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French Airborne Troops Helmets - Indochina


Andrei
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Pierre Schoendoerffer was also a war reporter. He jumped into Dien Bien Phu and after the battle he was captured and sent to a Viet Minh camp.

 

IMHO "Dien Bien Phu" is not his better movie. His 3 best films are (by order of preference) :

 

1) The 317th platoon (orig. "La 317e section")

2) A captain's honor (orig. "L'honneur d'un capitaine")

3) The Drummer Crab (orig. "Le Crabe-tambour)

 

There is a detailed article (in English) about Pierre Schoendoerffer on Wiki.

 

Dan.

 

Yes i knew that, i should of noted that he was also," Un veteran de la guerre d'indochine, Another famous french actor was also fought in indochina, alain delon, he served in the navy as a fusilier marin in indochine in 53-54, back in france after the war had ended however, he became a problem child and was ulimately kick out after 4 years of service. thanks for the tip on the other movies, i shall look them up.

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  • 2 months later...

Better late than never...

 

Here are the pictures of US M1 liner modified by the Airborne Command in Indochina. The liner I own in my collection has be bought by a friend of mine and fellow forum member in the USA !

I looked 20 years to find one here in France. I only knew two of them that were genuine. I know they are a couple more in other collections but the ones which have surfaced recently on either eBay France or the collector market seem bogus to me.

I paired the liner with a french M51 steel pot because it was meant to be, as you gonna see by yourselves.

 

post-467-1320068899.jpg

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post-467-1320069494.jpg

 

The V yokes have been riveted with french M51 liner A washers. It shows that this liner is a late modification near 1952-1953. I have seen another one with the yokes re-riveted with the original A washers just like a regular USM1-C liner.

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post-467-1320069746.jpg

 

The material used to make the yokes is a poor quality cotton strap. It's a miracle that some of those liners have survived the jumps and the pullings to adjust the chintrap.

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post-467-1320070175.jpg

 

Steel made double buckle. I have never been to ID the origin of these D rings. They do not seem to come from a piece of known webbing gear.

These D-rings are different and smaller than the ones of Jean Peraud's liner. Peraud is able to put his M1 helmet chinstrap thru the D-rings.

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post-467-1320070531.jpg

 

Unfortunately, I do not have the cloth chinstrap. It is made of the same thick cotton used for the TT47 uniform and its design is very basic. A friend of mine has a original one. One of these days, I'm gonna butcher a TT47 jacket and have it made...

 

This young Vietnamese paratrooper displays a good view of the chinstrap.

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post-467-1320070988.jpg

 

Dien Bien Phu, Colonel Langlais talks to young paras. The para in the front seems to have a TAP Extrême-Orient modified liner paired with a M51 steel pot.

Like my helmet the chinstrap of the pot has been inversed, short end on the right.

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