# German spiked helmets: is it so you could catch livestock chucked in to the air?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-spiked-helmets-is-it-so-you-could-catch-livestock-chucked-in-to-the-air/41953>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 20, 2000, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-spiked-helmets-is-it-so-you-could-catch-livestock-chucked-in-to-the-air/41953 "2000-11-20T10:07:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kidchaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kidchaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchaos)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-spiked-helmets-is-it-so-you-could-catch-livestock-chucked-in-to-the-air/41953/1 "2000-11-20T10:07:48Z")

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i’ve always wondered why the German army during WW1 (and probably before that) had that big old spike on their helmets. Any thoughts?

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**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-spiked-helmets-is-it-so-you-could-catch-livestock-chucked-in-to-the-air/41953/2 "2000-11-20T10:14:36Z")

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‘Pointy Prussian Helmets’

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=36010](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=36010)