Here is another gem from my collection. This helmet is a WW1 French model 1915, Adrian Artillery helmet with original winter camouflage paint. I picked this helmet up at the Paris Flea Market in Paris, France in 1981.
The French Adrian helmets were named after the French General Adrian who designed them. The french soldiers originally went into combat in WW1 wearing only a Kepi hat. With the advent of trench warfare and near constant artillery barrages, with shells bursting overhead, the number of head wounds sky rocketed. The french answer to this was the lightweight Adrian steel helmet. As soon as the helmet was issued to the troops on the front, the number of head wounds fell. A simpler, and stronger version of this helmet, one that was stamped from a single piece of heavier steel, was issued in 1926.
Here are the pictures of my helmet........... The original blue-gray paint the helmet was issued in can still be seen inside the helmet under the liner, and where the white paint has been scratched away.
White paint is very likely to be painted on during interwar or occupation for some kind of civil defense or red cross. I have one with the same kind of paint and red cross on the front.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they painted it white when they all surrendered in WW2?
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