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    #1

    He never knew what hit him!

    This was mentioned in the bullet holes thread, but I thought I should post it separately. Here is a photo (cropped) that WW1 Marine Sgt. John Richardson took while in France. It shows the skeletal remains of a German soldier with the feldmutze and helmet still on his skull. Nearby lies the rusted barrel of his rifle, what appears to be an overcoat and his belt with cartridge pouches on it. Between the mantel and one of the pouches you can see part of his spine. Not trying to gross you out, but this was the reality of this war. Judging from the devastated landscape in the background this was taken in one of the boneyards around the Verdun area in 1918. Most likely the soldier was killed during the fall of 1917 or the winter of 1917-18
    Dan Murphy

    Last edited by Daniel Murphy; 07-17-2006, 06:27 PM.
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    #2
    Here is a close up of the skull and helmet. As shown there are four bullet holes in the skull, Right temple, Above the right eye and two very close together just above the the left eye. Notice that these bullet holes are in a triangular pattern (you will see this again from another angle). notice also that the chinstrap is still around his jaw. Note: Since I see no wisdom teeth this individual was fairly young.

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      #3
      This is the helmet that was on that skull in 1918. You see, Sgt. Richardson snapped the photo and then brought the helmet home. It is an early (pre July 1918) camo without the black stripes and is still in relatively good condition. You can see a couple of the exit holes in this view.

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        #4
        Here is the other side. At some point after he got the helmet, it acquired four more holes, two shots that enter from the back and come out the front. These are not in the photo, so I can only assume he had this on his pack and was fired on while he was lying prone. This view shows these two later exit holes. I checked and the original holes fit a .30 cal. bullet but no larger, these newer holes will fit a slightly larger 8mm bullet.

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          #5
          Here is a view from the back. This shows the two later entrance holes lower down near the liner band. Above are four exit holes in a .....well, remember that triangular pattern I mentioned before? Right the bullets that entered the soldiers skull as shown before exited here.

          Last edited by Daniel Murphy; 07-17-2006, 06:50 PM.

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            #6
            Unusually for a helmet from a fatally head wounded soldier, it still has the liner AND that chinstrap. The feldmutze must have caught and held most of the gore and gray matter. He didn't bring that back!

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              #7
              This shows where the two later bullets pentrated the liner band and exited the front of the helmet.

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                #8
                This close up shows where the same later two bullets penetrated the liner band in the back as well. A couple of the holes in the liner could be from the earlier bullets that killed the soldier.

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                  #9
                  Absolutely incredible Daniel, a true piece of history and thanks for giving us the full story on this. One wonders if this soldier has a grave somewhere in the fields of France, or if he is one of the 'Unknown'? Mark.

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                    #10
                    One last pic of the peened over chinstrap lug, which was done to keep the strap from falling off at the worst possible time (which most of the time they did). It shows the CS has always been with this helmet. Also shown is the maker "ET 64".




                    Disclaimer: I have never believed in ,nor do I believe now in the robbing of the bodies of the dead. It is a fact of warfare that this is where at least a portion of the items we collect came from. This is especially true of German items brought back to allied countries and vice versa by returning soldiers. The main difference is that in most cases we do not know, in this case we DO know. Still, 90 years on, one cannot judge the Marine that removed this from the dead soldier. When one has seen his friends and yes, his brother (a Navy Cross winner) killed, it is hard to have compassion for a dead "Boche". In his eyes he was probably just another "good German". I feel this an item which is worthy of preservation if for no other reason than to illustrate the horror of war.
                    Dan Murphy

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                      #11
                      Absolutely incredible Daniel, a true piece of history and thanks for giving us the full story on this. One wonders if this soldier has a grave somewhere in the fields of France, or if he is one of the 'Unknown'? Mark.
                      <!-- / message -->
                      Since this body is relatively exposed, there is a good chance he received a proper burial. It is also very possible that he was never identified. Unfortunately we will never know.
                      Dan Murphy

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                        #12
                        deadman's helmet




                        haunted...beware.

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                          #13
                          deadman's helmet haunted...beware
                          That is why he....um, it...stays in the garage. Protected, but definitely in the garage.
                          Dan Murphy

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                            #14
                            Really an incredible piece. Truely unique. Thanks a lot for taking time to post the photos.

                            I think the bullet holes were done once the guy was dead, and his skull was already empty of brain matter, as a full skull probably would have been much more severaly smashed by these high power bullets. (you can see this effect by shooting a full egg shell, and then an empty egg shell with an air gun. the full egg explodes; the empty shell just has a small hole)
                            With a body lying there for months, it is not suprising it was hit by several bullets.

                            JL
                            Last edited by Jean-Loup; 07-17-2006, 07:46 PM.

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                              #15
                              Daniel,
                              Truly amazing and thanks for sharing it with us. One of the most interesting threads I have read for awhile!

                              JL,
                              I dis-agree with you in regards to the head exploding as in this case the soldier had on his feldmutze then his helmet over the top and secured with the chinstrap. This would have "held in" the skull and contents and the head would have been a solid object allowing the bullets to pass through fairly cleanly.

                              In regards to the secondary bullet holes, if the vet had the helmet on his back when the helmet recieved the extra holes then he was very lucky to be alive and bring this helmet back with him!

                              Thanks once again for showing!

                              Brett

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