Target practice Helmet?

**Tom Bennett** · 02-10-2009, 10:19 AM

I found this one on a relic site too. Ive never seen a more bullet holed relic shell in all my time collecting.If it was being worn at the time i would not want to see the condition of the soldier who was wearing it

Tom

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 02-10-2009 10:19 AM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Adrian Stevenson** · 02-10-2009, 12:44 PM

Hi Tom, this is one of mine, kindly given to me by forum member "Ostmark" when I visited him last year. He found this locally to him.

Cheers, Ade.

**Tom Bennett** · 02-10-2009, 01:32 PM

Wow Ade!
That's some damage on that one.I thought i had the worst one in the pic but i think your's has topped it buy a long shot

Cheer's mate

**donnie** · 02-10-2009, 05:19 PM

Ade,

Yours looks like it taken a hit from a Mortar!....really nice helmets...

Donnie

**pjm** · 02-10-2009, 05:43 PM

After the fall of the Berlin Wall the museum on Unter der Linden had a exhibtion of German History that included a display of Kaise Wilhelm II uniforms and swords from the House Doorn collection as welll as a colelction of WW1 Imperial headgear - all of the helmets, Pickelhauben, Tschakos, and Tschapkas etc etc were battle damaged. It was quite an impressive statement.

Seeing a fine quality Saxon Officer's Pickelhaube with a bullet hole through the front plate made the intended impact of contrasting the reality of war with the pride, pomp and bravado of fancy accoutrements.

**Paul D** · 02-10-2009, 06:04 PM

Both lids look like theyv'e taken some heavy shrapnel damage , the power of Artillery !!

Kursk · 02-27-2009, 04:24 PM

I have seen this in the Balkans with modern artillery, mortars etc..if you are 5 feet and a half and up, when the burst strikes in front of you, or at your feet, the shrapnel is thrown up and out, and takes no care in its path..the shrapnel is thrown up through the bottom of your head and out the crown..artillery is devastating..

On Adrian's lid, the fellow looks to have been in the prone position, due to the east/ west nature of the peeled back metal, and was quite close to the point of impact, as witnessed by the stress crack, a feature found only on near direct hits..

**bikerboyzx6r** · 02-27-2009, 04:33 PM

Yes... Kursk is spot on... remember seeing a RAF demo that my dad brought home about explosives and this was exactly the type of damaged it showed... The carbonfibre modern helmet they also used was like confetti after!

**SteveR** · 02-27-2009, 09:01 PM

If the helmets were being worn at the time of damage there wouldn't have been any head left. Just little bits and pieces.

Kursk · 02-27-2009, 09:32 PM

Yes..too true..

I remember as a kid looking at an old M1916 brought back after the great war by a neighbour of ours..it still had a large clump of dried, dessicated material and blond hair in the top, about the size of a silver dollar..soldiers taking helmets off of corpses for souvenirs must have had a few shocks in what came with them..