Yesterday I discover an post in WA an amazing discovery relationated with the metal chimical properties of the helmets:

Metallurgical and ballistic Investigation of german helmets 28/06/1944 - Wehrmacht-Awards.com Militaria Forums

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La llave de la libertad es la sabiduria. El cerrojo de la esclavitud la ignorancia

U-Historia, Ubootwaffe 1939-1945 History of UBootwaffe in Spanish
http://www.tradiweb.com/ta.htm Translator Web
http://www.forospyware.com In Spanish

Nice thread, but I can't seem too download the pdf file. Jan7, if you happen to have it attach it to this thread to share.

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Considering Jan7's love for submarines maybe the PDF went under

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Dear Otto: I download the pdf yesterday. Today not be possible again. I dont attach at the post because it is very large: 3.2 Mb Limit in WWIIF 250 Kb

This is the shortcut to the document:
http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTR...c=GetTRDoc.pdf

In the case of fail again, I remit you by email. One cause of this fail is possibly the diference that I am registered in the WA Forums and you not. The visitors dont see the image attachments, for example.

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La llave de la libertad es la sabiduria. El cerrojo de la esclavitud la ignorancia

U-Historia, Ubootwaffe 1939-1945 History of UBootwaffe in Spanish
http://www.tradiweb.com/ta.htm Translator Web
http://www.forospyware.com In Spanish

Very interesting find. Perhaps this is why the US Army now has helmets similar in shape to the German helmet. If so, it took them long enough since it was in the late 80's when the transition took place. Eight to twenty five percent more protection........that is quite a lot.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

I read the report cited above. First, who else at that time would have had engineers literally dissect various nation's infantry helmets in that much detail?
As for the better protection aspect, on the whole I came away with a view that it doesn't really matter that much. The difference is between a hole and a bigger hole in the helmet when hit by anything but small low velocity fragments. I really don't think the extra weight involved in gaining that protection was worth the trade off.

Wolfgang Fleischer asserts that the Germans, at the experimental proving grounds at Kummersdorf, used to run large trials on their own, other nations, and experimental patterns of Steel helmets. Hundreds would be laid out over a wide area, either on the ground or on various sized posts to simulate different head-heights and then be shelled or shot at. The data on direct, visible damage was used to both assess the immediate apparent strengths and weaknesses of different lids, and also for work on gunnery practices and munitions. A sizeable sample of the damaged helmets would then be taken away for more detailed scientific analysis.

Cheers,
Adam.

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