3 different Army helmets from one vet

[Remy Spezzano]

Hello Everyone,

Recently I purchased 3 WW2 German Army helmets from a friend who found them in his basement shortly after his father passed away. He said the helmets originally belonged to his uncle who brought them back from the war.

The first helmet is a M18 DD Army transitional. The chinstrap is not the standard M-40 type or the WW1 type. Maybe someone can comment as to what type it is?

The 2nd helmet is a SD Army M42. It apears to have never been issued but unfortunately the leather on the liner is all stiff and crackly But the paint and decal are still very much intact.

The 3rd helmet is an unissued M40 shell. The three clips which hold in the liner have never been touched. Again due to poor storage in a basement there is some rust to the inside of the shell. What I don't understand is the difference in paint color for the outside and inside of the shell. The oitside has the correct dark fieldgray color but the inside apears to be black? Any ideas about why this may be?

My best guess is the Vet uncle grapped one of each style helmet from a pile of helmets he found after the war.

best regards,
Remy <><

[Remy Spezzano]

Some shots of the M18 transitional DD Army Helmet.

[Ken B.]

I don't see any photo's. Maybe you need to resize them a bit smaller so they'll fit on the site.

[USMC David]

Remy, your books of photographs from the Waffen-SS Kriegsberichters are definitely some of the greatest shots of the Waffen-SS I have ever seen. Fantastic quality.

Best regards

David

[Remy Spezzano]

Some shots of the M18 transitional DD Army Helmet.

The right side. Look at the texture of the paint. You can clearly see how it has been brushed on by hand.

[Remy Spezzano]

This inside shot shows the interesting style chinstrap used together with
the new and improved leather liner. To the rear of the helmet you might be able to see where they brushed over the previous owners last name. You can only make out the first 3-4 letters. Still it's quite interesting to theorize about the history of this helmet.

[Remy Spezzano]

Remy, your books of photographs from the Waffen-SS Kriegsberichters are definitely some of the greatest shots of the Waffen-SS I have ever seen. Fantastic quality.

Best regards

David

Thanks David! I'm happy to hear you really enjoy looking at the books we have published. KURSK vol. 6 is almost finished and I have more fantastic books in the works for later this year.

Remy <><

[Remy Spezzano]

Here's the SD M42.

[Remy Spezzano]

Inside of the SD M42

[Remy Spezzano]

Here's the inside of the M40. I thought I took a close up of the outside
of this helmet but aparently not.

[Remy Spezzano]

Last shot I will post for this thread.
Here is a close up shot showing the difference in paint
color. Strange how there is a difference in tone. Also
look at the clips. You can see they've never been turned
back since the day they were installed at the factory.

Again please feel free to discuss the points brought up.
Thanks.

Remy <><

[Bernhard]

Hi Remy

Nice lids you got! I think that the M 18 transitional is a real nice one.

I have a M 40 helmet that has the same strange , almost black paint in the inner shell whereas the outside sports a normal rough fieldgrey finish.
The helmet looks absolutely unmessed with and I always wondered about the strange difference in color.
My helmet is a Q 64 shell that is marked in the rear skirt.The helmet you showed looks to be Q shell too.
I will look up the lot number , maybe we can compare them.

Greetings

Bernhard