Help Request

W

wandering_ronin

New member
I posted this over on the Pickelhaube board, and thought I would post it here as well. Any help would be appreciated.

Hello all! I was directed to this forum from another board. I do not know if this is the right place, but my request does involve a picklehaube. :D

I am an exhibits curator with the MS Dept of Archives and History, and each month we try to do a very small exhibit in the lobby of the Archives building. I am responsible for the exhibit in July. We have a few WW1 helmets in our collection, and I was thinking of showing a pickelhaube and a stahlhelm with a small amount of text about the two. Nothing major.

I am not a WW1 guy, but I had heard or read someplace about the spikes on the pickelhauben making excellent aiming points for the enemy. What I would like to do is find a documented quote from an allied soldier saying that he did just that. Does anyone have such a quote in any of their research materials? I would also need the bibliographical documentation of the source for my records (in case anyone were to question my work).

Thanks in advance for any and all assistance!

John
 
Welcome John,
I am glad you made it over, I am hoping that the group can give you better information that JPS or I did on gunboards.
Best wihses
Gus
 
John,
Are you aware of the reason for the lugs on the side of the Stahlhelm? If you afe doing a display on balistic protection, you need to cover that the German WWI Stahlhelm is one of the few helmets that was designed to be bullet proof, not the helmet itself, but the Stirnpanzer that fit on the lugs of the helmet. If you are lucky, the museum might have the brow plate in it's collection.
Best wishes
Gsu
 
Thanks for the welcome Gustaf. To my knowledge we do not have a Stirnpanzer. If there is one, I have not seen the catalog card for it. Would be neat if we did, as that would go well with the exhibit. We do have some German chest armor, as I saw it when we moved items out of storage after hurricane Katrina. As it stands now, I'm probably just going to show a Pickelhaube and Stahlhelm, and maybe a cover for the Pickelhaub if we have one. Our collections staff is supposed to pull some stuff for me to look at, so I can see the condition of the artifacts. Unfortunately this is only a month long exhibit...wish it could be more. The civil war is the big thing in Mississippi.
 
Hello
I do not have it in print but have a quote from Canadian Veteran that served in France and Belguim with the 15th Battalion Canadain Expeditionary Force . He served in At the second battle of Ypres was wounded there and 2 more times in the war Vimy Ridge and Passhendalle . His name was William Kirkbride
He used to tell me that it would give away the number of troops early in the war , as trenches were not that deep . He also use to tell me that " the NCO's would tell the men to always aim 4 inches below the Spike during attacks ,as it would give them an excelent aiming point ."
I do not have any thing written by him or from him on this topic just stories usually with lighter tones an a sence of humor . He passed on in 1983 at age 99 . He attained the rank of Seargent at Vimy Ridge April 1917 for his action's in the field .
I am sorry that is all I currently have as he was the only 1915 veteran of the CEF I knew .
Mark
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top