Tag Archives: infantry

French M15 Engineer*

General Information: There were eight statutory badges authorized for use by different branches of the French armed forces in the First World War. The badge with a breast plate and helmet was for engineers (“genie”). (See French Model 1915) Displayed Example: I purchased this helmet this helmet in 2007 from Le Beret Vert in France.Continue reading “French M15 Engineer*”

Slovakian vz.32*

General Information: The Nazi puppet state of Slovakia was the first ally of Germany in the Second World War. It participated in the invasion of Poland and absorbed Polish territories into Slovakia’s newly formed state. The Slovakian army was equipped with vz.32 helmets from the former Czechoslovakian republic. The Slovakian helmets were the same asContinue reading “Slovakian vz.32*”

Romanian M15*

General Information: In late 1916 the Romanians ordered 200,000 Model 1915 helmets from the French, but only 90,000 were delivered. The helmets were painted blue and had the cipher of King Ferdinand I. The cipher consisted of a crown on top of two “Fs” placed back-to-back with a Roman numeral “I” in the middle.  InContinue reading “Romanian M15*”

Romanian M39*

General Information: In September 1938 the Romanians signed a contract with the Dutch company Verblifa (Vereenigde Blikfabrieken[1]) to produce helmets for their armed forces.[2] The helmet was an exact copy of the Dutch Model 1934 but for the badge which was egg shaped rather than oval shaped like the badge used in the Netherlands. TheContinue reading “Romanian M39*”

Finnish/Hungarian M38*

Historical Background: On the 30th of November 1939 Russia invaded Finland. Part of the Russian rationale for the invasion was that Finland had been part of Russia before the disintegration of the Russian empire, and by rights should be part the Imperial Russia’s successor, the Soviet Union. An ostensible aim of Russian aggression was toContinue reading “Finnish/Hungarian M38*”

German M42*

General Information: In August of 1942 the German Army High Command announced that the inward crimping of the helmet rim was to be abandoned.[1] This presumedly was done to eliminate a step in the manufacturing process in order to increase efficiency and reduce cost. The helmets produced following this order are referred to by collectorsContinue reading “German M42*”

British MKIII*

General Information: The British Mark III was designed to address deficiencies of its predecessor, the Mark II, which was basically the same helmet used in the First World War. That helmet had been effective in preventing injuries in trench warfare conditions where shrapnel falling from above was the main hazard. From the earliest stages ofContinue reading “British MKIII*”

Belgian M15*

General Information: Starting in November of 1915 the French supplied the Belgians with brown painted Model 1915 helmets.[1] These had lion head badges attached to the front. Unlike the French armed forces, which used helmets with different badges to represent distinct service branches, the Belgians had only one badge. According to one source, the BelgiansContinue reading “Belgian M15*”