Camo Helmet Find In France

[Chris Boonzaier]

Your statement that soldiers had to hand in their helmets when ordered to do so is not true for steel helmets.

I would imagine it IS true for any bit of issue kit.

"Soldier, hand that in!"
"No! Its MINE I tell you! MINE!"

Some bits of kit belong to the sector. There are mentions in Verdun Memoires of a unit moving into the sector and getting the steel helmets from the Regiment of another Division that was leaving.

There are also mentions of Units leaving for the Eastern Front having to give in their G98s to get G88s, leaving the G98s for the Western front.

Names are written in so you know its "yours"... but just for the period it is issued to you.

I remember rotating into Sarajevo, and we took the Kevlar Helmets and Flak Jackets (all newly introduced at the time) of the Battalion rotating out... Its the way it is when there is not enough of the good stuff to go around...

[Hans K.]

Chris, my original statement is correct in the context that a soldier did not have to give up his steel helmet for the purpose that it be reissued to another. This was because the Stahlhelm belonged to the individual soldier's equipment. That was the official view on the subject.

Your points about leaving equipment behind after rotating out of a sector, or that certain items belonged to the sector only applied to steel helmets during the initial phase of distribution. The example of Verdun you provide would have been during this early phase. This rule did not apply to steel helmets once distribution was well under way. In contrast, the Stirnschild was an item of equipment that would always belong to the trench stores.

Besides the rescinded 4th Army order I mentioned earlier in this thread, the only other instance I could find where soldiers were ordered to hand in their helmets was the Marine-Korps order stating that soldiers on leave or otherwise away from their unit had to leave the helmet with the unit until their return.