Battle damaged M35 Helmet - Named

[Henry 24th]

I know it is a long shot and therefore will post the question before the images (especially since the photos are not taken yet!)

The inside of the army double decal helmet (rear apron) has the name O.Ltn. Faber 12/25 painted in white. (Possibly O.Lin. Faber 12/23)

Oberleutnant Faber Perhaps?

Shrapnel tore through the helmet apron from the front of the helmet - out the back, partially tearing the liners aluminum band.

About half of the liner fingers are missing: cut out for some reason. The chin straps were also cut off, leaving behind only the small leather loops and fasteners.

The helmet was purchased here in Canada for a ridiculous low amount - therefore I suspect a Canadian vet may have brought it home as a souvenier and sold it to the dealer.

Was it on Herr Fabers head when the shrapnel hit? I don't think so...

What can we find out about him? If anything

[Paul R]

I think that it will be near impossible to find anything on him... although anything is possible. Can you please post some images of this helmet? I would love to see it!

[hmfgreifswald]

You can write on this adress in germany or use this link.

All german soldiers and officers have a file on it:

http://dd-wast.javabase.de/frame_e.htm

Sincerely Holger Herbst / Germany

[Henry 24th]

Holger, Paul, Thanks for the replies. I will definitely try to track down this mans history.

Here are the helmet pics as requested Paul...enjoy.

It appears as though there may have been a helmet band over top of the decals, for a long period of time. Most of the decal wear runs laterally through the center of the decal leaving the top and bottom "clean".

HFJ

Edited August 1, 2008 by Henry 24th

[Henry 24th]

[Henry 24th]

[Henry 24th]

[Henry 24th]

[Henry 24th]

Green arrow shows where shrapnel went through (partially obscurred by wood shaft)

Red arrow show name placement.

HFJ

[Henry 24th]

[PKeating]

Cut straps suggest a helmet removed from a swollen body prior to burial. They had to slice through the straps as they were trapped in the swollen flesh and skin and the buckles were inaccessible. Missing liner fingers perhaps due to blood and brain tissue soiling. I had a mint Heer SD "M40" reissue with cut straps and the liner pulled out of the band because of, according to the farmer who took it from a pile of helmets as a 12 year old in 1944, the smell of putrifaction from the leather, to which his mother strongly objected.

PK

[Guest Rick Research]

Can you get in closer on the name? It looks like it might be an 83 as the regiment or ... too small for my eye to see.

Double decals suggests early enough that IF he was a regular, he might be in the January 1939 Rank List BUT Faber is so common a name that the EXACT unit number (infantry? artillery? ...) will have to be 100% to be sure.

I don't see the entrance hole in any of the above, only the exit?

On a happier, if anonymous note: I played with an M40 as a kid that had an enormous .45 slug dent exactly centered from above on the "visor" at the precise point it rises to the front dome of the helmet body. The trophy taker was riding "shotgun" in a jeep when he spotted a German soldier creeping up on them from down in a gully. WHAM!!!

Going down to check out the "body," they discovered the guy knocked cold, but very much alive. Didn't even break his nose!

[Henry 24th]

Wonderful. Thanks for the visuals....

I thought this as well for awhile - but - since the shrapnel went from front to back, in theory the entire contents of his head should have soiled the the back of the helmet and liner. What is left of the liner is in very good condition. As for the straps, would you have to cut both sides to remove the helmet?

My thoughts regarding this helmets condition are a lot more tame. The helmet was lost in an engagement, perhaps damaged by artillery, left on the ground.

The leather parts touching the ground may have gotten wet /damaged and over time began to dry-rot. After that, someone just cut out the affected parts and the damaged helmet band.

Any other guesses out there. I would like to hear them.

HFJ

[Dana B]

It may be a shot in the dark and a lot of hit or miss, but you can access the German battle casualties (dead only) list at the following link and just enter the last name "Faber" - there are 751 of them - however, this includes Franco-Prussian, WW1 & WW2 so clearly figure those with dates outside of WW2 can be disregarded. It may take some time but I'll bet an Oberleutnant or two would show up. Then figure out where your vet was who brought it back and then disregard the other theatres.

http://www.volksbund.de/graebersuche/content_suche.asp

Yes, its in German but schoolboy German will get you navigating around. I, too, have an Afrikakorps single decal helmet with a name in it, however my guy didnt die and isnt listed in the above database(and hence no damage to the wonderful helmet that I've had for 40+ years). [i'm a medal collector, not a helmet guy so that's about all I have to add]. Good luck . . .

[Paul R]

I don't see the entrance hole in any of the above, only the exit?

It must have either entered through his face or neck! Not a pretty mess either way! The soldier must have really wanted THAT helmet!

[Henry 24th]

Here is a close up of the name - bit fuzzy I'm affraid. Sorry for not being clear on the shrapnel's path, Paul nailed it. Had he been wearing the lid, it must have passed through where the face or neck would have been.

Dana, great link , I shall try this out later today. Pull out all the old german books and have a go.

Kind Regards..HFJ

[Guest Rick Research]

Ah. Looks most like a "25." I'll go see if I can find any plausible suspects in January 1939.

[Guest Rick Research]

Ha. GOT him. 12/23.

He would have been promoted to Oberleutnant late 1939 or in 1940. But if he was killed, chances are it was NOT in this unit, which spent virtually all of the war on the Russian front. I suppose it's possible he might have been killed in northern Germany at the very end of the war, since the 11th Division was evacuated out of the Courland Pocket.

So, if seeking among dead Fabers, by 1945 he'd have been a Hauptmann.

[Guest Rick Research]

From the January 1939 army list, reprinted in 1953:

Ironic his regiment's headquarters was Rastenburg.

The only thing which argues for a non-lethal final wear is that the BACK of the inside of the liner is not a mess/removed.

I forgot to mention, in regard to the cut off chinstrap:

When I was a kid and we played with German helmets in the woods (though not ones with nasty jagged tetanus holes ), one of the neighborhood mommies cut off a chinstrap with kitchen scissors because she was convinced we would fall and strangle our little selves. :speechless:

[Henry 24th]

Ha. GOT him. 12/23.

He would have been promoted to Oberleutnant late 1939 or in 1940. But if he was killed, chances are it was NOT in this unit, which spent virtually all of the war on the Russian front. I suppose it's possible he might have been killed in northern Germany at the very end of the war, since the 11th Division was evacuated out of the Courland Pocket.

So, if seeking among dead Fabers, by 1945 he'd have been a Hauptmann.

Ricky, Ricky, Ricky...

will you ever cease to amaze? Taking into consideration your findings and combining them with Dana's link to the 751 Fabers.....

There is a potential of 10 officers of which 2 are Hauptmann.

Dana....thank you VERY much for the link!!! I was able to find some interesting family related deaths on there as well. The site lists anybody killed as a result of war (both WW1 and WW2). Also includes MIAs. In many cases there was no rank (Dienstgrad) listed and I was not sure if these entries were military or not. At the end of the list were names similar to Faber...Faberg etc, so the actual "Faber"count is less than 751.

Interestingly enough there were no less than 14 Fabers to fall in Stalingrad. 2 of which were brothers.

More when the search is complete. Rick, "Ironic his regiment's headquarters was Rastenburg." why is this ironic?

Now it is time to delve into the suspects names and see if one might be our man.

[Paul R]

Ricky... you ARE a GOD!

[Guest Rick Research]

Yes but of a lesser cult in one of the minor sects in an outlying province.

Rastenburg was Adolf's snug little wartime hideaway: the den of the beast, as it were. The eyes under that helmet may well have watched the F?hrerzug pass by any time Faber was back in town on leave or regimental business, so you've got the steel pot of somebody who saw der F?hrer up close. May even have been turned out as an honor guard.

I'm still not sure Faber was killed. If he'd taken shrapnel straight through the head, the back of that would be a gawdawful mess of stained .... well.

Maybe he was holding it up on a stick trawling for snipers?

But there's a hole straight back from the wearer's line of vision where he almost certainly gazed upon the face of der F?hrer-- and how many "battlefield pickups" can THAT be said of?

[Dana B]

What becomes really fun with the dead Germans database is searching by place of birth ONLY (Geburtsort). Granted, you can find other relatives from some of those obscure little German towns where your ancestors came from (mine were from Lamstedt, Hirschberg and Grosssachsen, one in Prussia, the others in Baden) and yes, I've got dead relatives from two, BUT the fun comes in trying to figure out the oddities.

I grew up in New Jersey (hey, we all come from somewhere) and I live in Allentown PA today (yup, one from here, too. I wonder if he's in one of the local high school yearbooks at the public library???)

I plugged in New Jersey, New York, Hoboken (18 dead German soldiers born in old Blue Eyes' hometown), Jersey City, Chicago, and even Pittsburgh - yes, Steeler fans there was a Hauptmann named Fritz Peter Weber-Meder who died in France "oy, yunz guys?!"

Or how about a guy from Dallas (hook 'em horns) Gefreiter Hugo Burtscher who died on the Eastern Front.

Yup, there's even a quartet from Los Angeles and an Unteroffizier from Quebec . . .