Description
This iconic M1942 German Stahlhelm was found near Colmar in France, a place known for the battle of Colmar Pocket. (20 jan. – 9 feb. 1945). It has still some original colour present. You can clearly see the schrapnel damage on the right side of the helmet. Unfortunately after all those years the interior rotted away. There is still one split pin present that was found with the helmet. It was fixed by welding it to another piece of metal that you can only see from the inside. (See photos, done by local who found the helmet.)
Beautiful helmet with a lot of history. This German Stahlhelm is a must have helmet if you collect WW2!
Extra
The Stahlhelm was developed in 1915 by Dr. Friedrich Schwerd as a response to the World War I French distribution of Adrian helmets which were far better than any other deployed on the battlefield at the time because they were the first to be constructed out of steel. The helmet quickly caught on with German troops and was adopted as the standard helmet for the armed forces and even police forces. The helmet design stayed and was then adopted again in World War II where it was modified (M35, 40, 42) and produced throughout the war. The Stahlhelm was designed to resemble the sallet helmet, a type of war helmet worn by German, Italian, Hungary, and a few other northern and western European countries during the 15th century.
Source: Tubbs. R. Floyd and Clawon, Robert. Stahlhelm: Evolution of the German Steel Helmet. Kent State University Press (2000)