# Did those pointy German helmets in WWI have any practical value? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2016, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208 "2016-02-05T05:15:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/21 "2016-02-05T16:44:54Z")
When weighing the alleged protective value of the parts of the picklehaube, consider that the body of the helmet itself was leather, not steel. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e47774/32.png) [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/22 "2016-02-05T17:47:16Z")
Always liked those “shoe brush” helmets that Roman soldiers wore, or were they merely invented for the movies? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/23 "2016-02-05T18:26:43Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I would use it to stick the helmet into the ground and then use the helmet as a bowl or a cook pot. But then again, I’ve never been in the Kaiser’s army. Since they were leather, that would be not a Good Idea.😛 of course the hardened leather was somewhat protective. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/24 "2016-02-05T18:27:51Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > …onto your unhelmeted shoulders… Where you might have chainmail epaulets. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/25 "2016-02-05T19:42:17Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Where you might have chainmail epaulets. AFAIK, this was a British thing, although I’d welcome a countering citation. [QUOTE=Peremensoe] When weighing the alleged protective value of the parts of the picklehaube, consider that the body of the helmet itself was leather, not steel. [/QUOTE] While it’s definitely not steel, the pickelhaube was made of _hardened_ leather, and that can be quite tough (think really hard plastic) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/26 "2016-02-05T19:49:56Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > AFAIK, this was a British thing, although I’d welcome a countering citation. > While it’s definitely not steel, the pickelhaube was made of _hardened_ leather, and that can be quite tough (think really hard plastic) Yes, but the Germans had brass scales. Yes, true- good vs swords and stuff, not against shrapnel, sadly. ---
**Author:** ![Bert\_Nobbins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@Bert\_Nobbins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bert_Nobbins)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/27 "2016-02-05T19:56:54Z")
Not all of these helmets had spikes. Many German artillery units had miniature cannon-balls on a stalk instead of a spike. As for skewering people, I think Michael Caine might have been a one-off there, in the Last Valley film [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Last\_Valley\_%281970\_film%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Valley_%281970_film%29). ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/28 "2016-02-05T20:09:53Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes, but the Germans had brass scales. > > Yes, true- good vs swords and stuff, not against shrapnel, sadly. I thought of this: the question concerns WWI, when sabres were somewhat out of date. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/29 "2016-02-05T20:16:45Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > I thought of this: the question concerns WWI, when sabres were somewhat out of date. [And the spiked helmet was also out of date](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickelhaube#Pickelhaube_in_World_War_I). There were attempts to update it, but a totally new helmet design was adopted in 1916. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/30 "2016-02-05T20:26:50Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes, but the Germans had brass scales. Some, yes, had thin brass scales, or silver, nickel-silver or gilt. None of which are really armour materials, but OK. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/31 "2016-02-05T20:51:26Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > [And the spiked helmet was also out of date](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickelhaube#Pickelhaube_in_World_War_I). There were attempts to update it, but a totally new helmet design was adopted in 1916. And that one sprouted [_two_ horns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stahlhelm#M1916_and_M1917)! Though, admittedly, very small… ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/32 "2016-02-05T21:24:11Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Google failed me, are you talking about some sort of actual half-a-jacket, or of the practice of wearing a complete fur-trimmed or -lined jacket as if it was a short cloak, hanging from one shoulder? I can’t find any images where it would truly be half a jacket. > [@SCAdian](#): > > That’s the only way I’ve ever seen it described/pictured. They aren’t always full-sized jackets, such that you could actually wear it in the usual way. Some of them are stylized jacket-like affairs, so that they give the impression of wearing a full-sized jacket over one shoulder. It may have started as just an ordinary jacket, but it came to take on a life of its own (in some cases.) Style and fashion are weird! ---
**Author:** ![here\_and\_there](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f07891/32.png) [@here\_and\_there](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/here_and_there)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/33 "2016-02-05T21:44:27Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Deflect yes, that’s the word I couldn’t remember ---
**Author:** ![here\_and\_there](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f07891/32.png) [@here\_and\_there](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/here_and_there)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/34 "2016-02-05T21:46:06Z")
> [@Anarcho\_Liberalist](#): > > ricochet? that, too 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![here\_and\_there](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f07891/32.png) [@here\_and\_there](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/here_and_there)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/35 "2016-02-05T21:54:29Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Although I have no doubt that the spikes on the WWI helmets were meant almost entirely as ornamentation. Not entirely… just search for “wwi cavalry”, and you’ll see a lot of people waving swords: [https://www.google.gr/search?q=wwi+cavalry&client=seamonkey-a&rls=org.mageia:en-US:unofficial&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjT-4mtzOHKAhXLkSwKHblFCQQQsAQIIQ&biw=1024&bih=374](https://www.google.gr/search?q=wwi+cavalry&client=seamonkey-a&rls=org.mageia:en-US:unofficial&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjT-4mtzOHKAhXLkSwKHblFCQQQsAQIIQ&biw=1024&bih=374) ok, they would probably never use them in real battles, but they didn’t know that at the beginning of the war after all, imperial forces tend to stick in the old ways ---
**Author:** ![here\_and\_there](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f07891/32.png) [@here\_and\_there](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/here_and_there)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/36 "2016-02-05T21:56:53Z")
and someone can search for “mongolian Helmet” and “persian Helmet”… ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/37 "2016-02-05T22:05:51Z")
> [@here\_and\_there](#): > > Not entirely… just search for “wwi cavalry”, and you’ll see a lot of people waving swords: > [wwi cavalry - Google Search](https://www.google.gr/search?q=wwi+cavalry&client=seamonkey-a&rls=org.mageia:en-US:unofficial&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjT-4mtzOHKAhXLkSwKHblFCQQQsAQIIQ&biw=1024&bih=374) Wow! Those photos of men in gas masks riding horses and wielding lances strike me as totally bizarre! (Wouldn’t the horses have needed gas masks too? What good is a lancer without his horse?) ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/38 "2016-02-05T22:12:03Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > Wow! Those photos of men in gas masks riding horses and wielding lances strike me as totally bizarre! > (Wouldn’t the horses have needed gas masks too? What good is a lancer without his horse?) Here you go. [https://www.google.com/search?q=gas+mask+on+horses+images&rlz=1CATAAC\_enUS670US671&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=989&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOqP7z0uHKAhUHyGMKHRITCjQQsAQIGw](https://www.google.com/search?q=gas+mask+on+horses+images&rlz=1CATAAC_enUS670US671&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=989&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOqP7z0uHKAhUHyGMKHRITCjQQsAQIGw) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/39 "2016-02-05T22:12:53Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > Wow! Those photos of men in gas masks riding horses and wielding lances strike me as totally bizarre! > (Wouldn’t the horses have needed gas masks too? What good is a lancer without his horse?) scroll down: > **[A foggy day](https://renaababe.wordpress.com/page/3/)** > > Practice-based research GAS MASK FOR ANIMALS DURING WORLD WAR ---
**Author:** ![here\_and\_there](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f07891/32.png) [@here\_and\_there](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/here_and_there)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208/40 "2016-02-12T15:17:05Z")
and we forget (me included :rolleyes: ) that the [French WWI helmet](https://yandex.com/images/search?text=french%20wwi%20helmet) had a comb like part on top even the unusual versions had this feature (see: [http://s00.yaplakal.com/pics/pics\_original/5/8/6/7142685.jpg](http://s00.yaplakal.com/pics/pics_original/5/8/6/7142685.jpg)) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-those-pointy-german-helmets-in-wwi-have-any-practical-value/745208.md?page=3)