What gives with those pointy German Helmets in World War I? This is something that I’ve been wondering about for awhile.
It seems like the Armies of the various countries had distinctive helmets in both WWI and WWII. For example, the British had those bowl-shaped ones with the big rim in WWI. Whereas the Germans, when they weren’t wearing that seeemingly impractical pointy thing, had a much more form-fitting doohickey. I wish I had the pictures next to me to describe the various styles of helmets I’ve seen in WWI, but if you’ve seen them then you probably know what I’m talking about.
So why? Why do some Germans wear these contraptions? Were they for special units? Was there any reason for the points beyond the need to look badass (but slightly comic)?
And furthermore, what about helmets in general? What was behind the decisions for the specific styles that the various armies adopted? How much was practicality and how much was looks?
The pointy doohickey was purely a decorative thing, a holdover from the 19th centrury days of pompous military uniforms.
The German “coal scuttle” helmet is quite practical in that it protects the back of one’s head and neck better than the tommy helmets you mentioned or the turtle shell the yanks wore. It’s no coincidence that the modern kevlar helmet used in the US resembles the old German helmets.
Yes, it’s clear we’re moving closer and closer to a fascist state. When the highest court in the land rules that it’s OK to drag your mom out of the car and handcuff her and throw her in jail for not wearing a seat belt, it’s clear that “order and conformity for the good of the state” take priority over “individual liberty and protections from unreasonable search and seizure.”
The helmets are just some sort of emergent indicator.
My grandfather ran away to World War 1 when he was just 16 apparently. He brought back a picklehaube helmet as a trophy. My mother still has it. It’s curiously small. People who see it are always puzzled by that and start wondering just how big German soldiers were in World War 1. About a six months ago there was a another thread on the subject and someone gave a link to E-bay where one was being auctioned. When I checked I realised that the bidding was stable at about $600. While my mother isn’t interested in selling hers I was amazed that the price they were fetching was so low. Why don’t Neo-Nazis and Jews try to outbid each other for stuff like that? Why aren’t they worth a mint? In a different spirit altogether and although it seems bizarre, I think it would be still be possible to locate the family of the soldier who owned it. Military historians might be able to do it.
I don’t know if I’d be that fussy if I my relatives had been Holocaust victims. Conceivably, World War 1 soldiers could become have become Nazis anyway. If I was Jewish I would prefer to see that it didn’t fall into German hands again or that Edward Norton didn’t end up wearing it in American History X 2.