My pre-WW2 Polish wz.31

[Gary J]

The pre-war Polish LOPP (Air Defence league) were also issued with WZ31's.
.. I have seen examples of these in a lightish Blue colour - Non salamander smooth finish.

G.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Yes, you are correct Gary. More often than not the LOPP used the wz.28 and wz.35 pattern helmet. I own one of these wz.35's and will post pics later (at the moment I am writing this from work ).

Incidentally, the wz.31’s issued for LOPP service were actually production line “rejects” that did not meet stringent inspection standards. Those that were deemed combat ready were fitted with a brass control rivet on the rear of the helmet (the upper one) stamped with the familiar Polish military inspection mark (letter and number within an oval). Going from memory, the ‘rejects’ had a regular steel rivet put here of the same type as other ones retaining the liner.

T.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

As promised, pics of my wz.35 OPL / LOPP paramilitary helmet. Also included is a pic from 1937 showing OPL personnel wearing what is claimed to be a wz.28 although looks suspiciously like the wz.31.

Regards,
Tony

[Dimas]

Very nice helmets. The part of wz 31 was sold to the Estonia in the late of 1939, and then was reissued by Red Army in the first days of the war with other Estonian helmets ( Ex-Polish experimental Swedish type M 37 helmet- all bunch was sold to Estonia, mixed with about 5 % wz 31's)
The M40 helmet has the same as wz31 chinstrap, but unfortunately both of my helmets with missed chinstraps https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/world...elmet-m40.html

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hello Dimas,

Thank you for shedding some light on the fate of some of the captured wz.31’s. very interesting. Thanks also for the link to the M40. Had to chuckle over the M40 demoted . . .er. . . converted for lavatory service. Oh those resourceful Estonians!

Cheers,
Tony

[Caseydiggz]

Great helmet, the "salamander" is my personal favorite type of helmet. I'm interested in helmets from the countries you don't hear about: Poland, Portugal, Spain, Peru, etc.

[magicdutchmen]

Very nice topic gent's
Never seen any Polish headgear, so I am glad you shared your fine lids!

[Bernhard]

Hi fellow collectors ,

Very informative thread about the WZ31 helmet.
Maybe you are interrested in my three WZ s.

First helmet is a WZ 31 in it`s original Polish Army configuration.
It is a LUDVIKOW 37 marked helmet.
As you can see this helmet has considerable battle damage.
I think , however , that it has not been worn by a soldier when it was hit.



This helmet was found on a flea market here in Austria and I think that it was a souvenier that was brought home after the polish campaign.

It is named too.

Here are some pics for your information.

[Bernhard]

My second WZ31 is a Luftschutz variant with
the black-blue paint applied over the original salamandra
finish.
As you can see from the liner shots it has been spray painted in a very
sloppy way as parts of the liner and the chinstrap got covered with
paint too.

Here are some pics :

[Bernhard]

Here finally the third WZ31 of my collection.
This time we have a helmet that has its salamandra finish
removed (Chemically?) and a lighter shade of Luftschutz paint
applied.
This one also got a LS decal on the front.
On the inside of the helm there are traces of the paint remover that was
used on the outside of the shell.

Here are some pics for your information ;