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German Helmet Decals

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Alexander Ostmann

Alexander Ostmann

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Mar 31, 2009
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Maine, USA
#1
What happened to them? Some soldiers crossed the border with M35 helmets marked with both the swastika and the national colors, while others crossed with M40 helmets with just the swastika itself. Why do neither appear in any screenshots, even the most recent ones?

On the other side:
I know some Soviet helmets had the star on the front, but I have also seen pictures of helmets that do not have the star. Because of this, I do not know the manufacturing story behind this (if someone could evaluate, I'd appreciate it).

Either way, where are the German decals? With all of the lengths the game is going towards to be realistic, why is this omitted? I suggest adding them to keep the most historical accuracy possible.
 
#4
Over time regulation was such that the Germans were not to wear decals on their helmets as it would make them more visible what with the colors and all. If we were modeling Poland or France decals would be common, but by 1942 they would likely have had just the national eagle if anything. Given that such an emblem gives way to forbidden symbols that offers explanation enough. Once 1943 rolled around though it was to be the case that no decals were to be applied. As with anything having to do with German uniforms, there is a great deal of variety or peculiarities ranging from colors to cuts, and the decals along with their application is no exception.

Chalk it up to swastikas.
 
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#5
EvilHobo said:
Over time regulation was such that the Germans were not to wear decals on their helmets as it would make them more visible what with the colors and all. If we were modeling Poland or France decals would be common, but by 1942 they would likely have had just the national eagle if anything. Given that such an emblem gives way to forbidden symbols that offers explanation enough. Once 1943 rolled around though it was to be the case that no decals were to be applied. As with anything having to do with German uniforms, there is a great deal of variety or peculiarities ranging from colors to cuts, and the decals along with their application is no exception.

Chalk it up to swastikas.
Click to expand...
What do you mean by "forbidden symbols?"
 
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#7
And to add as interesting supplement for EvilHobo's information, even though by the helmets were shipped and issued without decals the soldiers could still paint their own or try and make a private purchase, and considering that old stockpiles are usually used until they dried up so even in 1944 - 1945 you could see plenty of guys without decals while some still had some decals for diffrent reasons.

However if we really want to go more authentic for the sake of frontline stuff having no decals is the best option. While the Reichchicken is not that bad, the tri-shield decal is actually pretty visible during daylight and especially the WSS decal swastika. You can spot that from pretty good distance if you just observe carefully.
 
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#8
Alexander Ostmann said:
What do you mean by "forbidden symbols?"
Click to expand...

He's probably talking about modern German laws making it illegal to show any Nazi symbols, primarily the swaztika. This covers PC games also, and would have to be removed for the German market. It's kind of a ridiculous thing at this point, but game designers have to consider it as the German market is pretty important.
 
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#9
Well I knew that swastikas were banned in Germany, but I thought this would not be an issue, as game developers make a separate version for Germany.

It's interesting though, because I thought all helmets (except the M45) were issued with decals. I guess it sounds like a better idea to not have them then.

Thanks for the information, guys. I appreciate it!
 
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#10
Oh hell, first of all EvilHobo and Oldih are 100% correct. I got a book from Osprey publishing "The Wehrmacht Combat Helmets", affordable price and very good information in it. It tells the same. And yes, there are photographs dated 1944 or 1945 which show Germans with decals on the helmet. First of all you need to find out if it's really combat zone or just on the training grounds.

Secondly the German laws are terrible in the issue of Third Reich symbols and insignia. Meanwhile they are really getting mad as they start to even ban Germanic and Nordic symbols like the Celtic Cross, the Tyr rune and other things.

There's a good website, although it's in German, [url]www.schnittberichte.com[/URL], it shows what happened to the big titles like Call of Duty which are set in WWII or Medal of Honor.
There they explain that the big censorship scissors didn't stop after the symbols were gone. Wordings like F
 
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#11
The_Emperor said:
Still the helmets current color is strange as they look brown and that's incorrect. German helmets were painted in Waffengrau. Too they helmets look too shiny as helmets back then had a finish that wasn't shiny because one knew about the disadvantages of carrying a shiny thing on your head.
Click to expand...

Factory painting is one thing, but field applied custom paintjob (somewhat frequent), weather, light itself and anything that wears off the paint can have interesting effects how it can look like after even few weeks of combat even if the helmet itself would be perfectly functional. Let alone scratches done by branches of trees or even some simple contact with a wall or so.

But yes, they seem to have odd sheen on them. Might be issue of lightning on the screenshots or such.
 
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#12
Stalingrad - Barricades Gun Factory suburbs - October 1942.

Stalingrad - Barricades Gun Factory suburbs - October 1942.

Actually, the first influx of non-decaled German helmets appeared in the summer of 1942.

These photos are from my private collection and show soldiers of the 578 Infantry Regiment (305th Infantry Division) passing through the Barricades Gun Factory suburbs in Stalingrad during the second week of October 1942.

305-inf-sgrad-sub-092.jpg


305-inf-sgrad-sub-137.jpg


Here are some other unpublished photo albums from my collection:

[URL="http://www.fireonthevolga.com/Photo-albums.html"][URL="http://www.fireonthevolga.com/Photo-albums.html"][URL="http://www.fireonthevolga.com/Photo-albums.html"][URL="http://www.fireonthevolga.com/Photo-albums.html"][URL="http://www.fireonthevolga.com/Photo-albums.html"][url]http://www.fireonthevolga.com/Photo-albums.html[/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]


Russ

CA-STLNGRD-s11.jpg


[URL="http://www.fireonthevolga.com"][URL="http://www.fireonthevolga.com"][URL="http://www.fireonthevolga.com"][URL="http://www.fireonthevolga.com"][URL="http://www.fireonthevolga.com"][URL="http://www.fireonthevolga.com"][url]www.fireonthevolga.com[/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]
 
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#13
Russ Schulke said:
Actually, the first influx of non-decaled German helmets appeared in the summer of 1942.
Click to expand...

The "exact" date it happened can be varying, as they were already removed on the field even back in Poland when it became occasionally painfully obvious how visible they were, and repeat that anywhere around proper frontline conditions. Bundesarchive photos are good examples:

Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-127-0362-14%2C_Belgien%2C_belgischer_Panzer_T13.jpg
<--- note the guy on the right, no decals to be seen.

Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-054-1531-11%2C_Frankreich%2C_erste_Hilfe_f
 
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#15
Yes, I've also noticed the off hue to the German helmet. It needs less saturation in my opinion.

Great photo gallery! I never realized there was that much of a lack of decals on the helmets at the time. It must have been pure luck that I kept seeing photos of soldiers with the markings. I really appreciate you sharing these unpublished photos.

I really do hope they have multiple textures for soldiers which vary in issued uniform and maybe even helmet colors. Having that variation in textures really was immersive in Darkest Hour, and it was just something I absolutely loved.
 
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#16
Alexander Ostmann said:
Yes, I've also noticed the off hue to the German helmet. It needs less saturation in my opinion.

Great photo gallery! I never realized there was that much of a lack of decals on the helmets at the time. It must have been pure luck that I kept seeing photos of soldiers with the markings. I really appreciate you sharing these unpublished photos.

I really do hope they have multiple textures for soldiers which vary in issued uniform and maybe even helmet colors. Having that variation in textures really was immersive in Darkest Hour, and it was just something I absolutely loved.
Click to expand...


bundesarchive has everything uploaded

http://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/cross-search/search/_1280338111/
 
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