The first Danish post-war helmet, the M46. The shell was manufactured by Glud & Marstrand with a British MKII/MKIII liner glued into the crown of the helmet and with khaki US chinstraps sewn on.
It was only used for a very brief period of time until it was replaced by the M48 in 1949.
Allegedly all M46 helmets should then have been handed over to the Danish Navy but I haven't been able to find any proof of that. Under any circumstance, almost all M46 helmets ended up with the civil defense in 1960-1961 where they were given a glossy grey finish and a plastic civil defense liner fitted with rivets through the shell. I often see these helmets being confused as being the Navy version.
Very few M46 helmets seem to have survived in their original configuration, while the civil defense version is still very easy to obtain.
The M46 - Note the Danish size indication in the liner. There is no manufacturer mark to be found on the liner bands in either of my two M46 helmets, but in one of them the British size marking is still visible - making it clear that these are British produced liners and not local made copies.
The M46 is often said to be inspired by the Swedish M37 (left) but it has a much larger shell and is perhaps even more similar to the US M1 (right)
Comparison between civil defense and original M46
The liner in the civil defense version. Note the red CF stamp in the crown of the helmet (Civilforsvaret = civil defense). Oddly enough these helmets were date stamped - Not a procedure I have seen on any other Danish helmet before or after this one.
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