Today for Gus’ Gear, I have a French Adrian artillery helmet. The French were the first to adopt steel battle helmets to protect their soldiers from head wounds from artillery Shrapnel. Before the Model 1915 steel helmet was adopted, some French soldiers were issued a steel skull cap that could be worn under the kepi. These did help a little, but with no padding between the steel and the skull, a nonpenetrating strike could still cause severe injury. This helmet was a gift from a good friend when he found out that I did not have an artillery helmet in the collection, thanks Randy!
The photo of the front of the helmet shows the crossed cannons of the artillery with the flaming bomb and “RF” superimposed.
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The side view shows that the front and rear visors are connected without rivets. Helmets made by Japy were soldered at this point.
The photo of the liner shows this one has a first pattern liner of blackened leather. The first pattern liners were made from a single piece of leather. The leather was stacked in many layers and a “cookie cutter” style of die was used with a hydraulic press to cut multiple liner patterns at the same time. As leather became in short supply, the second pattern liners were sewn from separate bands and individual fingers. This was more time and labor consuming, but more liners could be cut from the same amount of hide.