Japan: model 30-32 (type 90) Combat Helmet (part one)

 Talk about a land of contrasts...

For a quick analysis regarding Japanese atrocities before and during WWII, click here

They were truly the "Evil Empire".

Ladies and gentlemen the Japanese model 30-32 steel combat helmet:

With its distinctive acorn shape here is a distinctive symbol, and reminder, of the scourge of the 

so-called Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

With long web chinstrap tapes and leather liner this non-ballistic and fairly lightweight helmet conqured much of the eastern hemisphere.

Front of helmet with insignia of the Japanese Landing Force

Close up of insignia. I believe that this helmet originally had the Army insignia on the front of it as I can just make out the indentations in the olive/brown paint of the five-pointed army star.

Leather liner and cotton chin tapes. The Liner is a three-finger system sewn to a leather band, riveted 

to the shell.

This rivet appears to have lost its head (don't we all from time to time).

Liner mounting rivets are peened.

Right side with two tiny ventilation holes visible

Detail of script handwritten on liner.

(This, from reader Ted: I wandered around [your blog] a bit, and stumbled over your Japanese helmet, that evidently belonged to someone named Imai, perhaps with a given name of Shokichi).

Some however, were reconditioned and sold for export, as we'll see in next week's entry.

 

Be advised that searching for Japanese war photos on "Google images" can present some very jarring images about their savage romp in China.

With some heavy scratches and moderate wear, I'm very happy to have this hard-to-come-by example in the collection. It is a particularly light helmet and the Greenish-brown paint has been brushed on and is rather thick in places.

Provenance:

This helmet was purchased on Okinawa Japan in the mid-1980s by my brother who was stationed there for two years with the U.S. Navy.  He noted the difficulty of securing not just a helmet in this good condition, but of getting any Japanese helmet at all. Japan was so diligent in shedding its militarist past that most of these helmets were destroyed immediately 

after the war.

German Luftschutz Helmet

fourth in a series of Civil Defense helmets

Luftangriff!

When your enemy controls the skies, the idea of Civil Defense grows large in the public imagination.

The "Luftschutz" was the air defense arm of the RLB; civilians, that is old folks, women, and children performing all of the Civil Defense roles so abundantly available in a smoldering and crumbling Germany while the last of the able bodied men were being pushed into the sausage machine of Hitler's "Thousand-year Reich".

This brave-looking dark blue helmet, of that Germanic-flared style, has a deep dome, wide protective skirt, and is emblazoned with the winged swastika insignia of the Luftschutz.

The profile demonstrates that typical "Fritz" style. The 'bead" or circumference ridge is an element we'll see again in a police-style helmet in a later posting of German helmets.

These distinctive colander-like ventilation holes prompt thoughts of draining pasta.



The rear view shows the widely flared skirt to fine effect.

The top view shows a finish in quite good condition, all very much intact save for that ding, caused perhaps by falling masonry? I'm hoping the damage occurred as the lid was thrown down in greeting the advancing food trucks of the American GIs (and not Russkis, for heaven's sake).

The very simple, very cheap, liner is indicative of the scrimping that Germany had to resort to in order to support a madman's hallucination of world domination. The cork spacers provided the wearer with a scant eighth of an inch separation between shell and skull. Let's hope our Aryan Air raid warden had a healthy head of hair.

The size is stamped on one of the liner fingers. The leather, by the way is very thin and cheap. Had the war gone on another year the liner doubtless would have ended up as some Berliner's lunch.

Manufacturer's mark stamped in the rear skirt.

Those familiar with German helmets will recognize the trusty split rivet that fastened the liner to the shell. The liner band, by the way seems to be some sort of pressed heavy paper.

The cork spacer is all that lies between the wearer and a concussion.

The nicest piece of leather is the chinstrap, of which only the buckle-half is currently attached.

This insignia will also be found on the captured helmets of many nations before the war ended.

Three cute German girls in Luftschutz gear, dutifully and cheerily marching toward oblivion...

as Hitler's Reich reaps the whirlwind.

As you collect, reflect.

The Luftschutz "gladiator style" helmet of World War Two. A sad cautionary icon, reminding us that willingly following pied pipers and maniacs can bring with it a terrible price.

Next Monday's installment will be the British MkII air-raid warden's helmet of WWII.

Note: the three German girls photo is a copyrighted image of German-Helmets.com and is used here without permission, though I'm still hoping to hear from them.

United States Civil Defense "OCD" WWII

second in a series of five civil defense posts

"Don't Scream", is always good advice

The World War Two homefront in the United States had already learned a lot from our friends in Britain regarding air raids and civil defense.

These spotlights and tracers converge on a false alarm high in the sky over Los Angeles.

Early on in that war there was already an organized structure of roles and responsibilities in place for trained, enthusiastic civilians.

Every specialized job had its own identifying insignia, quite a dazzling array!

I think the pinetree insignia had something to do with automobile deoderizers.

Pictured here from the homefront of Grand Rapids, Michigan is the typical "Office of Civil Defense" steel helmet of WWII.

The generic CD insignia is a slide-on water transfer.



Although many US M1917 helmets were recycled for the Civil Defense role, these "OCD" helmets were unique and had, as evident here, a much deeper bowl than the "tin lid" of WWI.

This symmetrical helmet, stamped out of steel may have come from the same Detroit machinery that was stamping out automotive hubcaps prior to US entry into the war.

Don't mess with the "Arsenal of Democracy".

The interior shows a suspension system very similar to the US M1 helmet liner.

The property stamp on the underside of the brim.

Simple size adjustment provided a snug, custom-fit for the owner, in this case a woman from...

Grand Rapids Michigan.

The chinstrap (and suspension) is a cotton twill, secured to a spot-welded bail.

Close-up of the generic Civil Defense insignia.

Our aunts and uncles, moms and dads who donned these helmets in WWII did their bit to keep America safe from the Japanese...



and return to those Auto plants to once again produce gas-guzzling cars . Until we got rescued, that is, by fuel-efficient Japanese technology.

provenance:
accession number:
United States Civil Defense OCD helmet, WWII
Acquired 2002, a gift

Condition: good