CZECHOSLOVAKIA
- or back, really, this is an almost totally symmetrical helmet, but wearing it with the end with the single central rivet to the front feels more right.
Originally introduced in the 1930s,these helmets were widely
used by Germany and other nations after the invasion of Czechoslovakia,
and after WW2 were often refurbished for civil defence duties, especially
within Czechoslovakia.
This example is one of those.
The liner is the same design as the original pre-WW2 model, but is here made from some sort on plastic.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA M32-34 strap detail
The chinstrap is clearly a replacement, being quite different to the original with its split chin-cup.
A post-WW2 helmet derived from the Russian Ssh39. The shell is identical to the Russian helmet as far as I can tell. Used by the Czech armed forces - and many others as an export item - from the early 1950s onwards.
The rather odd round (as opposed
to the more usual human-head
shaped oval) liner is clear. Robert
Clawson (in the excellent book
RUSSIAN HELMETS) asserts that this
liner
is almost identical to that used on
early Russian Ssh39s, but I have not seen one.
(Odysseios has sent me
a photo of a Ssh39 with a multilobed
oilcloth liner similar to that used on this Czech clone, and Jukka Juutilainen
has photos of Ssh39s on his website, all with 'Italian'-type multilobe
leather liners. But they're all oval rather than round!)