tony v
Well-known member
Hello,
I thought I would do a show and tell of Austrian Stahlhelm to try and demonstrate the different styles, types, chinstraps, liners and paint.
At first glance they do look basically the same as the German one, and with a cursory inspection it could be argued that they are remarkably similar but as with all collecting, the devil is in the detail.
With the introduction of the Stahlhelm in 1916, the Austrian Army immediately thought they might be onto something. Research had been underway for a while and several test examples had been submitted by Austrian manufacturers but nothing agreed.
They initially relied on the limited German stocks that were made available to them and their lack of any appropriate steel pressing facilities meant they remained reliant on German deliveries.
In order to speed up the numbers available the Austrian's put in an order for just the helmet shells from several different German companies which they then fitted with their own liners and chinstraps upon delivery.
Once plant equipment arrived and they started pressing their own helmets they began to be more self sufficient.
Any questions please shout but the pictures hopefully will help demonstrate the variants.
cheers
Tony
I thought I would do a show and tell of Austrian Stahlhelm to try and demonstrate the different styles, types, chinstraps, liners and paint.
At first glance they do look basically the same as the German one, and with a cursory inspection it could be argued that they are remarkably similar but as with all collecting, the devil is in the detail.
With the introduction of the Stahlhelm in 1916, the Austrian Army immediately thought they might be onto something. Research had been underway for a while and several test examples had been submitted by Austrian manufacturers but nothing agreed.
They initially relied on the limited German stocks that were made available to them and their lack of any appropriate steel pressing facilities meant they remained reliant on German deliveries.
In order to speed up the numbers available the Austrian's put in an order for just the helmet shells from several different German companies which they then fitted with their own liners and chinstraps upon delivery.
Once plant equipment arrived and they started pressing their own helmets they began to be more self sufficient.
Any questions please shout but the pictures hopefully will help demonstrate the variants.
cheers
Tony