GeneralCheese

Definitely not too many. I think I counted 5 or 6 online total. We know at least 100 were made.

This is my favorite find in a long long time. It showed up online as a post-WWII Finnish helmet, but I remembered seeing a thread on another forum saying what this really is and jumped on it immediately. For those who don't know, sometime around January 1943 a small batch (sources say 100, but likely a bit higher) of German-style helmets was manufactured in Britain, for use by the First Canadian Army. The First Canadian Army had a small unit of soldiers who pretended to be German - for training exercises. This unit was filmed by the OSS for a film titled "Meet The Enemy (German)", where this type of copy helmet makes several appearances. You can watch the film on youtube here: As for the helmet, it is a pretty accurate stahlhelm shape, but with drilled, unbushed vents, and a gray/brown paint. The liner is a modified British oilcloth liner, unfortunately not in the best condition. The rivets are pretty accurate to their German originals, and the chinstrap buckle is similar but a smaller width.

You're welcome! And for anyone still unsure, on Windows (I'm on Windows 10, it may be different on older versions), just hit the windows key and type "camera" and open the app. If you have no webcam, it should default to the microscope. If you do have a webcam, just hit this button and it will switch. On Mac, open quicktime and select the microscope on this menu, accessed with the arrow next to the record button:

With the USB microscopes, you can access them through your computer's webcam app. Just open it up and find where you can switch cameras.

Really nice set, I love these salty netted helmets. This thread inspired me to take some new photos of one of my absolute favorite helmets in my collection:

This is a recent find - the seller told me it was acquired in Taji, Iraq, at a Republican Guard base in 2004. It is a Polish WZ50 helmet with an Iraqi M80/03 net. There is plenty of faded Arabic writing on the liner too.

I just bought this 4-hole chincup off ebay, and when I got it in hand I noticed the stitching was different from any other I owned. Rather than the two ends of the fabric being joined between the last and second-last rivet, it is joined at the end, and the bar-tacking elsewhere is much thinner than other chincups. Anyone know when this one would be from?

I have the exact same one, albeit different brand marking, that I found at a thrift store new for $1. It has been one of my favorite finds. It is extremely useful for fabric items as well, you can see the makeup of the individual threads in cloth.

The rat's got the donkey on a leash!

Great site, thank you! Interesting part of history I never knew existed before.

Yes you are seeing a stripe. Do you know any good reading on the Civilian Guard? I' haven't been able to find a whole lot googling.

Thanks. Cool picture, that is definitely a good possibility, the only thing still drawing me towards Coast Guard is the blue paint and sheer number of repaints, like you'd see on a shipboard helmet.

I would leave the paint, it doesn't look like there is any WWII corking underneath

My thoughts are now that this is a US shell refurbed by a foreign country, who added swivel bales. The spot welding seems pretty sloppy/not pressed very hard.