its always a hoot for me to see how things are made;

In both world wars, the most distinctive feature of the German army uniform was the item that became a symbol of German militarism even in the most remote corners of the world – the helmet, the Stahlhelm.

Here, a display is set up on a table outside a steel helmet factory in Lübeck, Germany, showing the various stages of the process of making helmets for Stahlhelms for the Imperial German Army.

At the beginning of World War I, no combatants were issued any form of head protection other than cloth and leather caps, designed to protect against saber cuts.

When trench warfare began, casualties suffering from serious head wounds (mostly caused by shrapnel rather than gunfire) increased dramatically on all sides. The French were the first to see the need for greater protection – in late 1915 they began issuing Adrian helmets to their soldiers. British soldiers followed with Brodie helmets. And later German.

The person responsible for the design of the German Stahlhelm was Dr. Friedrich Schward of the Technical Institute of Hanover. In early 1915, Schwerd completed a study of head wounds that were the result of trench warfare and presented a recommendation for steel helmets.

Soon afterwards he was ordered to Berlin. Schwerd then took over the design and production of suitable helmet steel. In some cases, it was an advantage for Germany to have the chance to test both the English and French types before making its own definitive decisions, given that both designs were not adequate...........more.........