Peter_Suciu

Here is an example with the hardware from the Horsehair Plume Dress helmet. This was against regulations, but period photographs suggest it was very common.

A few of my American pith helmets. This is my newest addition. I've never seen such a nice example:

Maybe it is after the funeral of the old Kaiser in Holland?

That would be my guess... the man does have a funeral band on his left arm.

Anyone else have any French pith helmets to show? I've really gotten into collecting the pith helmets in the last few years.

This is my French Model 1886 Pith Helmet, and it features the insignia of the French Marine Infantry. These helmets were used in various French colonies around the world including Africa. These helmets were also used by the three battalions of the 9th and 11th Marine Infantry that fought in China during the Boxer Rebellion.

I believe that this plate was worn by naval troops (not See Batl.) and also by the East Asia Expeditionary Corps and the later Asian Corps. Most other khaki cork helmets were worn either without an eagle at all or with the See Batl. eagle and anchor.

Right, I meant the helmet pattern was worn by See Batl., not the plate. Yes, it seems this plate was worn by the East Asian forces. I sure do wish this helmet could tell me it has been.

Hey Chip--

Any idea which units may have worn the plate on my helmet? I just knew that it was worn by III. See Batl., but I didn't know much beyond it. There seems to be little reference material on German helmet badges for their colonial forces.

Follow up:

My research suggests it is for Imperial colonial forces, and was used by German East Asiatic forces.

Congrats on another great helmet.

Here is the Royal Navy Wolseley I picked up recently as well:

The second World War lion doesn't look as friendly as the Great War lion. I only noticed a difference in the lions last year.

Maybe they wanted to scare away the Germans!

Thanks for the detail of the inside. Although the liner remained the same, it looks like the shape of the pith helmet itself changed to one with a wider profile thus affording the soldier more cover from the sun.

I was half hoping you'd catch the inside detail of the Rosette/badge (with the italian flag) to see whether this was sewn on or somehow clipped on. Do you have the later type helmet as well?

Hi Jim--I've really gotten in pith helmets in the last two years. I have been trying to get them from around the world. I just posted my Imperial German pith helmet in that section today as well.

OK, the rosette is sewn on. There is some extra thread as someone had sewn on a badge at some later date. The threads are now intermixed so I don't want to risk removing anything. It is hard to tell in the photos but in the sun I can see two types of thread. Basically I believe that some of the early Italian helmets didn't have a badge. there is no hole suggesting a badge was ever one. This is the early style Cockade/Rosette and it seems to have been on the helmet forever. The badge is from the 1940s, but the thread used is cotton, so who knows when it was added or for what reason.

The shape was based on the British pattern, and as the British changed their helmets it seems that so did everyone else. Here is my Model 1928 pith helmet. This badge is attached with the clips. I'm always looking out for other pith helmets including Italian!

I saw a Train spiked helmet for >EM, with chinscales like an officer... is this correct? Why would they not have a regular leather chinstrap?

Thanks

Chris

Some EM helmets had chinscales. Guard units for example. Could it have been a one-year volunteer officer?

The chinstrap is long gone unfortunately. The liner is very similiar to the later Model 1928 pith helmets, which were the type used in North Africa including the invasion of Ethiopia and later in WWII.

Nice!! Now that has to be rare to survive in such great condition! Did the German Navy have regualr marine units attached to it like the US Navy does...or was it organized differently? Where these the same pith helmets that were used by the German forces in SW Africa during WWI?

Hey have you played Red Orchestra lately? I know it was not your favorite Peter, but the new map mods are fantasic!

I do believe the German Navy had regular marine units, and this style of helmet was used by their forces in the Far East including China and the Pacific islands. I don't believe this style of helmet was used in SW Africa however. I know pith helmets were used German East Africa, but in German SW Africa the troops used the S?dwester slouch hat.

This site has some excellent information:

http://www.germancolonialuniforms.co.uk/

And no Red Orchestra lately. I've been too busy, but I'll have to check it out.

Here is a recent addition to my collection. An Italian Model 1887 Pith Helmet.

I'm trying to find a Belgian Pith Helmet from the late Victorian era or WWI era. I've seen so few examples, I was hoping someone might be able to post one or two?

Here is my Belgian WWII helmet. You can see the difference with the lion:

Here is my Belgian WWI Helmet:

I picked this up at SOS this year.

It is a Bortfeld Model 1902 pattern naval style Tropenhelm, which was issued to naval landing parties and marine units such as the III. Seebatallion. The rear of this model features a unique fold up design. This example features the stamp: "WAARENHAUS F?R ARMEE UND MARINE."

There is one book on Canadian-made helmets " Tin Lids" by Roger Lucy examines the use and manufacture of combat helmets by the Canadian military from 1916 to the present.

It is an excellent book, but still doesn't offer much on the history of the British helmets from the Brodie to MkI to the MkII.

Very interesting information. Thank you for posting.

Fantastic collection! Thank you for posting close ups!

Very nice patches. Worth every penny I think!

I forgot to ask, but did you remove the chinscales to clean them?

The results look very good. You managed to clean the corrosion without removing the patina. The results look very good.

I had wanted a nice Foreign Service Helmet for years, and in the space of three months I was able to buy two! This is a private purchase helmet, with doeskin as the covering.

I stand corrected, Peter! I thought that the partroop model always had a solid chin cup. My apologies for any msileading I've done

No harm done. This stuff is very complicated, and as has been touched upon, very little has been written on the subject.

They're actually the same shells. There was a tanker version too that uses the MkII style liner!

The paratrooper chinstraps usually were a solid chin cup, but the dispatch rider had the leather head protection around the lower part of the wearer's head. Must have been damn hot!

The helmet is not dispatch rider. The dispatch rider didn't use a three-point chinstrap. This is the paratrooper style system:

There were several different style of liners, and I think the example you posted is 1950s era. This is an example of the dispatch rider liner system: