The 1st one looks Danish to me (Pic's 1-5)?? And the 2nd & 3rd are Italian M33's. The 2nd (6&7 maybe 8)look like it might have been used in the Spanish civil war but missing the eagle attachment . I'll leave that last one to the experts here.( Roberto ) He is Da Man in my book!
Semper Fi
Phil
Hi rundymc,
these are three Italian M33 helmets of late 30s.
The helmet in photo 1-5, is the notorious variant with no air vents and with a special liner, made up of three bearings directly attached to the shell, similar to that of the Swedish or German helmets of the WW1 period.
It was a variant with lower ballistic capacities, made with low quality steel, they was an alternative to the "four holes" model that had the same ballistic characteristics.
These helmets were provided to Civil Protection Units or to second-line troops (anti-aircraft, animal transport, coastal artillery.. etc.).
This example was produced at the end of the 30's (see the original light gray/green color) and dark green repainted in 1940 (as foreseen by the regulation), a clue telling us that in this case it was used by Military Units and not of Civil Protection.
I confirm that the other two examples are M33 used during the Spanish War and repainted in the kakhi-brown color used by the Spanish Army.
At the first example was added to the front hook to apply the Spanish Army badge.
Both examples are the first production, with the first type of air vents and an early liner with parallel rear seams and no aluminum eyelets; probably the shell is "P" marked on the back flap.
Three good helmets in my opinion.
Regards
Roberto
The chinstrap on the Spanish M26 is non standard!...
Not a Spanish helmet, but Portuguese M40.
Look at this site. .: World War Helmets - Casque Modèle 940 :.
Cheers,
Emile
On second thought, it seems to be a Spanisch M21 "sin Ala". .: World War Helmets - Casque Modèle 21 :.
Hi Emile,
and thanks to your good input, in fact the chinstrap seems to match with the Portuguese helmet.
The elements that made me consider the Spanish hypothesis, even looking to your link,
.: World War Helmets - Casque Modèle 26 :.
were the following:
-The shape of the air vents applied, particularly rounded.
-The length of the back flap (but the photo may be unclear)
-The liner supported by rivets crossing the shell, typical of the M26 Spanish and I've never seen on the Portuguese M40, but it may be a variant, that I do not know.
But I agree that it can be a M21.
Regards
Roberto
Last edited by OldSteel; 07-09-2017 at 03:12 PM. Reason: correct word
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