The nature of trench warfare was pretty medieval-elaborate static defences, hand to hand fighting, the re-emergence of body armour etc could also be the helmet was some sort of early riot gear for civil unrest-there was a lot of that both during and after the war but again the mesh is pretty wide for stopping stones or bricks etc.
Early form of Riot protection was considered.. Though I've never seen a period pic of any special types of gear used.....the period after the war and the civil unrest in Germany, they seem to just be wearing typical uniforms and head gear
Would also have expected such a thing to be in better condition if it wasn't being used at or near the frontline.
It's shame I have no other info than just this one photo, would be nice to know where it was found at least
Something else to consider....could this be a Turkish lid? The missing lip at the front of the helmet may indicate Turkish rather than german
Could be......
Your man on that one would be ukturkcollector on Pickelhaubes.Com
cheers
|<ris
My gut feeling is still a theatre made frame for a hessian cover or the like (snipers face cover) which a gas mask could be worn under. If I was sitting in no man's land and a gas attack took place I would not like moving around trying to get my mask on so giving my hide away. If I went out with my mask on under a cover to break up it's outline then I could sit through the gas attack with-out movement. Only speculation but. I feel it's a one off piece as it appears to have been made from what ever was available.
It's an interesting item for sure Tony.
Maybe it's not something that was made during the war for protection, but maybe it was constructed after the war. Right after the war, a lot of helmets were just floating arround and a lot of people saw some other use for them. They were used as feeding bucket for the animals, they were put on top of scarecrows, they were used to get menour out of the pit, they were used as flower pots and so on...
Here's a composed picture of IMAGINE SHE WANTS...
Just my two cents of course...
Adler
That's not beyond the realm of possibility.....I really thought you'd found the "missing" photos mate.....well done
What if it is the remains of an rat protection? Sounds weird i know. But the rat problem was so high in the trenches some soldiers made homemade rat protection to avoid getting bit by those those disease spreaders.
There exists photos of ww1 rat protection inventions, i saw some examples in a ww1 docu some time ago.
Similar Threads
Posting Permissions
.
Bookmarks