Sandmann
Well-known member
Dear Forum Members,
after studying the development of the Pickelhaube in Bavaria, I have now studied the Saxon helmets a bit more. But since I unfortunately don‘t have access to the Saxon military ordinance sheets, I could do this only on the basis of Saxon clothing regulations. However, even if I couldn't find the exact introduction dates of the individual helmet patterns, I think I could at least find out the prescribed dimensions of the various helmets. These I have filtered out in the following table in a preview for you, because I noticed two points during the analysis, to which I would like to read your opinions:
after studying the development of the Pickelhaube in Bavaria, I have now studied the Saxon helmets a bit more. But since I unfortunately don‘t have access to the Saxon military ordinance sheets, I could do this only on the basis of Saxon clothing regulations. However, even if I couldn't find the exact introduction dates of the individual helmet patterns, I think I could at least find out the prescribed dimensions of the various helmets. These I have filtered out in the following table in a preview for you, because I noticed two points during the analysis, to which I would like to read your opinions:
- According to the Saxon clothing regulations the enlisted men and officers wore from the beginning, since 1867, a cockade with only 4.7 cm diameter on the spiked helmet. As I understand the regulations, this was kept until the introduction of the M1895. In the 1894 clothing regulations for officers it is written (translated): "Officers, senior officers and those sub-officers who carry an officer's weapon: Officers' cockade, silver-plated, with a deepened green enamel ring; otherwise, enlisted men's cockade." I interpret this to mean that the officer's cockade was silver with a green ring, and otherwise looked like the enlisted men's cockade, which was still 4,7 cm wide according to the 1893 clothing regulations for enlisted men.
- Furthermore, the 1894 officers' clothing regulation specifies helmet dimensions that differ significantly from those specified in 1872. This means that between 1872 and 1894 there must have been a change in the regulations for officers' helmets. But in all books I know of, I couldn’t find any reference to a changed size of the Saxon officer's helmets during this period.
Does anyone of you maybe know a source in which a change of the officer's helmet between 1872 and 1894 is mentioned? Or can it be that the equivalent of the Prussian M1871 for officers in Saxony was introduced some time after the publication of the 1872 clothing regulation, i.e. around 1873 or 1874?
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