Beaded Heer M40

[rfcj]

I have an beaded helmet with the Heer (big foot) decal and have had no luck in referencing the helmet with the decal any help would be great

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi, and welcome to the forum. I have made your post about your helmet into it's own thread

I would strongly suspect that the Heer decal has been applied post war. The whole reason for the bead being added to the helmet was to signify that the helmet was substandard production. While still considered good enough for home front civil defence use, they would not have been considered good enough for frontline combat use by the Army.

Cheers, Ade.

[lach470]

Yes....I have to agree with Ade.....postwar configuration. Decal could be real or repro (can't tell in pics) but these would not have been applied on these beaded lids.

Rob

[Dimas]

Agree with previous posts. I don't think that this kind of helmets was in use under the normally Heeres units

[NickD]

i cant seem to find any examples of this type of helmet being used by Heer so i would have to agree with the other guys.
im in two minds about the beaded type not sure whether i like them or not either way still a nice piece of history

[MP44]

I do also have beaded M40 helmet. And my seem to be Luftschutz or Polizei I cannot tell. There are also some black leftovers of the paint. Were there any black LS/Polizei helmets?

[Panzer 3]

Hi,
Nice helmet but as said before they were never used in a combat unit, also as said by ade they were substandard for the Wehrmacht. I have seen them with luftscutz decal on the front,
so the Heer decal must be a repro.
dave.

[helmet2id]

I have an M35 beaded helmet, originally blue, but repainted a brownish green, clearly war time done, which has remnants of THREE Heer decals on it, one on the front and one on each side. The decals are real, and have been on the piece forever. The wear to the paint and the decals is not artificial, and I speculate that the piece was reissued LATE war, perhaps to a Volkssturm unit, repainted a more combat appropriate color, after which the decals were applied by the new wearer. There were plenty of unapplied decals available, even at the end, as we all know. I have seen pictures of Volkssturm units preparing for combat near the end of the War wearing a variety of headgear, from regular combat helmets, to beaded helmets, to light weight civic helmets, to various gladiator type helmets. Anything on the head, I suppose, was better than nothing whengoing into battle. There are also late war photos of debris on the ground post action which capture images of various types of head gear discarded or lost by the soldiers during combat, including all of the styles mentioned above. While it appears that initially beaded helmets were those that did not measure up to the ballistic standards required of combat helmets and were issued to rear units such as Police and Luftschutz, I am certain that when the Reich was crumbling, and the old, young and infirm were pressed into service, so too was substandard equipment issued for combat wear. For example, I also have a 3 piece gladiator Luftschutz helmet with a large caliber bullet hole through the front and obvious blood rot on the inside. That poor bastard was in combat with a non combat type helmet. With respect to this piece, I can't comment, as the pictures of the decal are not clear, and there does not appear to be much field wear on the piece. I just wanted to say that, in my humble opinion, the fact that there is a Heer decal on it does not mean that the decal was post war applied, or is fake. Just my thoughts for what they're worth. Jim G.

[stalingradshadow]

i have to helmet for renovation but iam liltle bit confuse look at the beadead its ???diferent i want some opinion because i must put some decals helmet its original et64 se68 /....this is the first

[stalingradshadow]

and this is the second i think its luftshutz 100 procent