Ground Dug SD Heer ET68

[C7riS]

Hi, bought this at a market in poland for 45$ (pretty fair price if you ask me )
Just wanted to show you guys, and by the way, the hole in the front, what could have caused that? projectile? explotion fragments?
Any ideas, lemme know

Cheers,
Chris

[regiment739]

What a steal

[PHILBROWN]

you did well, i prefer relics to mint, sounds daft but even if i could afford one mint, id raather have a dozen ground dug the hole may not be a sinister as you think, after the war it is well documented that they destroyed the helmets to render them useless by sticking a pick axe through them, and then buried them cheers, phil.

[C7riS]

the hole may not be a sinister as you think, after the war it is well documented that they destroyed the helmets to render them useless by sticking a pick axe through them, and then buried them cheers, phil.

Hmmm.. I think your right.. it crossed my mind as well
And yeah I agree with you, ground dug helmets are way more interesting than mint ones.. you know it carries a great deal of history.. like they all say.. "if this item could talk "

68 Is a really large shell right?
What other sizes were there?

[ROBB]

The pick axe thing is ww1 .That looks like shrapnel to me .Rob

[Jean-Loup]

The hole looks like a typical schrapnel hole, and does not look like a pick axe hole (without even talking about the fact that the probabilities of finding a pick axe hole on the front of a relic helmet are close to nothing).

JL

[C7riS]

The hole looks like a typical schrapnel hole, and does not look like a pick axe hole (without even talking about the fact that the probabilities of finding a pick axe hole on the front of a relic helmet are close to nothing).

JL

Thanks for the info guys! great to get some feedback from a guy whos dealt with these for many years

The pick axe was just ww1?
Is it a special form of neutralizing the helmets?
Cause I have seen (and own one) which have been "neutralized" in the ww2 period or post war.

Cheers,
Chris

[PHILBROWN]

you tell em chris, every one seems to have a crystal ball these days.

[Adrian Stevenson]

68 Is a really large shell right?
What other sizes were there?

A size 68 shell was for a size 61 head.

The next shell size (and the largest) was a size 70 for a 63 head.

Cheers, Ade.

[Simon O.]

Hmmm.. I think your right.. it crossed my mind as well
And yeah I agree with you, ground dug helmets are way more interesting than mint ones.. you know it carries a great deal of history.. like they all say.. "if this item could talk "

68 Is a really large shell right?
What other sizes were there?

Well, if those finding the helmets actually bother to record where they find them and in what context then they can talk a lot. Jean-Loup has written a few threads that illustrate what i'm getting at very well.
Same thing with my relic lids, as i found them i know how they got where they did, what regiment, even what battalion they came from etc.

[PHILBROWN]

i know what your saying simon, but as these pass through peoples hands the further down the line they go, the more is lost historically. not many helmets in the u.k. to dig up though so i will never know the true past, just that a enlisted man proberly wore it. how many good find have you had ,any ss???????? cheers phil.

[C7riS]

A size 68 shell was for a size 61 head.

The next shell size (and the largest) was a size 70 for a 63 head.

Cheers, Ade.

Thanks Ade, this size 61 etc what are they messured in?

Well, if those finding the helmets actually bother to record where they find them and in what context then they can talk a lot. Jean-Loup has written a few threads that illustrate what i'm getting at very well.
Same thing with my relic lids, as i found them i know how they got where they did, what regiment, even what battalion they came from etc.

True that, unfortunatly, I didnt have the "pleasure" of diggging and documenting this item myself and Im sorry to say the history of this lid disapeard with the guys who dug it up.
Thought I'll try and change that, Im saving up for a metal detector myself and a road trip too easte europe this summer

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Chris, sorry I should have added the measurement is in cm

Cheers, Ade.

[C7riS]

Hi Chris, sorry I should have added the measurement is in cm

Cheers, Ade.

No problem Ade, thanks again

[Jean-Loup]

"The pick axe was just ww1?
Is it a special form of neutralizing the helmets?
Cause I have seen (and own one) which have been "neutralized" in the ww2 period or post war."

I dont know anyone with any common sense who would want to first go through the effort of making holes in helmets with a pick axe, then dig a hole to burying them.
There is a famous picture of a guy making holes in a helmet, but I higlžhly doubt he buried them afterwards, and this must have been an isolated case that occured because the local occuping forces must had been overzealous, and didnt want any "functional military equipment" around, even if it was going to be melted down two days later.
All the helmets people could get their hands on after the wars were used to be melted down, and maybe on extremely rare occasions first damaged with a pick axe.
Anyways, if it was a pick axe hole, it would be on the top of the helmet.

Finaly, certain details about how the hole looks make me say that it was done by something moving much faster then a pick axe. It is hard to see the angle of penetration from your picture, but it looks to have been going slightly "up", and backwards. If that is the case, and there is no exit hole, or "exit bump", then something must have been in that helmet when it was damaged: most likely the unlucky owners head.

JL