polish wz 50

[James C]

my latest warsaw pact pickup the polish wz50 very much in the style of the soviet ssh 39 this example is dated 1960 the liner looks in the style of the italian m33 enjoy james

[Gunny Hartmann]

I know Warsaw pact helmets mostly look the same, but the small differences are interesting. Nice helmet!...

[Greg Pickersgill]

Quite right; people routinely, foolishly, dismiss the post-WW2 Warsaw Pact helmets as all being the same, or even worse, try to pass them off as 'Russian', but if one puts together a Czech vz53, the Polish wz50, and the Hungarian M50, along with a Russian M40 then the differences are clear and distinct. Even the Romanian M40 has its own characteristics, and the Bulgar M51 is another thing altogether by comparison.

On my own comparisons I have found that apart from the general fittings of the helmets I believe that even the shells are of different form and proportions, although obviously from the same original idea. I'm a touch doubtful of that because I have not been able to compare known same-size helmets and worry about whether some of my findings are false because of simple size difference. Always so much to find out.

[James C]

hi greg and thanks for your thoughts , i really like this polish wz50 i think its the closest to the original soviet design of all the pact countries, to the untrained eye this is a ssh39 more so than the czech vz53 who's lines are more subtle only the forward mounted liner rivits give the game away ,its a shame we dont see more of these available all in all not a bad lid for 52 years old cheers james

[hellschickie]

Looks very much like the one I have James, but the color is different and it doesn't have the stamp inside the helmet and the color is different too other than that they look so much like each other

Cheerszzz

[battle gear]

I like the Polish M50 because it was also used a lot in the middle east like in the Arab - Israeli Wars and also during the Iran - Iraq war and the Gulf War 1991 , Iraq 2003

Ive seen several battle field pick ups that were Polish M50's, it has a long combat history, also used in the Vietnam war

[Gunny Hartmann]

Great to collect as they're still pretty cheap!...

[James C]

thanks for the information battle gear i didnt realise also used in vietnam ,im going to have to do some researchit all sounds very interesting

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Congrats on your new pick up. Looks to be a nice original complete piece.

Cheers,
Tony

[battle gear]

thanks for the information battle gear i didnt realise also used in vietnam ,im going to have to do some researchit all sounds very interesting

3 NVA Steel Helmets (Battle Damaged) - Wehrmacht-Awards.com Militaria Forums

here are some battle damaged NVA helmets from the Vietnam War, including the Polish Wz50 helmet

I read in a book called Weapons & Field Gear of the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong that

steel helmets imported primarily from Poland, but also from Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Russia, were mostly used by self defense forces, anti-aircraft and artillery crews and truck drivers