I have seen many pictures of Wehrmacht soldiers in battle with their helmet chinstraps buckled. My understanding of this is that if there is an explosion near a soldier, such as a grenade or mortar, the soldier's body may escape injury, but the helmet could be blown off his head and if the chinstrap is buckled it could cause serious injury to the neck or head.
I may be wrong, but rule of thumb for US soldiers in battle was for the chinstrap to be hanging loose and not buckled or snapped in place.
Anyone have any information on this? Just wondering....
Thanks!
Helmet Chinstraps
Moderator: sniper1shot
Helmet Chinstraps
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sniper1shot
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"Huh"?
Chinstraps were there to hold the helmet to the soldiers head. The helmet was useless if it was blown of the soldiers head.
If the explosion was that close to blow the helmet off then I believe a neck injury is the least of the soldiers worry. Concussion would be enough to kill him.
I would assume that the soldiers in US pictures that have the chinstrap unbuckled is due to irritation. If you have stubble and are sweating AND wearing the chinstrap for a long period of time (at least an hour) it gets irritating and might be unbuckled........we still do it today!
Chinstraps were there to hold the helmet to the soldiers head. The helmet was useless if it was blown of the soldiers head.
If the explosion was that close to blow the helmet off then I believe a neck injury is the least of the soldiers worry. Concussion would be enough to kill him.
I would assume that the soldiers in US pictures that have the chinstrap unbuckled is due to irritation. If you have stubble and are sweating AND wearing the chinstrap for a long period of time (at least an hour) it gets irritating and might be unbuckled........we still do it today!
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Landserstudent
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Re: Helmet Chinstraps
Vietnam was perhaps no different than any other war insofar as the CO's wise order/advice: "Don't go playing John Wayne. Keep that pot strap on!!"
In the wide panoply of photos of German soldiers in WWII, it's a safe bet to say if their strap was over the visor of the helmet they were probably in a quiet sector, or on a photo-op for the Kriegsberichter/War Reporters.
There's a lot of variation in the field: Depending on the particular point of the operation, the weather, officer reg's for the men, etc.
-Landserstudent
In the wide panoply of photos of German soldiers in WWII, it's a safe bet to say if their strap was over the visor of the helmet they were probably in a quiet sector, or on a photo-op for the Kriegsberichter/War Reporters.
There's a lot of variation in the field: Depending on the particular point of the operation, the weather, officer reg's for the men, etc.
-Landserstudent