Medic helmets with red cross on D Day?

[5thrangerson]

Watching some online videos showing mostly footage from Omaha I noticed that there were not many medics with red cross painted helmets. One video in particular is the USCG video that shows different medical units including with the 1st ID, at least I think they were. All had their armbands on though. I have seen a picture of a 5th Ranger medic in an LCA just before D Day. Can anyone shed any light on the whys and why nots??

Thanks.

 

 

[5thrangerson]

Here's a 2nd Ranger medic with no helmet marking. And a !st ID I think and some unknowns.

[ken88]

I've always heard they didn't know how the Germans would react, and whether they would respect the Geneva convention, since the Japanese didn't in the PTO. Later on they started introducing them, perhaps they started to learn the Germans respected the Geneva convention since the German medics used the crosses too, although there are stories about SS snipers violating the agreement, especially later on in the war. You will rarely see D-day pictures showing medics with large crosses on their helmets in any case, they are certainly rare, but then again D-day pictures on their own are rare, a lof of pictures didn't make it out, and film was scarce in those days. I know of a few showing amphibious troops using the crosses on D-day, but the infantry was hesitant. 

[Blacksmith]

6 hours ago, 5thrangerson said:

Here's a 2nd Ranger medic with no helmet marking. And a !st ID I think and some unknowns.

 

 

 

Really great topic, thank you for posting it.

 

That second photo (LCT) looks like 101st Airborne guys.  Many of them are wearing gas brassards, but there is a soldier - sort of top-left in the photo (with waterproof bag on chest) - with a 101st SSI visible.

 

Here are two more pictures, from med-dept.com, showing medics with unpainted helmets.

 

Though the phrase was used in reference to SS helmets, I think it applies here as well:  “For every SS helmet issued during WWII, only five still exist”.  While somewhat tongue-in-cheek, the sentiment is obviously that the amount of fake medic helmets would leave one to believe that they were far more prolific than reality.  I suppose this is reinforced by Hollywood movies as well.

 

[dustin]

7 hours ago, ken88 said:

I've always heard they didn't know how the Germans would react, and whether they would respect the Geneva convention, since the Japanese didn't in the PTO. Later on they started introducing them, perhaps they started to learn the Germans respected the Geneva convention since the German medics used the crosses too, although there are stories about SS snipers violating the agreement, especially later on in the war. You will rarely see D-day pictures showing medics with large crosses on their helmets in any case, they are certainly rare, but then again D-day pictures on their own are rare, a lof of pictures didn't make it out, and film was scarce in those days. I know of a few showing amphibious troops using the crosses on D-day, but the infantry was hesitant. 

 

What you "heard" doesn't quite make sense, the allies were encountering the Germans well prior, in North Africa, Sicily and Italy before D-Day. One would figure, they'd had learned what the Germans reaction was by then to the rules of the Geneva Convention. Your first sentence, to a layman, would be led to believe that the Normandy invasion was the first battle of WWII in Europe. 

What was usage of painted medic helmets in the above mentioned campaigns?

Was there a directive to not paint medical insignia on helmets for the Normandy invasion?

 

misplaced the caption to this image, but if I recall, it is shortly after the invasion in France. Expedited markings on helmet, very crude, front and rear panel.

 

[ken88]

46 minutes ago, dustin said:

 

What you "heard" doesn't quite make sense, the allies were encountering the Germans well prior, in North Africa, Sicily and Italy before D-Day. One would figure, they'd had learned what the Germans reaction was by then to the rules of the Geneva Convention. Your first sentence, to a layman, would be led to believe that the Normandy invasion was the first battle of WWII in Europe. 

What was usage of painted medic helmets in the above mentioned campaigns?

Was there a directive to not paint medical insignia on helmets for the Normandy invasion?

 

misplaced the caption to this image, but if I recall, it is shortly after the invasion in France. Expedited markings on helmet, very crude, front and rear panel.

 

 

This is what med-dept is saying on the matter:

 

"Apparently, the first use of medical markings on steel helmets took place in N. Africa (NATOUSA Theater) around mid-1943. During “Operation Torch” (Invasion of North Africa, 8 Nov 42) and subsequent field activities, it had been noted that quite a lot of medical aid men suffered regular casualties. Interrogation of German PWs revealed that the single Red Cross brassard (worn on the left arm) was not always visible, during combat, and as such it was often difficult for the enemy to correctly identify medics in the field! An investigation was launched and upon instructions from The Surgeon General’s Office, reports from the N. African & Mediterranean Campaigns were intensively studied. It took a while to remedy the situation, and meanwhile medical personnel (1943-44) just placed a second brassard under the helmet’s camouflage net in order to show their trade more distinctively. Some men began to wear a brassard on both arms for increased identification (left and right). Finally, in the end, medics just started painting red cross symbols directly onto the helmet itself. This use was gradually introduced in the Italian Theater, and later expanded to the ETOUSA, after the Normandy landings. It seemed that the Medical Department was afraid of the enemy’s reaction, for the coming D-Day Operation (6 Jun 1944), whereby medics refrained from painting any Red Cross markings on their helmets – this can be clearly seen in period illustrations (though, with minor exceptions)! When the Allies moved further inland, they seemed appeased. After 2 months of combat and careful analysis of shooting accidents, involving medical personnel, in Normandy, most unit commanders concluded that, except for isolated cases, the Germans abided by the Geneva Convention. According to statements made by German prisoners, sniper incidents often resulted from difficulty in seeing and identifying Geneva Convention brassards on men moving in the field, furthermore American medics in some Divisions noted that a high proportion of their small-arms casualties were often shot from the unbrassarded right side! Some aidmen and litter bearers accordingly began to wear brassards on both arms, and even started painting non-regulation red crosses on their steel helmets (just as happened in the Mediterranean Theater). The XIX Corps Surgeon late in July 1944 officially authorized these painted markings and other measures to make Geneva Convention symbols on men and vehicles more conspicuous."

 

Hope it helps! 

 

Edit: should add that it indeed is very risky to generalize hostile behaviors during a worldwide conflict, with some units being more aggressive, especially when under assault from the largest military armada the world has ever seen. Good generals and armies don't make those mistakes. 

[GITom1944]

Marked medic helmets among Army personnel were the exception on D-Day. The Ranger medics had a single red cross marking on the front. I don't know if that was by some or all of the Ranger medics. Some Navy Beach Bn corpsmen had various red cross markings. I've never seen any other white circle/red cross markings on Army D-Day personnel & I've probably looked at almost every Signal Corps photo and film taken in Normandy of June 6th. Your photo showing the stretchers on the beach is of 4th ID medics on Utah Beach.

 

Tom

[GITom1944]

Quote

 

Was there a directive to not paint medical insignia on helmets for the Normandy invasion?

 

misplaced the caption to this image, but if I recall, it is shortly after the invasion in France. Expedited markings on helmet, very crude, front and rear panel.

 

 

Your photo with the improvised markings used by a 79th ID medic was taken on July 9, 1944. The woman had both her legs blown off by a German anti-personnel mine. 

 

Tom

[dustin]

On 1/16/2021 at 11:08 AM, GITom1944 said:

 

Your photo with the improvised markings used by a 79th ID medic was taken on July 9, 1944. The woman had both her legs blown off by a German anti-personnel mine. 

 

Tom

 

 

Thank you for context to that image!!

 

Ken88- That is very insightful, so according to that commentary, painted medic panels really did not start appearing until the summer of 1944 in any significant number on the front lines.