The statistics are unrelenting: in the French army, steel helmets helped to avoid three-quarters of the head wounds, which in most cases ended in death. In Russia, in September 1915, more than 33 thousand wounded were evacuated from Moscow, of which 70% were hit by bullets, shrapnel - 19.1%, shrapnel - 10.3% and cold weapons - 0.6%. As a result, the military leadership of Russia surrendered and on October 2, 1916, issued two gigantic orders for the manufacture in France of 1, 5 million and 2 million of Adrian's steel helmets. The total value of the contract was 21 million francs, that is, 6 francs per copy. Count Alexei Alexandrovich Ignatiev, a diplomat and military attaché in France, who later became Lieutenant General of the Soviet Army, played an important role in equipping Russian soldiers with such protection. In fact, the finalization of the helmet consisted only in the badge in the form of a two-headed eagle and painting with light ocher. Model Adrian M1916 had a hemispherical shape and consisted of three parts - a stamped dome, a double-sided trump card, edged with steel tape and a ridge that covered the ventilation hole. The underneath space was carved with leather and consisted of six to seven petals, which were fastened together by a cord. By pulling on the cord, it was possible to adjust the helmet to the size of the head. The difficulties do not end there - between the body and the under-hull space there were corrugated aluminum (!) Plates fixed on tie brackets soldered to the helmet body.
Steel helmet of Adrian with the coat of arms of the Russian Empire. Source: antikvariat.ru
There were several plates - in the front, back and side parts, and, in front and behind, the flexibility was somewhat greater than the rest. All this allowed the space underneath to perfectly fit the fighter's head. The wide visor of the helmet made it possible to protect the user from lumps of earth and small debris flying from the sky. The weight of the helmet was small: only 0.75 kg, which did not cause any particular inconvenience to the soldiers, but the wall thickness was scanty - 0.7 mm, which made it possible, at best, to hope for protection from shrapnel and shrapnel at the end. By the way, as a result of such a French creation, only about 340 thousand were delivered to Russia. The Russian wars first tried them on in France (Galicia), where they were sent to support the allied forces.
A group of officers of the 267th Infantry Dukhovshchinsky Regiment wearing Adrian's helmets. Source: "Cannon meat" of the First World War, Semyon Fedoseev, 2009
The first domestic development was the "model of 1917" or "M17 Sohlberg" - an all-stamped steel helmet, in many ways repeating the contours of the French counterpart. Produced a means of protection at the Finnish factories "G. W. Sohlberg "and" V. W. Holmberg”and at several enterprises in Russia. In 1916, an order was given from the General Staff to immediately manufacture 3, 9 million helmets with an extraordinary allocation of steel for this purpose. They did not have time to officially take it into service, but the Finns managed to send part of the order to the front, where he successfully served. On December 14, 1917, the Central Military-Industrial Committee, by its decision, curtailed the production of M17. Prior to that, in January-May 1917, during the civil war, the Finnish Red Guard appropriated several hundred helmets, which were later recaptured by the Finnish White Guards and transferred to the Helsinki Infantry Regiment. But the misadventures of the "steel cap" did not end there either - in 1920 the Finns removed the helmets from their infantry equipment and sold them to firefighters, who repainted them black.
Steel helmet "M17 Sohlberg" from a batch that remained in Finland. The under-body device is sheathed in deerskin. The copy, obviously, remained from the Finnish "Ministry of Emergency Situations" - the black paint has not been completely removed. Source: forum-antikvariat.ru
The design of the M17 Sohlberg provided for the use of millimeter steel, which favorably distinguished its French "tin" - one could hope that under certain conditions the Russian helmet would hold back a bullet. Due to the use of new thick-walled steel, the weight of the helmet has increased compared to the French model by up to 1 kilogram. At the very top of the M17 Sohlberg, there was a ventilation hole covered with a steel plate, the shape of which was an individual distinctive feature of the manufacturers. The underbody space had the shape of a dome with a cord for adjusting to the size of the head and was fixed with thin plates in the form of antennae, capable of bending. Similar to Adrian's helmet, there were corrugated plates for damping and ventilation on the front, back and sides. The chin strap was fastened with a rectangular buckle.
The result of the belated introduction of both the French helmet and the domestic model M17 was the lack of such personal protective equipment in the Russian army. Soldiers at the front were often forced to use captured German samples, which at that time were probably the best in the world. In the post-war period, the legacy of the tsarist army was used for a long time - in the Red Army until the beginning of the 40s one could meet fighters both in M17 and in Adrian's helmet.
Red Army soldiers wearing Adrian helmets and M17 Sohlberg. Source: "News of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences"
The topic of developing steel headgear for the army in Soviet Russia returned in the late 1920s. The main developer of personal protective equipment was the Central Research Institute of Metals (TsNIIM), previously called the Central Scientific and Technical Laboratory of the Military Department. The institution carried out work on comprehensive testing of various grades of armored steels, as well as their mandatory shelling from small arms. The leaders of the direction of individual protection of fighters were d. So n. professor Mikhail Ivanovich Koryukov, as well as engineer Victor Nikolayevich Potapov. Their long-term work in 1943 was awarded the Stalin Prize. The first prototype was an experimental helmet from 1929, which bears great resemblance to the M17 Sohlberg, only with a more elongated visor. The underbody space was copied from a French helmet, but supplemented with shock-absorbing plates on each petal.
An experimental prototype of a 1929 helmet. Source: "News of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences"
The second model, more successful, was a helmet designed by engineer A. A. Schwartz from the Scientific and Technical Department of the Artillery Directorate of the Red Army. In the appearance of his creation, the outlines of German and Italian steel headdresses were already visible. It was this sample that became the basis for the first mass helmet of the Red Army - SSH-36.
The author of the invention A. A. Schwartz in a steel helmet of his own design, as well as its outline. Source: "News of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences"
SSh-36 began to be produced at the end of 1935 at the Lysva Metallurgical Plant named after the newspaper "For Industrialization", located in the Perm Territory. The need to introduce such helmets into the uniforms of fighters was mentioned in 1935 in the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "On the state of the baggage and clothing and food provisions of the Red Army." From the German school of "helmet-making", engineer Schwartz took over the wide fields and a far-out visor, and from the Italians with their M31 - the ridge at the very top of the dome, which closes the ventilation hole. The underbody cushioning was designed with plate holders, as well as sponge rubber inserts. The chin strap was held on rings and secured with cotter pins. The SSh-36 had negative aspects, connected, first of all, with the insufficient volume of military tests. When worn for a long time, the soldiers developed pain in the temporal region, the fighters experienced inconvenience during aiming and, most outrageous, the helmet could not be put on a winter headdress. All these shortcomings were revealed during the winter war with Finland in 1939-1940. A soldier was often simply broken and thrown away a tight under-body device in order to somehow pull the helmet over a hat with earflaps.
Appearance and under-body device of the SSH-36 helmet. Source: "News of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences"
The next in line was the SSH-39, which appeared, as can be seen from the index, right before the start of the Great Patriotic War and was originally developed on the basis of the Italian helmet "Elmeto modello M33". The Italian armored hood appeared in the USSR as a trophy from the Spanish Civil War. The development of a new helmet began more thoroughly - they attracted the aforementioned TsNIIM, the Military Medical Academy, as well as the People's Commissars of ferrous metallurgy and defense. The tactical and technical requirements for the helmet were signed in 1938 by Marshal of the Soviet Union S. M. Budyonny himself.
External similarity of the steel helmet SSH-39 and the Italian steel helmet Elmeto modello M33: a - helmet SSH-39; b - sub-unit device SSh-39; c - Italian helmet. Source: "News of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences"
A decisive contribution to the effectiveness of the helmet was made by Dr. Sc. Koryukov M. I. and engineer V. N. Potapov, when they developed and welded steel of a new grade 36СГН and its replacement 36СГ. The shape of the helmet was simple hemispherical with a visor and a 3-8 mm rim along the lower edge, the origin of which is associated with protection against saber impact. Obviously, according to the idea of the cavalryman S. M. Budyonny, the blade should have been retracted by this shoulder to the side, however, the saber was the last weapon that the SSH-39 had to face on the battlefield. Initially, the space underneath was similar to the SSH-36, but the experience of the Finnish campaign suggested that it was impossible to use it in severe frosts. A. M. Nikitin (military engineer of the 2nd rank, military representative of the Main Engineering Directorate of the Red Army) solved the problem, presenting in 1940 a new sub-unit device in the form of sectors.
Helmet SSh-40 and its sub-body device. Source: kapterka.su
Three leatherette petals, the inner side of which was equipped with fabric bags with cotton wool, were attached to the body with plate fasteners and two rivets. A cord was threaded into each petal for adjustment, and the chin strap was attached with a plate holder. As a result, Nikitin's improvements were drawn to the new model SSh-40, which, together with the SSh-39, became one of the best examples of personal protection in the world. The ability to combine a new helmet with a hat with earflaps was highly appreciated by the troops - the soldiers often changed the worn-out SSh-39 under-body device to an analogue from the SSh-40. In total, more than 10 million helmets were produced at the Lysvensky plant during the war, which became full-fledged symbols of the great Victory.
