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Interesting way of wearing it.


Cap Camouflage Pattern I
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Cap Camouflage Pattern I

I took a snip from a video of soldiers in WWI because I thought this was interesting.

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This guy has his chinstrap on the back of his head under his occipital, I find it interesting, why would he do this? Comfort?

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Cool find. I'd guess that some men wore their helmets like that just so they wouldn't have to wear the chin strap. Since the chin strap on those helmets couldn't come apart, wearing it behind the head was one of the only ways to get it out of the way.

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ive seen it with machine gunners american and foreign, american marine wearing a backwards M-1

 

attachicon.gif mg2.jpg

That's the exact picture I was thinking of when I read the first post Jake. I'd be lying if I said I didn't try on a few of my M1s that way and it just wasn't comfortable at all and didn't seem to serve a purpose. My only thought after that was that since this seems like a genuine action - shot, that Marine getting ready to deliver some ammunition probably threw his helmet on whichever way he grabbed it and didn't give a rat's butt at the time whether it was on backwards forwards or upside down.
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Maybe they were concerned that when wearing the chinstrap in the "normal" way, it might get caught on the rear sight while the gun was firing.

 

 

Lynne

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Well there was always the fear of having ones head ripped off if worn under the chin, just in case an explosion went off nearby. That may have some bearing on the chinstrap being worn as such.

 

Mike

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There had apparently been enough incidences of lower jaws being broken by the strap when the helmet was struck with sufficient force that the AEF Medical Corps recommended wearing the chinstrap behind the head sometime in 1918.

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True story. In basic during our first trips to the live fire ranges after familarization with the M16, I once heard one of my Drill Sergeants, an old timer Viet Vet, chew out a fellow trainee at one of the rifle ranges, for placing his steel pot on backwards, saying "YOU THERE.......PUT YOUR F..ing HELMET ON CORRECTLY........YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'RE IN THE ITALIAN ARMY, THIS ISN'T THE ITALIAN ARMY BOY! :lol:

 

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Ive seen several M1917 helmets with the leather chin strap adjusted like that, I always wondered why it was adjusted so short? probably for comfort and the strap kind of works like a nape strap and keep the helmet from falling forward when bending down, Ive also seen photos of WWII era soldiers wearing the M1917A1 with the strap at the rear on the back of their head like that

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True story. In basic during our first trips to the live fire ranges after familarization with the M16, I once heard one of my Drill Sergeants, an old timer Viet Vet, chew out a fellow trainee at one of the rifle ranges, for placing his steel pot on backwards, saying "YOU THERE.......PUT YOUR F..ing HELMET ON CORRECTLY........YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'RE IN THE ITALIAN ARMY, THIS ISN'T THE ITALIAN ARMY BOY! :lol:

 

attachicon.gifHelmet Italiano.jpg

 

 

i would have said french referring to the m51 helmet which in my opinion looks like a backwards M1 lol

 

post-125364-0-77118300-1413405983.jpg

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Cap Camouflage Pattern I

Interesting! I've loved reading all the replies and it's got my thinking, if this is happening in many armies I've got to wonder who keeps making helmets that don't meet the soldiers requirements?

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Interesting! I've loved reading all the replies and it's got my thinking, if this is happening in many armies I've got to wonder who keeps making helmets that don't meet the soldiers requirements?

The lowest bidder of course! :rolleyes:
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world war I nerd

As a precautionary measure, Doughboys were instructed to wear the helmet's chinstrap either between the lip and chin or behind the head, not under the chin, whenever they were in an area that was prone to gas attacks.

 

This was done to avoid fumbling with the chinstrap, and to ensure that the helmet could be removed as quickly as possible, thus expediting the donning of the gas mask ... all of which (weapon down, helmet off, mask out of satchel, mask on, mask adjusted, helmet on, weapon up) was supposed to be accomplished in less than 10 seconds.

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As a precautionary measure, Doughboys were instructed to wear the helmet's chinstrap either between the lip and chin or behind the head, not under the chin, whenever they were in an area that was prone to gas attacks.

 

This was done to avoid fumbling with the chinstrap, and to ensure that the helmet could be removed as quickly as possible, thus expediting the donning of the gas mask ... all of which (weapon down, helmet off, mask out of satchel, mask on, mask adjusted, helmet on, weapon up) was supposed to be accomplished in less than 10 seconds.

i dont think i could do that in 10 seconds... unless it was a simple adjusting then maybe i could see it working

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i dont think i could do that in 10 seconds... unless it was a simple adjusting then maybe i could see it working

The mask was often stuffed between the mask bag and chest outside of the bag when on the front line. Not to mention soldiers wouldn't snap the bag shut to hasten the process of removal from the bag and donning it in a gas attack.
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world war I nerd

To improve the skill in putting on and the wearing of gas masks, proper masking techniques were taught to the American Doughboys. It was said that in the case of a gas attack there were only two classes of soldier, the quick and the dead. For reasons now obscure, the British had determined that Small Box Regulator (SBR) masking should take no longer than 6 (not 10) seconds:

 

The box respirator is contained in a haversack and is carried slung on the shoulder until such time as the soldier comes into the forward areas, where it must be tied up on the chest ready for instant adjustment in case of need. As I mentioned before, it can be put on in six seconds from the word “go” … Of course the soldier has to be practiced in putting the mask on quickly. It is not quite so simple as the old “gas bag,”* about which a drill sergeant said to a squad: “You just whops it out and you whips it on.” But it does not take long to make men proficient with the respirator, at any rate on the parade ground. It is making him proficient under conditions of war that counts and all his instruction is now aimed toward this end.

 

Gas and Flame in Modern Warfare, 1918, Major S.J.M. Auld, Medical Corps, British Mission to the United States

*The term “gas bag” is a reference to the British PH Helmet which was a chemically treated wool hood or bag with eyepieces and a breathing tube that slipped over the head. It was the British Army’s primary gasmask before the advent of the British SBR, and the British Army’s reserve gasmask after the SBR’s advent.

 

American Doughboys were trained to accomplish donning the gasmask in 6 second and 5 steps, which were as follows:

 

1.Hold breath, knock off headgear, hold rifle between legs, and grasp the mask inside its satchel (in the alert position, high on the chest with the flap open and turned back between the chest and the satchel) by the breathing joint and nose clip.

 

2. Thrust chin out, raise mask up to the front of the face with both thumbs inside and under the elastic headband.

 

3. Place chin inside the facepiece, while simultaneously pulling the headband over the head to secure the mask.

 

4. Grasp mouthpiece with the teeth.

 

5. Secure the nose clip and run hands around the facepiece to ensure that it is snug against the face.

 

I was mistaken in my previous post, as replacing one’s helmet and retrieving one’s rifle was not a part of the “by the numbers” gas drill.

The photographs show British troops donning the SBR “by the numbers” and an AEF officer wearing a British Gas Bag/PH Helmet.

 

Photo of AEF officer courtesy of the John Adam-Graf collection

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If I'm not mistaken, there's a sequence in the famous documentary Memphis Belle when the pilot, Captain Robert Morgan, dons a reversed M1 as they are about to enter "Flak Alley".

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I have a 1917 marked USMC campaign cover that has a sown strap (cloth) that is so short it had to be worn behind the head and D.I.s wear the straps behind their head. I wore my bush cover the same way. I have tried it with WWI and WWII helmets. It felt like the war 1 helmet felt snug, the war 2 helmet was

uncomfortable. Just a thought.

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When seated or lying prone and having to look up some helmets rear edge was too far down and forced a gunners head down. By reversing the helmet the shorter front edge allowed for greater movement in those positions.

 

 

Ok, that sounds like I know what I am talking about but it is purely a guess based on the pictures I have seen.

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  • 1 year later...

thought I'd add in the picture I found, vietnam war M60 Machine gunner wearing a backwards M1. again a trend among machine gunners with the M1

post-125364-0-34608500-1466364162.jpg

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