# Nets on helmets in WW2? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nets-on-helmets-in-ww2/560068 "2010-11-09T18:56:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nets-on-helmets-in-ww2/560068/1 "2010-11-09T18:56:40Z")
I was watching Saving Private Ryan the other day and noticed that there seems to be a net or something like that covering the helmets of the American soldiers. No such nets were on the German helmets. What are they really, if not nets? What’s their purpose? And why didn’t the Germans have them too? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nets-on-helmets-in-ww2/560068/2 "2010-11-09T19:00:54Z")
The main purpose would be allow camouflage to be added, so your shiny steel helmet would not be over-visible. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nets-on-helmets-in-ww2/560068/3 "2010-11-09T19:03:12Z")
> [@](#): > > The United States Army often utilized nets to reduce the helmets shine when wet and to allow burlap scrim or vegetation to be added for camouflage purposes. Most nets were acquired from British or Canadian Army stocks or cut from larger camouflage nets, The Army did not adopt an official issue net until the M-1944 mesh net that included a neoprene foliage band, which would have been retained on latter Mitchell and woodland camouflage covers. > **[M1 helmet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Helmet#Cover)** > > The M1 helmet is a combat helmet that was used by the United States Armed Forces from 1941 to approximately 1985. Designed to replace the M1917 helmet, a variant of the British Brodie helmet used during World War I, the M1 helmet is known for having been used as the primary American combat headgear during World War II, with similarly extensive use in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Owing to its extensive use throughout World War II and the Cold War, the M1 helmet has become an icon of the U.S... To reduce shine and allow extra camouflage. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nets-on-helmets-in-ww2/560068/4 "2010-11-09T19:05:59Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > No such nets were on the German helmets. > > And why didn’t the Germans have them too? [http://www.panzergrenadier.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=6924](http://www.panzergrenadier.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=6924) ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nets-on-helmets-in-ww2/560068/5 "2010-11-09T19:13:05Z")
The Germans don’t seem to have indulged in this practice very much. Complete cloth covers for it, yes, to some extent. ---
**Author:** ![tingbudong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tingbudong/32/520_2.png) [@tingbudong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tingbudong)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nets-on-helmets-in-ww2/560068/6 "2010-11-09T23:01:10Z")
In the film, the Rangers didn’t have netting on their helmets, but Airborne units made use of the netting. Most films don’t seem to indicate any consistency between type of unit and presence of netting. Airborne units appear to make the most consistent use of netting, but sometimes they don’t employ it. Sometimes US infantry has netting, sometimes they don’t. When Canadian Forces (Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry) first deployed to Afghanistan they made use of nets and “scrimmage” (I think that is the correct term…bits of cloth) on their helmets. Since they’ve adopted the CADPAT Arid, I don’t see it very often. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nets-on-helmets-in-ww2/560068/7 "2010-11-09T23:04:53Z")
And it was awful handy to stick things in.