Sniper kill shot german relic helmet - from my collection

[LeonardoL]

Why does everyone think if they have a helmet with a bullet hole that its a sniper bullet hole?

[James C]

welcome to the forum johnny ,a nice relic you have there ,the decal is in a good condition , as the other members have said its really hard to determine exactly what has happened ,but my thoughts are the bullet entering at low level in an upward motion exiting through the rear crown area ,perhaps the helmet was on its side at maybe a 45 degree angle so allowing for the gap for the liner it might not of killed the wearer ,like i say just my 2 cents ,thanks for sharing and best regards james

[Adrian]

Why does everyone think if they have a helmet with a bullet hole that its a sniper bullet hole?

Why does everyone think a sniper will only aim for the head?

I think that only happens in Hollywood............

[Scout]

Why does everyone think a sniper will only aim for the head?

I think that only happens in Hollywood............

Center mass is the way ahead (no pun intended).

[JohnyWoo]

welcome to the forum johnny ,a nice relic you have there ,the decal is in a good condition , as the other members have said its really hard to determine exactly what has happened ,but my thoughts are the bullet entering at low level in an upward motion exiting through the rear crown area ,perhaps the helmet was on its side at maybe a 45 degree angle so allowing for the gap for the liner it might not of killed the wearer ,like i say just my 2 cents ,thanks for sharing and best regards james

Thanks for the warm welcome, this forum is amazing. I'm just happy that the decal is visible after so many years in the dirt.
As to hollywood remarks, I guess my imagination took over since I'm picturing that German to be shot by Vasilij Zajcev……… HA!

[LizardKing]

Hello and welcome onboard! You have a nice helmet but i see a lot of bullet damaged helmets or sniper kill helmets with only one hole... That makes me think, where is the other one? If a bullet strikes it makes two holes! It is possible for a sniper shot that came from a higher ground but i've seen pretty few helmets with two holes... Was it a regulation to kill germans only from higher points where the bullets leaves only one hole?

In your helmet's story the hole doesn't look to have a vertical direction but a parallel one, like the bullet came from the left and a bit back of the german not from upwards! In that case what caused that damage was caused by a small diameter weapon or from a very long shot and the poor fellow's head stopped the bullet!

[JohnyWoo]

Hello and welcome onboard! You have a nice helmet but i see a lot of bullet damaged helmets or sniper kill helmets with only one hole... That makes me think, where is the other one? If a bullet strikes it makes two holes! It is possible for a sniper shot that came from a higher ground but i've seen pretty few helmets with two holes... Was it a regulation to kill germans only from higher points where the bullets leaves only one hole?

In your helmet's story the hole doesn't look to have a vertical direction but a parallel one, like the bullet came from the left and a bit back of the german not from upwards! In that case what caused that damage was caused by a small diameter weapon or from a very long shot and the poor fellow's head stopped the bullet!

Interesting, maybe Vasilij Zajcev used hand gun that day HA !

[Paul D]

As i've pointed out may times before , helmets lost or abandonded on the Battlefield were used for target practice, zeroing of weapons or were hit by shrapnel , etc etc as they provided the perfect target for these activities !!

[JohnyWoo]

I decided to clean the helmet with warm water and sponge, followed by drying and oiling. To my surprise I was able to uncover serial numbers..........

E64 , 256