Main centres: | 1-3 business days |
Regional areas: | 3-4 business days |
Remote areas: | 3-5 business days |
Replica German WW1 M16 Stahlhelm (steel helmet) with early Pickelhaube style leather inner and chin strap. Painted dark grey and mud applied for camouflage. Large size (I wear a 61cm), but can be made smaller.
Early in 1916, the useless Pickelhaube was replaced by an impressive and efficient steel helmet, first seen in action at Verdun.
The original helmet was hot-pressed from a hard silicon-nickel steel; more expensive than Allied helmets, which were cold-pressed, it was also heavier (2lb.10½ oz. or 1.2kg), and gave better protection to face, ears and neck. It had an efficient internal sizing system of leather tabs and pads, and used the old M.1891 chinstrap. Two external lugs allowed the fitting, at need, of an extra steel plate shaped to the front of the skull--the Stirnpanzer--for use by sentries and other particularly exposed personnel. Issued with a field grey paint finish, some helmets were later painted in an angular multi-colored camouflage pattern of dull red/browns, ochres, green and blue/greys divided by black lines. Various fabric covers were also used for extra concealment, the most common being of light khaki sandbag material.
These helmets were still in use during the inter war years and some even saw service during WW2: