2 French WWII helmets?

Hi! Im new to WWII Forums and i aint much of a forum user so correct me if im posting at the wrong section.

I live in Sweden and a relative that recently past away left me theese 2 french helmets.

I did some reserach about them but i can´t find out if they are french "Adrian m-16" or french "Adrian m-26" helmets, or if they are from WWI or WWII. The problems is the "badges" on the fronts, and the two screws on the front, i can´t find any helmets on the net that has that.

I also heard alot of people say that theese steel helmets can be fake becouse alot of fakes where produced.

I am sending 2 pictures of the helmets, and helmet number 2 is more like helmet number 1 in the color, the "flash" from my camera messed with it.

Maybe you can help me identifiy theese helmets?

/// Daniel - Sweden

 

Ops, forgot to post the images
Anyway they are up now
I hope someone can help me!

 

Hello Kebabman. Both your helmets are good infantery ones. One has the 1939 kaki painting and one the 1944 liberation olive drap cammo. The problem comes from the fact that many helmets are sold without their removable insignias and that seller add wrong insignias because they don't know the difference. As you can notice you have M-15 infantery insignias on M-26 helmets. The WWII insignias are bigger and usually round . Here are 2 pics from my collection with an M-15 and M-26 Adrian. Hope this helps. You helmets are worth about 30/50 € , but the WWI insignias alone are worth 10€ each so you could swap them for WWII insignias.

http://www.ww2f.com/militaria/29830-m26-adrian-helmet-casque-adrian-2.html

 

I took the liberty to move this thread to the militaria section , I hope you don't mind, it will be read by more amateurs there.

 

thats ww2 style I think

 

I believe the insignias on Kebabman's are correct. Do not forget that when the newer Adrian appeared in 1926, it wasn't until the 1937 roundels appeared for these helmets. Previous to that, the old insignias were commonly affixed to the m26 helmets.

 

Hello, Kebabman

Skipper knows his stuff about these kinds of helmets

If you want to see some more information and some good pictures of other types of Adrian helmets (both M16 and M26) and their respective badges then have a look at this thread, it's in this same form and is a good confersation between Skipper and myself.

M26 Adrian Helmet - Casque Adrian

All the best,
AndyPants

 

Hi Asterix, you could be right for the kaki one which seems older, it is hard to know as insignias are so easily taken off and put back. During the 1940 campaign, roundels were used, almost everywhere , except for Gendarmes for instance, but I'm sure there were still stocks left with the old insignia and these helmets could be leftovers from that time.

 

Here we have the basic Adrians and insginias from WW1 to WW2:

WW 1, M1915 Adrian



M1926 with old insignia:



M26 with new M1937 rondel insignia:




There were also plenty of old WW 1 helmets which were simply repainted khaki. Most of these were seen worn by the Classe B troops and reservists. Also, while not having an official designation, but when the French Army reorganized itself during the Liberation of 1944 and early 1945, newly reconstituted units were reissued the French helmets, but without their badges. I suspect this was because all the old badges denoted a specific branch of the service. So rather than have troops wearing a mish-mash of service badges, it was more consistent and "uniform" to remove them, thus exposing the two slots in which the badge prongs were to be inserted, such as the own seen below. Many of these were issued and worn to Gen. de Lattre's First French Army starting late 1944.

 

Not to mention the many Defense Passive helmets ( "dp" insignia) which were painted in all kinds of colors going from plain black , green, or even stripes or stencils.
I've always wanted to own a white Adrian with a medic cross painted on the front.

 

Absolutely correct! About the white Adrians with the red cross painted on them, was this a civilian "issue" item? One can see them being worn by doctors and nurses on films about the uprising in Paris in August 1944.

 

They were for nurses and medics, and they were both used by the FFI , civilians and military.

http://ad.gilles.free.fr/casque.htm

 

Hey guys,

I recently acquired a rusty Adrian Helmet which from the infor read correspond to the M26 and the insignia is missing. I have two questions: where can I obtained an original one (preferred from the Inginieers) and how can I get rid of the rust without harming the paint?

Thanks very much in advance!