Stahlhelm

Stahlhelm
M35 on display at Museum Rotterdam
TypeCombat helmet
Place of originGermany
Service history
In service1916–1992
Used bySee Users
WarsWorld War I
German Revolution
Chinese Civil War
Winter War
World War II
Korean War
Vietnam War
Production history
DesignerDr. Friedrich Schwerd (M1916)
Designed1915
Produced1916
VariantsSee Variants

The Stahlhelm (German for "steel helmet") is a term used to refer to a series of German steel combat helmet designs intended to protect the wearer from common battlefield hazards such as shrapnel.

The armies of the great powers began to issue steel helmets during World War I as a result of combat experience and experimentation. The German Army began to replace the boiled leather Pickelhaube with the Stahlhelm in 1916. The Stahlhelm's distinctive coal scuttle shape, was instantly recognizable and became a common element of propaganda on both sides, like the Pickelhaube before it. The name was used by Der Stahlhelm, a German veterans' organization that existed from 1918 to 1935.

After World War II, both East and West German militaries adopted helmets unrelated to the archetypical German helmet designs from the world wars, but continued to refer to the new models as Stahlhelm. The WWII era Stahlhelm continued to be used by police and border guards in West Germany until the 1990s,[1] when they were replaced by modern kevlar helmets.

  1. ^ jwh1975 (10 April 2016). "WWII equipment of the Bundesgrenzschutz". wwiiafterwwii. Retrieved 14 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)