German M35 helmets

[Dan Wilson]

Well I took a shot on one of the real M35 helmets that GPC has had in stock for awhile and was pretty happy with what my 105 clams bought.
Apparently these are capture helmets that the Finnish used after the war, not bad considering some folks are charging 83 bucks for a repop helmet.
Just thought I would throw this out in case someone else was wondering what they looked like.

Dan

Information

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[DaveHH]

You have to admit that with the Waffen SS cover and tunic, it has to be the coolest fighting outfit around. Funny that we ended up copying the design for today's use. The Finns were thick as thieves with the Germans during WW2 and for good reason, they had some nasty neighbors. I've often thought about what Europe would have been like if Adolph had not sent the panzers down into Greece to pull Italy's chestnuts out of the fire and had those extra 2-3 months to take Moscow. Hitler was a scumbag, but Stalin made him look like a Boy Scout.
Thanks Dan, very cool and a good deal.

[zip code]

I bought one of those and it turned out to be a Hungarian M 38. The Finns bought 75,000 of them and used them till the 1970s.
Your helmet liner looks like the M 55 liner the Finns started useing with the purchase of 50,000 post war { M 35/40 style } German helmets they bought from W. Germany in 1955. They only bought the shells and put their own liners in. Hans Römer Co. in Germany produced the helmet shells.
This is not to say you have a post war M 55 helmet as the Finns bought and aquired more than 50,000 M 35, M35/40 and M 35/42 helmets before and during WW II from Germany. The Finns rehabed alot of helmet with new liners over the years.

[tomovich]

Nice helmet, here's mine..............bought about 10 years ago.

[dastier]

Thanks Dan Wilson for your post. I ordered one of these from Gunparts - should be arriving soon. I don't mind that they are Hungarian M38s as I'm getting into Finn collecting and the Finns used plenty of M38s during the Winter War/Continuation War. Any German looking helmet is scarce and expensive up here and that seems to be similar on the auction web sites.

[lboos]

I bought this M 35 from a dealer i have done bus. with for a while, he told me it was a real german WW2 helmet that had been Repainted, it has the prod # and the size stamped on the inside, he told me the liner was a repo. but the chin strap was real and is stamped by the year and maker and look's the part, well worn. i know there a lot of fake's out there but i can't tell the diff.
could i get some of you helmet guy's comments on this helmet please, Thanks

[lboos]

the helmet also has a weak Q64 stamped on the left side, i could not get it resized small enough to be excepted.

[dastier]

lboos,

I can't tell if its original or not as I'm not an expert on German helmets but there are plenty of sites online that you can google. The 763 is probably the code for the manufacturer that made the helmet like with German rifles and pistols. Q64 might be the size or ??? Let us know what you find out.

[dastier]

Well I finally got my German helmet and I was hoping it would be a Hungarian M38 but its a German M35/40. Looks just like the one in Dan Wilson's pics.

Thats OK by me as according to Pottia.net the Finns received these helmets during WW2 and used them in the Continuation War which is why I wanted one. As per Pottia.net:

More than 50000 German helmets m/35, m/35-40 and m/35-42 in Finnish use, 1941 - 1970's
Germany developed a new model based on m/17; m/35 has lower edge, shorter visor, new liner, and ventilation holes are stiffened by shorter sleeves.
Field-grey, thickness 1,1-1,2 mm, steel mixed with molybdenum.
5 sizes and 3 models: m/35, m/35-40 and m/35-42 (m/35-40 production was rationalizied, among others sleeves of ventilation holes were left out)
Finnish army never purchased m/35 helmets, but small amounts came to Finland in different ways.
Army tried to make an order of m/35s' during the Winter War, but Germany directed the order to Hungary.
Week before the Continuation War Finland ordered from Germany 25000 pieces of m/35-40 helmets.
In summer of 1943 Finland received 24000 German helmets (models m/35-40 and m/35-42).
One more batch of German helmets arrived yet in summer of 1944.
German m/35-models were still in service for decades after WWII along with Hungarian helmets (65000 helmets all together), some were in use still in 1970's.

And given the price of helmets at the online auctions I think this was money well spent. It may be a genuine WW2 German made helmet but not used by the German military, refurbished with a 1950's Finnish liner. Or it may be a M55 produced in the 1950s by Hans Römer and imported by Finland. I might try to find the correct WW2 liner if not too expensive!

[lboos]

dastier,
Thanks for your comment's, i did find that the Q stands for the Quist factory located in Esslingen Germany and the 64 is the size [large].
im sure who ever repainted it took most of the value away, but im not a helmet collector, i just like the way it look's with the few WW2 item,s i have collected over the year's....lboos.