Black Painted Combat helmet

[dog soldier]

Guys just posting this for people to see .I am not looking for any arguments ,I personally like these but everyone has their rightful opinions

[dog soldier]

Mike article on these helmets



https://fortunesofwarmilitaria.com/c...army-and-navy/

[Jareth]

Thanks for starting a separate post on these mysterious helmets. I no longer collect army headgear so as they say I don't have a dog in this fight (civil discussion). I used to be a believer. My fellow collectors know me to always speak my mind & voice an opinion or two. John (sold John my black helmet!) & I had a few talks regarding these black painted helmets. Many collectors believed they were painted for night raids & banzai attacks etc. Past decade new information, mostly second hand, was that these were used by police post war. So which was it? Here's a link to one other opinion, albeit a somewhat closed minded opinion http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/japane...komiya-691796/ see comment on black painted helmets. Mike B brought up a point that post war stars/ anchor insignia weren't allowed to be worn. Don't know if this is correct. Sure, we know the mums were ground off surrendered rifles but more than that ? Perhaps other Japanese islands within had a different set of post war usage? Let's talk about black paint itself. Was it available to troops in the field? We know it was used in addition to gunblue for rust prevention. Many of the black helmets I've handled were painted a gloss black. Not the most stealthy shade! Are there actual bring back helmets with clear provenance as to where they were acquired? If so I'd be interested to here them.

[RussellM]

Just an observation, but it looks like there was another insignia on the helmet when it was painted black, as the original “grass” colour is showing though where the star is located. It may just be the pic, how does that area look in hand?

Regards

Russ

[dog soldier]

I cant get into the back of the star to see as the liner is tight against it .The outside of the star looks the same black paint as the rest of the helmet and yes there are bits looking like a circle that haven't been painted but when you look closer its not , its just points missed

Graeme

[RussellM]

Thanks for that image Graeme, the paint on the star and the helmet most certainly looks to be identical.

Regards

Russ