VET BRINGBACK DD M35 ARMY HELMET BULLET STRUCK & NAMED

[flyingtigerfan]

Hi all,

I though this helmet was interesting enough to post. Bought it from a man who said an uncle had given it to him along with some US patches when he was a young boy. The helmet is an DD M35 with a bullet strike on the eagle decal. You can see where the force sheared off the vent hole surround and surrounding paint. It is named and unit marked inside, if you look closely it appears to have been reissued as there is another faint name and unit beneath.

-Rob

 

 

 

 

 

[flyingtigerfan]

more...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[R Michael]

Love the helmet! thanks for showing!!

[USdog]

Cool helmet. Any idea what unit it is from?

[1st Sgt CES]

Nice find------Blue Skies Mark

[USCapturephotos]

That is a neat piece. I always like the battle damaged stuff. Thanks for sharing.

Paul

[Reforger]

In front of the name it probably says the rank, but I can't exactly tell what the letters are. The unit is 14th Company, 64th Infantry Regiment.

[flyingtigerfan]

Thanks for all the comments. I'm hoping the nephew comes up with some more info on his uncle. Also would like to find out about the fate of the German soldier as well.

-Rob

[sundance]

Would that have been a spent round since it did not penetrate the helmet? It looks like it hit dead on rather than at an angle. Probably resulted in a nice headache and some serious praying.

[M24 Chaffee]

Nice bringback with some flavor!

 

 

Frank

[3mxd]

Regarding the naming in the helmet, his last name is Barthels, the partial letters preceding his name may be "Schz." or Schuetze = rifleman = private. His unit (14./JR 64) is the 14th company [3rd Battallion], 64th Infantry Regiment which was assigned to the 16th Infantry Division (1940 in Luxembourg and France). The regiment was raised in the Soest area in NW Germany and converted to motorized/mechanized infantry when the division was converted to an armored division in August 1940. It served in southern Russia 1941-43, was destroyed at Stalingrad and reconstituted in France that same year. It served in Italy Jun-Nov 1943 (Salerno, Termoli) and then back to the eastern front until the end of the war. Since the vet evidently served in Italy, perhaps that's where he acquired the helmet. If only it could tell us.

[flyingtigerfan]

Thanks so much for the info 3mxd! I would be interested in finding out Barthel's fate. I do wish the veteran was still around to tell how he acquired the helmet as well. As for the bullet strike, I'd hazard a guess that it's was from long distance since it did no penetrate the shell.

-Rob

[Patchcollector]

Wow,great bring back! Hope you are able to do some further research on both men.Just wondering;how can one tell for certain that it is a bullet strike dent?Could it also have been made from a piece of shrapnel?

[firefighter]

Great looking helmet. Could the hole be from the vent hole? If you look on the other side you can see a vent hole above the decal, about the same spot as the hole on the other side

[sgtdorango]

It appears a bullet or projectile struck the helmet right below the vent hole and knocked the vent hole out, the M35 german helmets had seperately riveted in vent hole rivets...after that the M40 helmets eliminated the riveted in vent hole and they were made during the helmet pressing process, hope i explained that right!?....dang cool helmet bringback by the way....mike

[firefighter]

It appears a bullet or projectile struck the helmet right below the vent hole and knocked the vent hole out, the M35 german helmets had seperately riveted in vent hole rivets...after that the M40 helmets eliminated the riveted in vent hole and they were made during the helmet pressing process, hope i explained that right!?....dang cool helmet bringback by the way....mike

 

It must have been a ricochet.I bet his ears were ringing for a few weeks.Just pound it out and it will be right as rain. JUST Kidding!!!!

[Bodes]

Unquestionably the area around the vent hole was struck and I would say it wasn't a direct hit, but more of a glancing blow....I would doubt any bullet from even a direct hit would leave such a perfect hole....The shell appears to be a typical field repaint but cannot tell for sure if the tri-color was painted around....Repaints were generally done in order to cover the national decal, per 1940 regulations....Bodes

[Blacksmith]

Hi Mike - Yes, it was a pressed in grommet, which was a separately machined part.

 

That would have been a heck of a wallop to bounce the vented grommet out.

 

It appears a bullet or projectile struck the helmet right below the vent hole and knocked the vent hole out, the M35 german helmets had seperately riveted in vent hole rivets...after that the M40 helmets eliminated the riveted in vent hole and they were made during the helmet pressing process, hope i explained that right!?....dang cool helmet bringback by the way....mike

[sundance]

I'm just checking to see whether everyone is on the same page. The hole is clearly not a bullet hole. That is the vent with the grommet knocked out. The adjacent mark at the 7 o'clock position is where the bullet struck. I would think that a glancing hit would leave more of a line than a circle. But, what the hey, it's a darn nice double d we'd probably all love to have.

[flyingtigerfan]

Thanks for the clarification Sundance, thanks to all for the comments. I'm still guessing a fairly head on strike from quite a distance but obviously just speculation. I've had a few battle damaged helmets before but have never seen one with the grommet knocked out, as previously stated it must have taken some force to accomplish that.

_Rob

[squirrely]

I'm clearly not an expert here (if that's not obvious enough already), buuut...here's my take on this helmet:

 

The impact strike looks suspiciously "dead on" - almost as if the helmet were placed on a tree stump or fence post and shot a single time. Just by eyeballing it (OP, confirm this if you can), the strike looks to be around half an inch in diameter (aka, 0.45"). A la, .45 ACP; Springfield armory famously did a test after the war which found that the good 'old 1911 would penetrate an M1 steel pot at around 30 yards...but not at 35. For thick German steel on the M35, near the gromet, who knows if this was at an even closer distance? This looks like some of the joes may have had some downtime and access to discarded helmets and a 1911. And after all, it is pretty neat to see that a round merely bounced off the helmet, so why not send it home? Based off the packaging and age of the damage, I'd still be willing to bet this was done in the ETO, just not in "combat" in the strictest sense. It's entirely possible that someone had a one-off perfect headshot in combat with the same effect, but what does occam's razor tell us about the simplest explanations?...

 

-M

 

Source:

SPRINGFIELD ARMORY

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DIVISION

MEMORANDUM REPORT SA-MR 20-2100

Dated: 24 August 1948

 

Seen this report before, but here's the general gist:

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?135445-OT-How-German-helmets-were-made-(film)

 

[flyingtigerfan]

Hi squirrely,

Thanks for comments. I guess we will never know for sure. I would have to say though in 30 years of buying that the majority of helmets etc that I have bought out of the woodwork do not have battle damage, GI seemed to have been very content to bring home loads of undamaged helmets, canteens, buckles, caps, etc. The ones with a suspicious bullet hole always seem to be a near perfect hole from clearly a high powered rifle, which usually have the feel of a postwar put it on a fence post shot. Wartime putting on a fence post and getting a small ding with a 45 to bring home as a battle souvenir sounds at odds with human nature. I know I'd have been thinking a bullet hole is what I wanted and I'd step in as close as it took until I put a satisfying hole in that lid to put a smile on my face and to impress the kids back home. Human nature is what it is, as an antiquer as well I've enjoyed buying my share of weathervanes over the years and I can say that I have yet to find a really old one with just one bullet hole - if there's one there are more, usually quite a few more, no one is going to ding it once and walk away satisfied.... Some times the other side of the razor is that we try to make things that are simple into something complicated, just my 2 cents...

_Rob

[JDK]

Great helmet Rob! Thanks for sharing this great bring back.

 

JD

[Garandomatic]

I saw the footage of the testing they did with helmets, and if I recall, it caved the German helmet in a good bit when shot with a 1911. Maybe someone will post that footage. I am leaning more toward a .38, possibly lead round nose.

[sgtdorango]

I think in that test footage they also blew out the vent rivet if i recall....mike