Category Archives: World War I

The Last Kaiser’s Sun Helmet

Huis-Doorn1

Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany was forced into exile at the end of the First World War into the neutral Netherlands. From 1920 until his death in 1941 he lived in the small country estate in Holland known as Huis Doorn, which today is a museum and contains many personal items from the last Kaiser.

Among these items is an interesting helmet – which by all appearances is a British six-panel colonial pattern helmet with typical puggaree cloth wrapping. What makes this helmet particularly unique about this example is that it apparently was “created” by Wilhelm. Continue reading →

Winston in Pith Helmets

 

Winston Churchill in Bangalore, India in 1898. He is wearing a colonial pattern helmet.

Winston Churchill in Bangalore, India in 1898. He is wearing a colonial pattern helmet.

Sir Winston Churchill wore many hats in his life. He was a writer, scholar, soldier, politician, painter and above all English gentleman. Winston as he was often known by friend and foe alike was a Victorian soldier of the Queen, a First World War Lord of the Admiralty and, of course, during the Second World War the Prime Minister.

His most famous hat was his Bowker, but he also sported a Homburg hat as often, and as a soldier wore visor caps and in France in World War I a steel helmet. But of course we remember Mr. Churchill in many a sun helmet! Continue reading →

The Italian Tropical Tarbusc

The standard Italian “Tarbush” (Collection of Piero Pompili)

The standard Italian “Tarbush” (Collection of Piero Pompili)

The “tarbusc,” from the Persian Sarpush (headdress) is a hat similar to fez, a truncated cone shape, and was typical of the indigenous Italian troops in Eritrea and later AOI (Italian East Africa).

It was “inherited” by Egyptian troops stationed at Massawa, at the time of the first Italian occupation in 1885. The original version of the headdress was used by the irregular soldier of the Ottoman army, the Bashi Bazuk (“Mad Heads”) and was red with a black bow. Continue reading →

Straw and Wicker Helmets

A German World War II sun helmet.

A German World War II sun helmet.

This was the standard pattern used by the Afrika Korp. While most of these were made of cork, there are many examples that were apparently made of weaved straw with wicker support. This example, while in bad condition offers an excellent look at the “inside” of the helmet

While sola pith and cork are among the most commonly used materials in the construction of sun helmets, straw weave and wicker were used at times as an ersatz material, especially in wartime. We previously noted two examples of British-made Wolseley straw helmets in the collection of Stuart Bates. While these are the only two known surviving examples of British straw helmets of this pattern, there are many surviving examples of straw helmets from other countries.

How many of these helmets were produced remains a mystery, but surviving examples given an indication that serious craftsmanship went into their construction. Continue reading →

Austrian Sun Helmets – The Empire That Didn’t Look For a Place in the Sun

An example of an Austrian sun helmet that was likely used on the Palestine Front in World War I.

An example of an Austrian sun helmet that was likely used on the Palestine Front in World War I.

As we noted previously in regards to the Czech sun helmets, it might seem apposite to consider that a landlocked nation in Central Europe would have need for a sun helmet. But while the Czechs were a unique case, one must remember that the Austria of today is much different from the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the late 19th and early 20th century. Continue reading →

Hanley, DSO, MC

This full dress Wolseley helmet was worn by Lt. Hubert Arthur Oldfield Hanley, DSO, MC, who served in the 1st,2nd and 4th Battalion, the Middlesex Regiment. Note the lemon yellow piping to the puggaree and the cloth backing to the puggaree badge. Lemon yellow was the colour of the facings for the Middlesex Regiment (Author’s collection)

Hubert Arthur Oldfield Hanley was born in Headington, Oxfordshire in 1881, the only son of Charles Hanley, and in 1909 married Mary Constance, the eldest daughter of Charles Walker of Burwash, Sussex. He was educated at Downside school in Somerset and served in the First World War, being mentioned in despatches three times and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross. He was commissioned as Second Lieutenant into the 6th Battalion (Militia), the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, on the 22nd April 1902. Continue reading →

Ottoman Turkish Sun Helmets: The Kabalak

Turkish Kabalak in the Imperial War Museum

Turkish Kabalak in the Imperial War Museum

Chris Flaherty, lives in London, and has a long-term interest in militaria collecting, curation, preservation and research. He has written extensively on World War I Ottoman Turkish military history for the UK Armourer magazine and Soldier of the Queen (journal).

To discuss the Turkish Kabalak, we must firstly dispel a few myths; some 40 years ago a book on German steel helmets accidentally transposed the Ottoman Turkish contracted M18 helmet, with a visorless version (which made its first appearance after World War I in the hands of the German Freikorps units), both of which had been made by Eisenhüttenwerk Thale.1 Continue reading →