled and found an article on rare historical photos with the same error. It might be a typo in the source material that both copied straight of it.
@@gurrz1126
Even if some source materials saying that, it is a strange mistake to make...
theyre about 2-3 mm thick depending on where youre measuring.
The Swedish fire brigades still use a derivative of the stalhelm, that differs by having a ridge along the top as an extra reinforcement to cope with vertically falling objects - the obvious direction of danger in a collapsing building.
In the States we have a weird hybrid of a Stahlhelm and some of the older traditional features of the American helmet design.
The front, most notably, has a flat placard for a department badge or rank insignia. The sides extend further to the face but the basic shape for the crown is very similar to the Stahlhelm.
For quite a few firemen (at least through the 80s) used to mount a high powered headlamp over the front. It doesn't really help visibility as your putting out a fire, ect but after the fire's out or a Mayday or search and rescue, having an extra light to hand is a huge comfort.
My Uncle survived a mayday with his search partner and he credits having that light and the comfort and visibility it gave him for getting them out alive. He ended up having to drag his friend (who had a spinal injury from the midlevel apartment collapsing on him.) To a window where they were pulled out by guys using the truck ladder.
My father was a firefighter in Helsinki during the war and he had one then.
Pieces of glass came out of his body beyond his 85 year birthday.
@@hurri7720 Helsinki got badly bombed by the Soviets both during the winter war and the continuation war. The Soviet chief of strategic bombing bragged to Stalin that he had destroyed Helsinki - fortunately the claim was based on poor intelligence reports.
I'm looking forward to that proposed combat boots special now. It's never wise to neglect what separates you from the ground
German boot + winter = feet gangrenous by frostbite = dead soldiers by infection.
To be fair, the Pickelhaube came from the time of blackpowder and cavalry charges. The spike was to protect the head from saber strikes from above and the shield on the forehead as some protection against the slower bullets.
At least according to the Prussian reenactors I chatted with a while back.
Bundeswehr Paratrooper helmets, at least till 2008, also had no visors and neck guard, and much better chin strap, at least I liked the paratrooper chin strap more, but preferred the design of the infantry helmet. I like the visor. xD
Use the spike to scratch a divot out of the ground to hide in when the French 75s open up.
Helm mit Spitze please! Pickelhaube was never an official term.
@@brittakriep2938 Fair enough! But if this is the only problem with what I've been told, I'll happily go to the Helm mit Spitze instead.
The emblem on the foreheard certainly was not intended to offer protection against bullets. A thin untreated metal emblem isn't going to stop bullets. Not even from something as antiquated as a smoothbore musket. The spike was also not for deflecting sword blows. It was another decoration with the ability to be unscrewed and replaced with plumes and alternate ornaments
@@_kommandant_3055 All sources I have found say that the Spitze was for deflecting saber strikes. So if you have a source with protective tests, please share, I'd like to learn more.
the stalhelm also tied in nicely with the medieval romanticism of the period. It looks close enough to medieval helmets that were popular in Germany and so propaganda could easily make modern German soldiers into idealized knights defending the empire. I have a picture of a statue of St Michael in medieval armor and a stalhelm that was made as a memorial to fallen soldiers in the 1920s
Actually mentioned the Chilean ceremonial Stahlhelm. We actually also have the previous german one with the spike too.
There was also a lot of ethnic connections between the countries; as it is also fun to hear Anglo-Chileans speak as they sound just like they walked out of Downtown Abbey and speak better British English than the British!
Chile's Prussian Military mentioned 🔥🔥🔥
This helmet’s design is timeless. Definitely a well designed and iconic combat helmet.
When the US worked on improving its helmet design immediately after WWI, an early design called the Model 5, which had been a clean sheet design based on combat requirements, so strongly resembled the Stahlhelm that it was rejected as looking way too German.
That makes sense if the US was still looking at Germany as a potential foe in a future war. The last thing you want is your own troops mistaking each other for Germans sneaking through their lines.
and totally wasnt the swiss as their m18 and m18/40 helmets. the fact that theyre identical save for the vent holes is totally incidental. totally.
8:52 that is the terrifying yet cool picture I've ever seen.
There was a recent study on the effectiveness of ww1 helmets and showed that the British Brodie helmets and French Adrian helmets were a bit more effective then many would believe. Even though those helemts were less effective in preventing shrapnel then the German Stahlhelm, in terms of protection from overhead blasts, the Allied helmet design performed well.
More specifically, the tests done on the French Adrian helmet showed that not only did it protected the user from overhead blasts but in comparison to modern helmets, the 100 year old design outperformed today's designs. The study should not be taken as a excuse for modern soldiers to use WW1 helmets but shows that even in the modern age, we are still struggling to give soldiers adequate cranial protection and the lethality of modern war is still prevalent as it was 100 years ago.
They were also much easier and cheaper to make, particularly Brodie helmet which required two step stamping process, while Stahlhelm required around 7 steps iirc.
Also I dont think ww1 helmets would compare favorably to modern kevlar helmets. By NATO stanag standard they are required to be able to stop 9 mm makarov AP ammunition.
@@phunkracy Kevlars were relatively new during the Invasion of Grenada.
A US Army Ranger survived a 7.62x39 bullet. The kevlar stopped it.
@@phunkracy They don't. The test he was talking about was specifically about the effects of shock waves from explosions, not any shrapnel or bullets. Because the adrian helmet had a ridge along its dome that helped it to dissipate shock waves overhead slightly better than modern helmets. It wasn't meant as a great measure of overall helmet effectiveness at all and the differences were pretty slight but dealing with pressure waves from explosions is pretty hard and is still a problem to this day.
the things that let the adrian down were the inferior steel used and the lack of deformation space between the shell and the wearers head.
I'm pretty sure the helmet you have next to you is the Spanish Helmet - Z. Based on the Stalhelm but lighter.
The front metal piece was used to hold the spanish army insignia, while the real stalhelm had it stuck on the sides.
Thus unless its a special german variation that's a spanish Z helmet.
Nah it's a Modelo Z. Also a lot of other mis-information in this video. Very sloppily thrown together.
@@MikeB128 What is the misinformation? Examples?
@@revanofkorriban1505 I will be making my own video addressing them very soon.
i think its a m35 spanish rework. the front liner pins look larger than modello Z ones. not 100% sure as it was hard to see the venthole.
@@thurin84 Yeah it's a 1942/65.
For a couple of decades, the US Army was stuck with the M1 "Steel Pot" helmet - entirely because the various alternatives that were designed "looked too German."
until they did a full 180 and picked the one that is pretty much the German one but more "American"
I wouldn't say we were 'stuck' with it. We thought the Kevlar would save more lives, but the pot had multiple uses. Funny but some of us missed it.
I personally love your channel guys we all appreciate all the efforts you take to make all these videos
Thanks!
The Stahlhelm will likely continue to inspire military equipment for generations for years to come. Great video.
Indy, you're exactly right. At the end you said it best that traditional WW2 documentaries lose out on the small, but critical, details like this. Or even just deep dives into events like Pearl Harbor. Growing up, you learn that the Japanese attacked, we went to war, we island jumped, we dropped the bombs and we won. I never knew that the Japanese were attacking many different locations on the same day as Pearl Harbor. Never before did I ever stop to consider the perspectives of the people who lived on the island during that day. Even looking at battles ongoing. Never once did I learn about how long the battle at Guadalcanal seems to be taking and how ferocious and desperate the fighting is. Never did I even consider the fact the Australians are doing a considerable amount of the fighting as well in the Pacific. And that's just one front!
I so greatly enjoy what yall are doing with this project and support everything yall do. Keep up the great work!
Easily the sleekest looking helmet of all the players in the world wars.
@Fabian Kirchgessner British helmet and uniform look pretty good together though.
the beitidh helmet looks better, but a lot less functional.
It's kinda funny how the US M1 steel helmet almost became more iconic post-war during the Vietnam War, just think of the whole strapping bullets/cigarettes/painting symbols on an M1 helmet vs. the usually more basic look of WWII (although I am aware that some soldiers strapped extra M1 carbine mags in pouches to their helmets).
The East German National Volks Army actually ended up adapting the helmet that Hitler rejected as its helmet during its existence.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s the US military began research to replace their old M1 steel helmets with Kevlar and they found that the stahlhelm shape was the best shape for a helmet and adapted a similar design, which is why the US Kevlar helmet was known as the "Fritz" helmet until the Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) or "Mitch" helmet was adapted in the late 2000s
I just got the original one, which the excavator dug while dredging the pond. Almost 80 years in the water and still looks like a helmet. It has a beautiful hole that one of my great-grandfathers made when he showed the Germans the way back home.
I remember the first Kevlar helmets in the 80's being nicknamed "Fritz" helmets.
Adrien Brody ... the only man in the world who has the same names as two helmets
Well, there might be a "Brody Stahlhelm" out there we don't know about...
Glad to see you back doing the wonderful, informative videos. Keep more of them coming.!!!! Thanks!!
Thank you!
WW1-era versions of the Stahlhelm continued to be worn. I have seen a photo of German troops besieging Warsaw in 1939 wearing them (ironically, so did some Polish troops, especially cavalry) and an American who killed a German officer in Italy in 1943 recalled taking the man's WW1 Stahlhelm as a trophy.
In Diekirch I have seen amazing examples as used by the Luxembourg Freedom Fighters who used to hide away in caves they have a band in the mational colours going from the brim around the helmet. Amazing that Luxembourg had an equivalent to the Polish Home Army!
Interwar Polish firefighters and police had similar helmets.
Army units using them in interwar Poland were mostly of "motorized" cavalry kind or motorbike units.
Polish cavalry never wore Stahlhelm, they wore French WW1 helmets. They were actually known for that, because infantry switched to more modern Polish wz 31 helmet, while cavalry retained the old French design.
@@phunkracy 10th Cavalry Brigade, that one commanded by gen Maczek.
@@PobortzaPl but it wasn't a Cavalry Brigade, it was Motorized Cavalry Brigade, which is in effect motorized infantry brigade equivalent in other countries. They also didn't recieve Stahlhelm until they became motorized.
Fun fact;
The Helmet on Indy’s desk is Spanish as denoted by the tab on the front for attaching badge/crest.
The Hungarian WWII helmets can be identified by a larger tab on the back that was used to hook the helmet onto equipment.
In 1926the Irish Army adopted a helmet based on the 1916 German design but made by Vickers UK as by then Germany was prohibited from exporting military hardware under the Treaty of Versailles.
It was the Stalhelm that inspired the design for modern American psgt helmets used from 1983 to present.
The old M1 steel pots were still around in the late 80's for some units that hadn't updated yet. I wore one and liked it better than the kevlar, solely from a comfort perspective.
The Stahlhelm didn't inpsire it. US research and development just lead to the same conclusion that the Germans did when they did it many years before
I love the specials, I never expect them so they're always a pleasant surprise :) EXCELSIOR!
Absolutely worth talking about. Boots, helmets and gloves have always proven their worth many times over (sadly in blood as often as not, but that's just shows their level of importance) yet are the most underrated element in military history.
I love these special episodes about the equiment. Would love to hear about how and why the US switched form their own Broady style helmat into the M1 style
i do hope they do an episode about it but incase they dont; the main reason for dissatisfaction was the lack of stability on the wearers head, especially when running. the second was the lack of protection to the sides and rear. the stability problem was somewhat addressed with a new liner in the m1917a1, but it was still somewhat unstable.
one of the 1st m1 mockups was made by cutting the sides and rear brims off and welding sides and back pieces similar in shape to the m1. you can see the m1917 lineage when you compare the sweep of the front brims of an m1917 and an m1. they are identical.
another mockup was made by bashford dean of the new york metropolitan museum of art armor department. he hand formed it by hammering a piece of steel into shape.
The History Guy did an episode on just that. ruclips.net/video/UzEgRtBl_lM/видео.html
How it influenced the modern helmet design is a testament to the original. Just think it knocked the venerable US M1 off its block back in the early 80s.
Interestingly, the Irish Defence Forces also wore a version of the Stahlhelm from the late 20's until 1940. It was a version of the model 1917 Stahlhelm with more sloped sides and the insignia of the Irish Defence Forces on the front of the helmet.
Do more simular please, I love these, focusing on the small but important things about the war
Slight typo I noticed - the Stahlhelm (and really all the helmets of the world wars) was around 1mm thick, not 1cm. A steel helmet 1cm thick would be stronger than most modern rifle plates, and absurdly heavy!
Sorry for being that guy, and I also want to say that I love the video and what you guys do!
(For anyone interested in the helmets of these periods, check out "Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare" by Dr. Bashford Dean, published in the interwar era and now freely available online.)
There is a lot of mis-info in this particular video. IMO very sloppily thrown together.
I thoroughly enjoy episodes like this! Going into the (sometimes) unknown details of famous pieces of equipment and weaponry is so fascinating!
You could argue that if Germany would win loose the war depending on a small amount of saved material on a helmet, they were probably in it over their head anyway.
Cost cutting measures like that were common on all sides tbh. The logic behind it is less “this one helmet might make the difference” and more about making as many implements of war as possible.
Even in the modern US military, which has an immense defense budget, equipment is usually made by the lowest bidder.
you _could_ argue that, but then what did those savings in steel translate into regarding liters of petrol? Some amount would correlate, becasue less manufacturing steps equals less needed to produce overall- including less fuel to bring ore to a mill. But to say even a surfeit of material would have _won_ the war for Germany is a thing you'd have a hard time proving. It would assume that excess material would be used just where and when needed to provide an advantage, and that is purely hindsight.
I never knew something as trivial as the development of a helmet could be so interesting. Thank you Indy and team! I always did like the design of the German WW2 helmet, never knew the name until now.
The Egyptian army had them postwar for years. And the Kelvar helmet looks damn similar. Despite its image, you can't beat the stahlhelm's good design.
YOOOOOO WHAT? WHEN did Indy start doing THIS series???? HOLY SMOKES. This just made my day.
Welcome to the series!
The helmet that inspired pretty much all the modern helmets
BRILLIANT…
Just love Indy’s finger point to the side with no sign of an episode link…
BUT WAIT! It's really there! :D
Finland used plenty of different stahlhelm variants (all they could get their hands on) in WW2, most of which were WW1 era ones. As a result in Finland the helmet was generally known as sarvikypärä, the horn helmet, referring to the ventilation stubs of the WW1 variants.
Yeah, looking at an article about the use of steel helmets in Finnish use... Finland had access to all kinds of helmets at the end of the WW II. A set of around 15 000 steel helmets, both war surplus and captured helmets were bought from France in 1919. This included French m/15, and German m/16, m/17 & m/18 - also Russian helmets were tested. Stahlhelm was the performing best in the tests and in 1920 that helmet type was chosen. More were purchased later on though the ban of German exports hindered the matter. By late 1920s there were only really just Stahlhelms in the Finnish stock with French and Russian helmets being given to fire brigades or sold otherwise.
Finns kind of missed the boat a bit on the acquisitions had therefore had pretty much just old WW I era German helmets in the Winter War. However purchasing more became a priority (in fact it was already in 1939 but that was a bit too late). Before the Operation Barbarossa started Finland had acquired a collection of helmets, ~ 70 000 x WW I era German helmets, ~ 75 000 Hungarian m/35, ~ 30 000 Italian m/33, ~ 50 000 Czech m/34. Additionally there were about 10 000 steel helmets classified as 'other' (so assorted collection of bits, including British, Swedish m/21 and so on). Later on Finland also started its own production of Stahlhelm derivative called m/40 (around 75 000 were made). And bought new German (m/35-40, m/35-42), Swedish (m/37) helmets (among others...) during the war. Also captured Soviet helmets were used, some even by front-line troops (incl. to some of the units of the Finnish Armored Division).
Worth noting that not all of those were Stahlhelms or looked anything like Stahlhelms. There was plenty of variety. After the war army got rid of the excess variety of helmets but the Stahlhelm derivates stayed in use until 1960s. Last Stahlhelms varieties were reportedly removed from army stocks in 2000s (but had not really been used for several decades at that point).
Another Saturday morning where nothing productive was done at my house because I had to check out this video on the stalhelm. Thanks for enabling procrastinators everywhere. The combat boot video was pretty good too. Maybe I can salvage the afternoon.
Talking about the Stahlhelm, Adrian Helmet it seemed the Indy of Great War Channel has returned.
Indy and the team you have done a great work on the Great War and Now WW2 it has been nothing less than excellent .
Thank you for the great coverage of the wars.
The Great War or the First Bloody Catastrophe.
@@hurri7720 The war was a Disaster and set the stage for nearly 70 year's of misery in Europe ..by paving the way for Hitler and USSR and we all know how that went...but the chronological coverage of the war by the Team was commendable.
@@rathinmajumder441 , As for the Team I agree and I wouldn't be here if not, but still I feel we should more often try to understand the horrific reality of it all. The damned thing is that we started to write history based on wars and still most of history is not, and most of the important things in any history happened during the immensely dull times of peace.
And I must admit I hade to save these sentences by a British politician many years ago, Nick Clegg because there is a lot to that text, and no I am not German.
In my opinion all you need to know about Brexit is also included there,
" all nations have a cross to bear, and none more so than Germany with its memories of Nazism. But the British cross is more insidious still. A misplaced sense of superiority, sustained by delusions of grandeur and a tenacious obsession with the last war, is much harder to shake off".
@@hurri7720 I agree the times of Peace aren't covered in history books well even if they are important to understand the effects of the War ...which has been written in countless records... Taking the example of the former lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire..all the past glories and the failure's of the Empire have been played up in history books and portray it as a prison of Nations and showed the Empire as destined to Collapse..but very few point out that before the War started Emperor Franz Josef reform's of handing power to local government to govern the particular areas did end up quelling most of the Unrest in the Empire.. but it mostly simplified in history books has when "Emperor Franz Josef opened his arms to the people of the East with the Motto Viribus Unitis ..the people of the Empire accepted it as there father figure giving him credit for Saving the Empire"
And after the war what horrors people had to endure during Nazi Germany and being satelite states of the USSR were being played up..to portray them as evil and barbaric...not pointing out that that blockade by the western powers and war brought misery to the people in unimaginable ways during the war..which led to figures such as 1 in 50 citizens of the Habsburg Empire was killed during the War..they seem to forget that..I have a personal grudge so my wording may be harsh and I am sorry to the readers..by being the grandson of an Austro-Hungarian Officer and hearing the stories from my grandfather about that Ancient Empire i just think why was that Great Empire dissolved which was closest to a democracy in the world of 20th century (even the Jews had official recognition in the Empire as citizens ,else where they were looked down upon in Europe).. Although our family is indebted to Archduke's Joseph for saving my grandfather from a certain death,he posted him to Prague Castle even though he was 19 years old and didn't have any physical disabilities(probably our family noble connection's helped )
@@hurri7720 Check out their Between Two Wars series on the Time Ghost channel, they cover that "time of peace" between the catastrophes, if you haven't already
I've always loved how the shape inspired the Darth Vader helmet
Interesting video. I've also been noticing that the modern Military helmets from all over the world have the Stahlhelm shape too. But it's made out of composite materials instead of steel.
I'm looking forward to that 2 hour documentary on the Stahlhelm, Mr. Spartacus!
Definietly one of the most iconic pices of equpment from WW2. And for good reasons. Most modern military helmet desings are in esence Stahlhelm, just made of better materials.
"we must look back to the great war".
My nostalgia just exploded 🥺
Just a aditional info for what you said about it's usage after the war, Indy. The east german army, the NVA, didn't used it as it, as you said, resembles german militarism. Because of that, according to Doctor Felton on his video about the NVA, the DDR didn't wanted to offend the soviets but choose to wear a helmet prototype that was developed for the Wehrmarcht (i think around 43 or 44) but never saw service. And since it was never adopted by the germans during the war, it was perfect, since East Germany alredy had a helmet, and wouldn't offend the soviets neither the other countries of the Eastern Bloc.
I wondered if that was what he meant by a "single sloped style helmet." It rang a bell in my head and I thought "Hey, that sounds like it would look like the East German helmet."
A damn good looking helmet
The Polish regular army also used these helmets at the beginning of the war, specifically the elite 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade commanded by Gen. Stanisław Maczek. They also had black leather coats (hence their nickname "The Black Brigade"), which gave them a unique and really cool look but also made them easy to confuse for Germans, especially on the black and white photographs. Seriously, just google the name of the unit and you'll see for yourselves.
I believe that the same was the case for the Warsaw Armoured Motorized Brigade, commanded by Gen. Stefan Rowecki, which was still being formed on the 1st of September 1939.
Also during the Warsaw Uprising, many resistance fighters used captured helmets and painted them in the Polish flag colors.
Soldiers wearing all black uniforms with black stahlhelm-style helmets? Now I know where did George Lucas get the inspiration for Darth Vader... :D (Just kidding, soldiers of Poland are of course second to none, as Sabaton would say... Cheers fron Slovenia!)
@@BHuang92 Yes, but that was mentioned in the video
@@gardreropa The helmets were actually painted khaki green (that's why I specifically mentioned the black and white photographs) but it's close. :)
@@BHuang92 Also, speaking of the Warsaw Uprising, I think that the thumbnail of this video is based on a Polish propaganda poster from the Uprising, reminding the Home Army soldiers to use their extremely scarce ammunition well, with the line "Each bullet, one German".
One thing I like about some WW2 games is that with Tiger 1 or Panzer 4 cosmetics, you could have a stalhelm attached to the side, or a whole “necklace” of stalhelm going from one end of the tanks side to the other. I don’t know how accurate it is for tanks to have these helmets hanging off these vehicles, but it gives this feeling that the tank is still holding on to the spirit of fallen German soldiers by saving their helmets, like how a hat holder holds onto bowler hats
I don´t know very much about how effective or good this helmet really was (thx to Indy for enlightened me here) but one thing was clear to me (and many others) before - it was surely the most stylish helmet in war history perhaps aside the ancient greek corinthian helmets....... wonder how the stormtroopers would look like today without this stahlhelm inspirition..... :D ;)
I have a NOS East German Helmet, it's very comfy and has a ringing sound like a bell when tapped just right XD
I have a Stalhelm and a device that looks to me like a bayonet, but without obvious attachment mechanisms (any help?) That my Great Grandfather took from a fallen man during the Eastern Campaign. My grandfather didn't really know what to tell me other than that it was from an engagement East of Berlin. They are very cool and my prized possessions.
got any videos of them?
Love to hear about some lesser-talked about topics of the war. Keep the great content coming!
Fun fact: Sweden and Chile both still perform Prussian-styled military parades because their militaries were both trained by the Prussians at some point in history. It's a shame they aren't practiced in Germany itself but I can easily imagine why.
Chile on top
Excellent video as always! Thanks to all involved in these highly informative and well produced history lessons.
3:37
Ah yes. The famos *1 Centimetre* thick Stahlhelm. Only weighs 1kg, forged from Hitlerium by Krupp himself.
There were tanks in the 1930's with thinner armor...
I'm pretty sure you guys meant *1 Millimetre*
Yeah this video was extremely sloppy.
Very nice video, Indy. A few notes about your mentioning of the First World War iterations:
The M16 Square Dip was the first batch produced, called that due to the square dip of the visor compared to later models. The M17 had both improved chinstraps and a new metal liner band instead of the older leather bands. The M18 you show is its own variant, commonly referred to as an “M18 ECO”, the M18 was very similar to previous models but removed the chinstrap lugs and connected the chinstrap to the liner itself. The M18 ECO you show is actually a very badly produced fake, the ECO was only produced in size 64 with the stepped ventilation lugs, and are much more iconic with the design. Thanks for another great video! Cheers!
I love the addition of what other nations used the stahlhelm. While looking into my Adrian M1926 to see if they fit into the Polish army during WWII I found out that Poland also use the stahlhelm. They seemed to have used the 1916 model for at least one Mechanized unit at the start of the war.. Then the Polish Home Army used any stahlhelm they could get plus they would paint or cover them in cloth with the Polish flag colors to distinguish them from German troops.
Indy Niedell! I missed you, I was sad to see you move on after The Great War series. I just wanted to say I love your style of reporting. You are a timeless person, if I had to go back in time, I'd bring you to help me fit in! Anywhoodles, I love your work and I made sure to hit the bell button again.
I noticed when mentioning the cheaper alternative Hilter said no to, there were no images shown. Where did you find that info? I'd like to see if I do some research into it. I could find one or try to draw it out from description.
The shape of the Helmet saved my Life in Afghanistan 2005. Deflected an 12,7x108mm Bullet, shot from over 800m just enought to slit a big Canyon into the Left Front and Side of the Helmet, but exit it to the left, instead of my Head. Knocked me out for some Minutes, K.O. But still alive! - German Veteran
Jeez.. Dushka?
@@rasmusalmqvist5960 KSWK. (KSVK in English)
Thats the (burned) Rifle we found after an US-Apache wasted the Rebels that shot as us.
Such an odd topic for such engaging content. You guys do amazing work.
11:50 The researching for a new shape of the Stahlhelm continued in DDR, Eastern Germany. The M56 helmet is somewhat like the upgrade of the Stahlhelm plus Soviet SSh-40 :)
it was based on the design hitler rejected the thale BII.
Though shrapnel came to refer to any shell fragment, it originally referred to a specific type of shell: a cylinder filled with large lead balls that would be set off by a timed fuse after flying a preset distance. When the fuse went off, it would blow the balls out of the front of the cylinder like a giant shotgun. They used a lot of these during WW1, so that is probably what Lt. Schultz was talking about when he said "shrapnel bullet".
Basically like a big claymore.
The current American helmet resembles the Stahlhelm enough that it's affectionately known as the "Fritz" helmet.
Believe or not it looks like a middle ages helm.
@@trythinking6676 yeah, I can see that.
3:38 "Each Stahlhelm Modell 1916 is just over a centimeter thick"- methinks not.
Fun fact; when steel helmets were introduced, those balking at the cost were quick to point out that wounded casualties quadrupled and that this proved those new fangled contraptions did not work.
The thing is, that the number of dead by shrapnel was even greater than that of the increase in wounded. 😅
So yeah, statistics in isolation are useless, it's the context that counts.
A lot of modern right wing people who like to quote statistics about immigrants and PoC need to study this and understand that statistics can be manipulated to suit any beliefs.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention though, I have another historical fact to look into now to distract me from work and my master's 🤣😩🤌🤌
Similar thing was the survivor bias on ww2 bombers, they only saw the holes on the planes that managed to make it back
Hi Indy
Never before heard about stahlhelm..
Interesting details..
Thanks..
Would be great at least another small episode on other countries. Even if it includes various helmets in the same video at the cost of lighter explaining, i would still find it pretty interesting.
Thank you for an interesting and informative video. And yes, I really enjoy learning about all the different things that go into the "kit" of a soldier, sailor, airman of all the warring nations.
Here from Mike B's channel.
Well done. Was good to see you in action again as I was an avid watcher of The Great War series. Personally own the 1917 Hungarian, the Sthalhelm of 1942, the Finish, the Luftshultz, the early war Afrika Korp light tan Sun
Helmet and the second edition of the NSKK leather motorcycle helmet. Looking to add more.
As I understand, the production process for the stahlhelm especially in WW2, was so much more complex than something like the brodie, that it took away quite a bit of needed manpower and was not really simplified even as the germans started to really have problems with that. The same with the entire german WW2 uniform, being designed more to look good on parade than to necessarily be a good field uniform, with lots of fiddly stuff like tailored pockets and decorative touches that again, the germans really could not afford to produce as the war wore on.
I get your point. I would only argue, that it was expected from german soldiers to visit and pay tailors privately to make some adjustments, in order to have the unifom fit perfect or even make it more pompous for special occasions like parades. I mean.. that took some pressure off the germany industry.
@@Nauke90 Was it really? I'd understand something like an off-duty uniform like what the americans had, but in the field you're expected to constantly get fresh uniforms since they're expendable equipement.
Adolf Hitler believed smart-looking uniforms would bolster morale. To be fair, that may well be true, and considering morale wins wars, perhaps it was a fair sacrifice of function.
It didn't help that there were multiple helmet sizes with each helmet shell size covering two hat sizes. Compare that to the universal British and American helmet shell sizing. It's not a huge production issue but the logistics of getting everyone the right sized helmet is a drain on resources just for an aesthetic effect.
At the very last stages of the war the Germans basically copied British battledress, as it was much more economical and practical. It wasn't as 'smart' (hence WW2 British troops often just look a little 'scruffier' compared to other nations when both are spruced up) but it had been designed from the get go with production and ergonomics in mind.
Love this informative video. The design of the Fallschirmjägerhelm (8:20) wasn't concerned merely with the German paratroopers landing - but rather - problems encountered on exit from the aircraft. You have men jumping into a fast slipstream caused by the aircraft's speed (+/- 200 MPH - almost stalling speed albeit strangulation for some unfortunates). The helmet for the German paratroopers was designed to combat this and an almost identical design was also adopted for British Paras - (look at British Paras - and you will recognise the similiarity) they needed a more stream-lined helmet with a re-designed chinstrap to counteract the force of nearly having your head pulled off!
Plus Tip: Spain in the 20’s or 30’s adopted a variation of the M1918 helmet. It was lighter and more confortable. It even had a version without the front visor for motorcycles troops. But it had worst ballistics than the M1935 because of its more “vertical” shape and thiner steel. Both the socialist and the fascist used it during the war and saw use until the 80’s.
Its a Spanish one on Indys Desk there. It has the distinct front bracket for adding the Spanish symbol they put on during parade.
@@RedDragon052 thanks! I hadnt notice it
Those helmets were called "Trubia M21 and M26"
@@Almirante1741 gracias almirante
@@sergiom9958 Pensé en decírtelo en español, pero al ser Sergio también un nombre italiano... 😂😂😂
Thank you for adding cm/in on screen. Wish more channels did this! Merry Christmas.
Great video, however is it just me or does the audio seem to be slightly out of sync?
Cant seem to notice it myself, atleast not around halfway through when i payed attention as i saw this comment
These kind of videos are why I joined the time ghost army. Thank you!
The German helmet was also superior (but far more costly) than others' because it was forged into shape as opposed to French/British and American versions that were pressed. Pressing resulted in a thinning of the material at the top of the finished product.
M35 helmet was indeed press-formed, in several stages, using sheets of molybdenum steel. But later, starting with August 1942, the M42 variant entered mass-production, and the older process of press-forming the shell, in combination with oven-heated tempering, had been replaced by hot-stamping - a faster and more
efficient method. Many M42 helmets show signs of rapid hot-stamping: rippled stress marks in areas where the steel is shaped to form rounded corners.
It wasnt until the end that I realised I had watched 14min youtube video about a hat but that is 100% credit to you for making such a quality video
A helmet is not a hat.