If you compare WWI and WWII German Army helmets, they are pretty similar-except that the 1914-18 versions have some little projections on the top/sides. what was the function of these?
BTW-the US Army now uses a helmet of very similar design. So the Germans had optimized helmet design, almost 100 years ago.
Assuming you mean the slight projections at the sides of the stahlhelm, they were designed to allow an additional armoured plate known as a stirnpanzer to be attached, as seen here.
Wiki notes that this was too heavy for general use and was confined to snipers and trench raids.
Well, Kobiyashi may be correct, and my assumption wrong, but whichever helm ralph was talking about, I think we’ve covered it.
The helmets in question are called Pickelhaube (which basically translates to ‘pointy hat’), and the spike was purely decorative. The original (Russian) versions which they’re probably based on the spike was to hold a decorative plume. By the time WWI broke out, the German version had lost this function, and the spike was removed to make room for a plume, if such was to be worn.
Steel helmets came into regular use in WWI because of the injuries from shrapnel shells. These shells would burst overhead and send lead or steel balls into the open tops of trenches or masses of moving troops in the open. After steel helmets were introduced injury rates from shrapnel dropped dramatically. The flanges protect a little more head, neck and upper body from overhead shell burst.
German Stahlhelm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stahlhelm
French Adrian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_helmet
British and US Brodie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brodie_helmet
According to Hew Strachan"s “The First World War” The “Brodie” reduced head wounds by 75% (paper cite it is in my lap, Sorry)
Capt
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I am not sure we are all talking about the same thing here but we do seem to have helmets and their functions well covered.
Capt