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Very interesting! Before the crash we had a thread about experimental helmets. The model of 1908 featured a brass detachable spike that was 100% identical with the later M15. I think though that the spike base insert was steel, not brass. Also IR145 would not match the units that took part in...

I like it because it has one major point to it - it is authentic, the (sometimes confused or immature) thoughts of a 19-year old caught amidst a terrible war. His Stahlgewitter was edited for publication and of course one needs to take the national flurry after the war into account. That is the...

Thanks for the link! Don't expect an anti-war book like "All Quiet on the Western Front" though, he often writes in a rather glorifying way. Even more than "In Stahlgewittern" his diaries are a straight personal account, sometimes focusing on trivialities and horrific incidences with the same...

Do you know Ernst Jüngers book "In Stahlgewittern"? Is was sort of a collection of memories and one of the first graphic account of the war. Now they published his original diaries. He wrote these down right in the trenches and always carried his booklet with him. These texts were not edited nor...

Terrific condition! That type would be extremely rare for any state but finding on for IR153 is incredible.

Is it possible that the Bavarian plate and cockade are simply not native to this helmet? That would explain why the second loop is missing (it did not match the distance between the holes).

A great helmet! You don't see to many of these. But shouldn't this be posted under "General Headgear"? :D

Hill tops were numbered by the German army for better orientation and to avoid misunderstandings. This was done quite often on the Balkan front but I do not know how common it was in the west. Höhe 1603 does not refer to the hight. I wonder whether anybody can identify it with a period map? It...

Nice picture, I always liked shrapnel-proof bird houses. I guess it is meant rather humorous but after WWII you actually saw steel helmets converted to all sorts of buckets, pots, kitchen strainers etc.

"Weihnachten auf Höhe 1603 im Jahre 1916" Happy Xmas!

Hi, I once saw a helmet with a similar insignia (although tilted and without the curve) contributed to the Freikorps Werdenfels. A nice piece, maybe you can find a specialized collector who can identify it more precisely at the Great War Forum.

Evidently a cheerful pair Did I already show this one? It is not a commercial postcard such as "Fräulein Feldgrau". Maybe the girlfriends of some guys posing for them?

Hi Chlodovech, I don't know how common it was but I have seen it before. Here is a picture of a member from another GMGA unit 247. I looks like they used the same pattern for the "2" and the "7" on the shoulder flap.

Hello, that is my helmet (Selling some helmets) and I have never been 100% certain about it. I would love to see a reference, particularly of a) this type of helmet numbers and b) the headgear of the lower numbered GMGA units 201-210 which were established in May 1915. I have not seen a helmet...

From what I know, much of the Chauchat's bad reputation stems from the American M1918 version. It combined the original design weaknesses with a production flaw - the barrel was not correctly converted for the American caliber and thus often jammed even in new and clean condition. In addition I...

I just had another look at the soldier's address of the first card. I think his unit is ..Pionier-Komp. 20?, 107. Inf Div... Maybe it is possible to locate the division at that date.

Nice pictures. I thought the first card might read "..an der griechischen Grenze", i.e. the Greek border. Regrettably I could not read the unit on the stamp or the writers address.

Actually I'm not suggesting that the Swiss copied the US helmet. Rather it would be interesting to find out whether the US companies involved had a look at various examples that were developed at that time and based their model on them. The Swiss M18 was as an adoption of a historic helmet...

Nice! Is that a front trim of metal? That's rather rare on cork helmets, I cannot recall one right now. Also it almost looks like the spike and eagle are grey because they are so dull compared with shiny parts such as the sword grip.

Maybe he did not use the term so literally, great-grandmother would be more reasonable. After all she sent him sausages and evidently she can read his letter - the way he addresses her does not look like he assumes someone else will read it to her.