We’re pleased to announce that our good friend and MilitarySunHelmets.com contributor Enzo Faraone’s new book is now available. I caschi coloniali italiani 1889-1943: Evoluzione & classificazione (The Italian colonial helmets 1889-1943: Evolution & classification) covers the history and evolution of the Italian tropical helmet.
While the term “pith helmet” is used to describe almost all sun helmets, the actual use of “sola pith” material is generally only seen in the construction of helmets made in Asia, including India and the Far East. One of the more popular – and high end – examples of Indian-made sun helmets is the “Cawnpore Tent Club Helmet,” which is noted for its shape and more importantly the quilted linen covering.
All of the examples encountered to date have been made of pith, but recently one has been discovered at a flea market in Munich, Germany, and this example was made of cork. Continue reading
One still hotly disputed debate surrounds what was the first sun helmet utilized by the Third Reich. It is true that the Kriegsmarine used a pressed fiber styled helmet that was a holdover from the days of Weimar Republic’s navy but by the outbreak of the Second World War the German military wasn’t exactly planning for combat in tropical regions.
Much of this changed with the fall of France in June 1940 and the opening of a campaign in North Africa later that year, followed by the invasion of the Balkans in the late spring of 1941. In other words the German military planners likely didn’t have a plan when it came to tropical uniforms or equipment. It is therefore possible that the first pattern of sun helmet used in the Mediterranean theater were of Italian origin! Continue reading
There are dozens of known images – such as the one above – of piles of steel helmets that were collected during and then after the end of the Second World War. The Germans had collected massive piles of steel helmets from Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and of course France. After the end of the war there were practically mountains of German steel helmets! All of these have been well documented in period photographs.
With conservative estimates the piles could literally be worth millions of dollars, and for collectors of steel helmets these photos have almost mythical quality. However, the question this writer has long had was whether there were ever similar piles of sun/pith helmets? Given the thousands of German and Italian soldiers who surrendered in North Africa at the end of 1943 it must be asked what happened to the equipment – notably the sun helmets. Continue reading
Newly arrived Italian soldiers in North Africa circa 1940
The Italians, like the Germans, were late to the colonial empire rush but established colonies in Africa in the 1880s and later began a lengthy war in Libya in 1911 that continued into the 1930s. The Italian empire grew with the conquest of Ethiopia in 1936 – payback for the attempted conquest 40 years earlier.
Throughout its colonial era the Italians adopted khaki, beginning in 1887 with a new tropical uniform made of linen. The Italians deemed this pale shade of khaki to be “light bronze.” This pattern as updated in 1892 and 1893 and it was primarily variations of this that were used in the Adowa Campaign in Ethiopia in 1896, and in the 1911 Libyan Campaign against the Ottoman Empire. Continue reading
An Italian straw helmet produced by Radiconcini in Rome likely in the 1920s. This example features the “Light Cavalry” badge for the 2nd Irregular Native Troops in Libya. It is made in three layers : cotton gauze, aluminum insulation and straw.
A closer look at some Italian straw-made helmets from the Inter-war and World War II era. Continue reading