RUSSIA including USSR
Left is the Czech M53 (clone of the Russian Ssh39), right is the Russian M40.
Left is the Czech M53 (clone of the Russian Ssh39), right is the Russian Ssh68, the last Russian helmet before the introduction of Kevlar shells.
Outwardly identical to that issued during WW2. Apart from a small number of Ssh60's, this was the only Russian helmet until the fullscale introduction of the Ssh68 in the late 1970's.
The Ssh60 is virtually identical to this in shape, but has four high-mounted liner rivets and two lower chinstrap rivets, and has the same type of liner as the Ssh68.
This is the slightly less common
version with the East German
A-type chinstrap, here fitted as 'standard' and not retrofitted to a normal
helmet with pre-existing d-rings.
There is no stamp in this example, so dating is a guess, but
this chinstrap rig puts it around the 1960s (?)
This example is dated 1949.
It's the same basic shell as the Ssh39 and 40, but this time there are six liner rivets. arranged three to a side.
The three rivets -two high, one low - are clearly seen here. The two higher ones hold steel strips which in turn support the pads of the liner, the lower is for the chinstrap.
As you can see this is essentially the same liner as used on the later Ssh68, and was designed to be worn over a service cap or in winter the thick 'ushanka' fur hat.
According to Robert Clawson in his excellent RUSSIAN HELMETS this stamping is a comparatively recent innovation, and is on all ex-military surplus sold through authorised agents by the Russian federation.
Not very legible in this photo, unfortunately, and not much more
readable with the Mk 1 eyeball.
I can make out P1 and 66, making this example a 1966 production.
RUSSIA_Sch60 chinstrap loop detail
Note the odd bit of webbing - the leather chinstrap is actually riveted to that, which in turn is riveted to the helmet side. It is an odd arrangement.
The last Russian steel helmet, still in service, as from the late 1970s. Note four liner fixing rivets, high on the shell.
Very simple oilcloth-type liner, not padded. Extremely simple, to the point of crudity, chinstrap.
Liner is designed so that helmet can be worn on top of a substantial cap or other head-covering in cold conditions.
Known in the West as the 'conehead' for obvious reasons.