Paradehelm Erste Ausführung

[Mike G.]

Inside:

[brathahn]

Hallo,

einen Paradehelm in der ersten Ausführung habe ich auch mit Emblem.

Gruß Stephan

[Mike G.]

Great additional information to know. I didn't know they used the decals on the Parade Helmets.

Thank you.

[Klaus1989]

Stephan,
Ist ein Emblem auf der andere Seite des Helmes?

(Ich wei******223;, da******223; mein Deutsch schlecht ist!)

Klaus

[Soviet]

Klaus, these were always one sided decaled helmet. Always on the left side I presume.

I know that my English is not that good, but your German is just perfect.

[iannima]

Matteo,

The dead give-away is how the rivets are attached. They are attached WWII or Wehrmacht style. Not sure if you were aware of this. I looked again at your pics and sure enough, barely peeking out, is this type of rivet fastener. Walla !!! Your helmet is similar to my helmet. What made me question this initially, is that the outward flare on my example is dramatically more pronounced than on your example. But I'm convinced both helmets are in fact the same.

The helmet I have is dated 1955. The NVA came into being in 1956.

Michael,
thank you for having another look at your helmet. I did know about the rivets because this detail is mentioned on Olivier's website but did not think of taking a photograph of them. I must admit looking at the photograph of your helmet and Olivier's I would say that there are some differences between the shape of these two and mine. I would say that mine is somewhat straighter and the flange is not as prononunced as in yours, but it is nonetheless obvious to me that all three helmets are of the same ilk, with differences possibly being due to experimentation. How do you know the date of your helmet? As i said my shell is stamped 56 but that is also the size on the liner. Olivier's shell is stamped 58 but again the liner was first stamped 58 and then, over it, 57. So it is really unclear to me whether these numbers are the size or the year of production. Logic would demand that the number on the liner be the size because this is what happens on steel helmets of the same vintage. Now if logic and consistency were to be appplied, the number stamped on the shell ought to be the year of production as in steel helmets (a point that was fought over for many days on another thread ). But logic and the DDR were not always on speaking terms... And the early years of the NVA just happen to be also plausible hat sizes ...

[Mike G.]

Hello Matteo,

With respect to size as it applies to these helmets, I would suspect it was no different than with any of the other helmets in production. The M-54 was produced to the best of my knowledge in only three sizes as was the M-56 that followed. From what I've been able to discern from the later production resin helmets it is clear to me they were produced in three sizes like the steel helmets. So I'm thinking in terms of consistency and precidence, these early helmets also were produced in three sizes.

I cannot speak for your helmet or the one Olivier has. Speaking with respect to the helmet I have in my collection, the reason I'm certain the stamp of 55 is the year and not size, is the presence of a "Maker's Mark" beneath the 55.

I agree with you the helmets you, Olivier and I have (and Brathran too) are shaped differently, but are still of the same era.
The second picture of them being worn that you posted to this thread, appears to show helmets of this type, with shape and curvature that varies to a degree.

[Mike G.]

I find the photos posted by Brathahn to be very revealing. I am going to have to go back now and take a second or even a third look at some of the Dark Collar era photos that show soldiers in formation wearing what I thought were steel M-56 helmets with Tri-color Shield Decals. In some of the photos, the helmets may in fact be parade helmets constructed of resin, and not steel.

[jon m.]

Inside:

What does this stamp say?

[Mike G.]

Jon,

I don't know what the stamp represents. This I believe is your area of expertise.

Here is a pic of it:

[Klaus1989]

Klaus, these were always one sided decaled helmet. Always on the left side I presume.

I know that my English is not that good, but your German is just perfect.

I did not know that. Still learning new things about the NVA everyday. I guess it was just VOPO that were double decal.

I am still have trouble with sentence constructions in German, but I read it just fine. Spoken is very bad, although my pronounciation is good.

Klaus

[jon m.]

Jon,

I don't know what the stamp represents. This I believe is your area of expertise.

Here is a pic of it:

Thanks.

Basically it is, I believe, a quality inspection mark.

[olivyaya]

Michael,
thank you for having another look at your helmet. I did know about the rivets because this detail is mentioned on Olivier's website but did not think of taking a photograph of them. I must admit looking at the photograph of your helmet and Olivier's I would say that there are some differences between the shape of these two and mine. I would say that mine is somewhat straighter and the flange is not as prononunced as in yours, but it is nonetheless obvious to me that all three helmets are of the same ilk, with differences possibly being due to experimentation. How do you know the date of your helmet? As i said my shell is stamped 56 but that is also the size on the liner. Olivier's shell is stamped 58 but again the liner was first stamped 58 and then, over it, 57. So it is really unclear to me whether these numbers are the size or the year of production. Logic would demand that the number on the liner be the size because this is what happens on steel helmets of the same vintage. Now if logic and consistency were to be appplied, the number stamped on the shell ought to be the year of production as in steel helmets (a point that was fought over for many days on another thread ). But logic and the DDR were not always on speaking terms... And the early years of the NVA just happen to be also plausible hat sizes ...

Hello Matteo !!
Very nice helmet indeed... you were lucky I was late back home when the auction ended
Anyway, as I had told you I suspected it not to be the exact shape as my earliest type one which is more turtle shape... Mike's helmet seems to have the turtle shape even more pronounced than mine...
However yours has the big rivets (at least from what I can see) and the WWII type liner... which would make it an intermediate type between the turtle shape one



and the 1970s type that has the plain leather liner (without holes)




Does the liner have the following design :


An interesting one indeed !!!!!!

(http://sites.estvideo.net/cold-war/c...que-parade.htm)

[iannima]

Does the liner have the following design :

No it doesn't. I looked carefully for it but could not see any evidence of its ever having been there. There is -as i said- a dry stamp for Veb Perfekt. The liner looks to me very much identical to the one in my first pattern steel helmet. I had noticed differences in shape between yours and Michael's. Mine seems to differ too, but it is without question of the same type and if we assume that 56 is the date it is slightly earlier than yours. I guess they were trying different shapes or manufacturers. Hard to know or guess really... Still I am pretty happy with it !!!

[brathahn]

Hallo,
hier habe ich noch die Ausführung des M56 für Kinder, als Spielzeug. Sind inzwischen auch recht selten geworden.
Gruß Stephan