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well that explains alot...Helmets to Pots and Pans


WW2JAKE
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found this video, now i know they are german however this is a result of the U.S. so i think it should be ok. but it explains why mint german helmets are so hard to find! but i dont blame them one bit. they needed to rebuild and get going so its completely justified but i dont know whether to laugh or cry about this video.

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ViewfinderGyrene

Well I quess that's one way to beat your swords into plow shares.

 

Lol, good line :lol:

 

Would be amusing to have one of those pots!

 

Postwar ingenuity coupled with slight sadness...thus why I don't have one...

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Lol, good line :lol:

 

Would be amusing to have one of those pots!

 

Postwar ingenuity coupled with slight sadness...thus why I don't have one...

let find some and sell them at swap meets as original german helmets!

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ViewfinderGyrene

let find some and sell them at swap meets as original german helmets!

 

Also worthy of LOL, if only we youngans were that good B)

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Also worthy of LOL, if only we youngans were that good B)

lol id love to do it just for laughs.

 

btw anyone have a better understanding of what is being said? My german isnt up to speed anymore

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ludwigh1980

Very interesting. It's odd I still find many more German WW2 helmets than I find correct WW2 U.S. Helmets out of the wood work here in Colorado. Leave it to the Germans to have such a carefully engineered process of conversion with as few steps as possible.

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Very interesting. It's odd I still find many more German WW2 helmets than I find correct WW2 U.S. Helmets out of the wood work here in Colorado. Leave it to the Germans to have such a carefully engineered process of conversion with as few steps as possible.

i think those helmets were those left in storage or unissued but there may be soe worn helmets in the pile

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Old Marine

Very interesting. It's odd I still find many more German WW2 helmets than I find correct WW2 U.S. Helmets out of the wood work here in Colorado. Leave it to the Germans to have such a carefully engineered process of conversion with as few steps as possible.

 

 

 

Lots and lots of German helmets were picked up and send or bought home as souvenirs. US helmets were organizational equipment and had to be turned in to supply. Very few guys bothered to try and bring home their US helmets, they are heavy and bulky and when you are limited to one duffel bag they just take up too much room.

 

I would imagine that most of the the US helmets used overseas during the war never made it back to the states. They were probably refurbished and reissued to occupation troops and our allies that were rebuilding their armies.

 

By the way that's a neat video.

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Rakkasan187

My mother in law grew up in 3rd Reich Germany during the war and post WW2 and she recalls using refurbished German helmets for numerous things, cooking pots, collanders, and even flower pots. They used to have several at their house..

 

My wife goes everey summer to visit, so I will ask her to look in the attic at their home to see if anything is up there..

 

These are unique items and I am sure that there are some out there that survived.. Just trying to find them is the challenge..

 

Leigh

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cutiger83

she recalls using refurbished German helmets for numerous things, cooking pots, collanders, and even flower pots. They used to have several at their house..

 

 

If you ever look at Ken's "Norman D Landing" thread, you will see LOTS of re-purposed military surplus items used in Normandy. The countries in Europe were so devastated from the war, that they had to rebuild using anything they could. He even showed a house that had runway/road strips as the ceiling.

 

...Kat

 

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I wish I had paid more attention to the old, beat up cook wear when I was in Germany. Those colanders at the beginning looked very familiar.

 

They must have been rather heavy to heft around compared to other standard kitchen items.

 

As far as the pots, one wonders how evenly they distributed any heat applied to them.

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ViewfinderGyrene

I wonder if the "Fallschirmjager" line of cookware was more expensive?

Jim

 

This has to be the thread with the best one-liners...

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There is an entire thread devoted to these "spoils of war" converted to utilitarian items postwar on that "evil forum".

 

a lot of gasmask canisters were used as buckets, coffee pots, pitchers, etc etc.

 

-Brian

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There is an entire thread devoted to these "spoils of war" converted to utilitarian items postwar on that "evil forum".

 

a lot of gasmask canisters were used as buckets, coffee pots, pitchers, etc etc.

 

-Brian

Everything was used post was cause of the lack of materials and need to rebuild...

sorry i had these saved im not sure whos they are

 

post-125364-0-75093200-1430947451.jpgpost-125364-0-38335300-1430947453.jpg

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Flyer9314

I went to a military auction this morning and saw this.... It was listed as a German M40 colander. I wouldn't have given it a second thought but I saw this thread a few days ago. I saw the colander and knew what it was immediately. I bought it and got a few strange looks. One guy mumbled something about, "how is that a helmet!?!"

 

I just hope that a soldier didn't bring it home for his wife!

 

post-62350-0-63657100-1431129101.jpg

post-62350-0-26360700-1431129485.jpg

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I went to a military auction this morning and saw this.... It was listed as a German M40 colander. I wouldn't have given it a second thought but I saw this thread a few days ago. I saw the colander and knew what it was immediately. I bought it and got a few strange looks. One guy mumbled something about, "how is that a helmet!?!"

 

I just hope that a soldier didn't bring it home for his wife!

 

attachicon.gifM40 #1.JPG

attachicon.gifm40 #2.JPG

I would love to hang that on my wall! I know when I made this post it was in a more joking way but I'd honestly love to have one just to show what happend when it was all over
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Alert the Wehrmacht Awards Forum! This could be a whole new line of collecting!

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Alert the Wehrmacht Awards Forum! This could be a whole new line of collecting!

There are folks over there who DO collect this stuff!

 

-Brian

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Flyer9314

I thought that it was cool because it is part of the spoils of war and I'm surprised that German collectors would be interested in it too. I guess it was a helmet at one time before the Allies won the war!

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