Brodie helmet

Interwar and World War II

From 1936, the Mark I helmet was fitted with an improved liner and an elasticated, sprung webbing chin strap. This final variant served until late 1940, when it was superseded by the slightly modified Mk II, which served the British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II. British paratroopers and airborne forces used the Helmet Steel Airborne Troop.

Several Commonwealth nations, such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, produced local versions of the Mk II, which can be distinguished from those made in Britain.

During this period, the helmet was also used by the police, the fire brigade and ARP wardens in Britain. The helmets for the ARP wardens came in two principal variants, black with a white "W" for wardens and white with a black "W" for senior ranks (additional black stripes denoted seniority within the warden service); however numerous different patterns were used.^[15] A civilian pattern was also available for private purchase, known as the Zuckerman helmet, which was a little deeper but made from ordinary mild steel.

The Norwegian Army adopted the Mark I helmet in 1915, eventually importing a total of 10,000 examples. Some of the imported helmets had a helmet plate with the Norwegian coat of arms affixed to the front. The Mark I remained in Norwegian service throughout the interwar period, alongside Swedish helmets acquired in the 1930s. The helmets were among the equipment issued to Norwegian forces in World War II, seeing service in the 1940 Norwegian Campaign against invading German forces.^[16] In the first post-war years, the Mark I helmet remained in service with the Norwegian Army, alongside the American M1 helmet, Swedish helmets, and Stahlhelms left behind by the capitulated German occupation forces.^[17]

In 1944, the British supplemented it with a significantly modified design, known as the Mk III "Turtle" helmet.

The U.S. Army used the basic Brodie-patterned M1917 helmet until 1942 with some modifications, which included a totally new liner and canvas chin strap. It was finally superseded by the M1 helmet in 1942 and passed down to civil defence.

The helmet was the inspiration for the name of the Memorable Order of Tin Hats (or the MOTH), a brotherhood of ex-front-line soldiers founded in 1927 by Charles Evenden.^[18]

United Kingdom

• Brodie's Steel Helmet, War Office Pattern, Type A: the original 1915 helmet with the shell made from magnetic mild steel.
• Brodie's Steel Helmet, Type B: with the shell made from Hadfield (manganese) steel.
• Helmet, Steel, Mark I: introduced in Spring, 1916, a modified version of the Brodie helmet with a wholly redesigned liner and a mild steel rim to the shell. In 1917, a rubber ring or "doughnut" was added between the liner and the top of the shell, and in 1935, the liner and chinstrap were modified to make them removable.
• Helmet, Steel, Mark I*: introduced in 1938 and made up from old Mark I shells, but fitted with an all new liner and chinstrap. This was the standard British Army helmet at the start of the Second World War.

• Helmet, Steel, Mark II: also introduced in 1938, the Mark II featured a new shell with a non-magnetic rim (so that the wearer could use a magnetic compass) and the new liner and chinstrap used in the Mark I*. Early production went to the ARP services, the fire brigade and the police. It was re-designated in July 1940 as the Helmet, Steel, Mark II, No 1 and in the following year, as the Helmet, Steel, No 1, Mark 1.
• Helmet, Steel, Mark II, No 2: by July 1940, it had been realised that demand for the Mark II helmet could not be met, and so helmets which had either been rejected as substandard, or had been newly manufactured from cheaper mild steel, began to be issued under the designation "Mark II, No 2" to the Home Guard and civilian services. These helmets were marked with between one and four small holes drilled into the rim, showing the level of protection that they would provide. This type of helmet was re-designated in 1941 as the Helmet, Steel, No 2, Mark 1.^[19]

• Helmet, Steel, Civilian, Civilian Protective Helmet or Zuckerman helmet: when it was found that a large number of civilians were needed to keep a lookout for fires started by incendiary bombs, an even cheaper mass-produced helmet was required. Designed by a team led by government adviser Solly Zuckerman, the thin mild steel helmet was broadly similar in shape to the military pattern but had a taller crown to the shell, providing space for the helmet to crumple. The simple liner was attached to the shell by a boot lace or string passed through holes in the shell. It was made available to civilian fire watchers at a cost of five shillings and sixpence ( equivalent to £15 in 2019^[20]) each, starting in December 1940.
• Commercial helmets: in 1939, a number of British companies began to manufacture helmets for sale to concerned civilians. These usually had the appearance of Brodie-style helmets, but were generally made of cheap materials such as cast alloys, leather, resin-impregnated fibre or even Bakelite (an early form of plastic), and offered little protection to the wearer.^[21]

Australia

• Helmet No 1, Mark II: a 1936 proposal that steel helmets should be manufactured in Australia was put into effect in 1939 by The Commonwealth Steel Company. The helmets were copies of the British Mark II but lacked the rim. More than two million were produced.^[22]

Belgium

• M1949: a post-war Belgian-made copy of the Mark II helmet. The shell was identical to the British original, except that the liner fixing screw on the crown sat in a small indentation. The liner was of Belgian design and the chinstrap was copied from the British Mark III helmet.^[23]

Canada

• Helmet, Steel, Mark II: having purchased British helmets in the First World War and at the outbreak of the Second, Canadian helmet production commenced in 1940. The helmets were identical to the British original, except that the rubber "bumper" pads in the lining were only fitted to horizontal helmet band and not to the vertical bands. The Mark II continued in front-line service with Canadian forces until March 1960.^[24]

New Zealand

• Helmet, Steel, Mark II: in 1940, an order for 30,000 steel helmets could not be fulfilled by the United Kingdom, so production commenced in New Zealand. Manufactured by General Motors New Zealand and the New Zealand Railway Workshops using presses and sheet steel imported from Australia, 54,000 Mark II had been made by 1942 with Australian and British liners. Surplus helmets were supplied to other Commonwealth and Empire armies.^[25]

Portugal

• M1916: on Portugal's entry into the First World War in 1916, the country lacked the facilities to produce its own helmets and looked to the United Kingdom. British helmet production at that time was giving priority to their own forces, however the Director of Munitions Supply was able to source a commercially produced version of the Brodie helmet, originally intended to be sold to British officers at the time when helmets were in short supply. Given the Portuguese designation "M1916", it equipped the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps. Made of thin-gauge steel, the bowl was fluted in an attempt to add strength. However, the fluting actually increased the chances of penetration if a missile hit one of the ridges, so some M1916s were produced with a plain bowl. A simple liner was laced to the solid shell through a series of holes.
• M1917: the Portuguese designation for the Mark I helmet, which was supplied as soon as the British production facilities became available.
• M1917/30: in 1930, the M1917 helmets were refurbished with a redesigned leather liner.^[26]

South Africa

• Helmet, Steel, Mark II: like the other Dominions in the Second World War, South Africa began to produce copies of the Mark II helmet when they became unobtainable from the United Kingdom. Manufactured by the Transvaal Steel Pressing Syndicate, some one and a half million helmets were produced. Unlike the British Mark II and other copies, the plan of the South African helmets was almost circular rather than oval. Another distinguishing feature was three small holes punched into the rear section of the brim, probably intended to allow the fitting of a neck curtain in hot climates. Surplus South African helmets were supplied to other Allied armies.^[27]

United States

• M1917: initially the United States purchased 400,000 British Mark I helmets to equip the American Expeditionary Forces in 1917, and those units which were to integrate with French formations were provided with Adrian helmets. The first US-made copies of the Mark I were supplied before the end of 1917 and some 2,700,000 had been made by the end of the war. The M1917 differed little from the British original; different rivets were used to secure the liner, the wire loop onto which the chinstrap was fixed was thicker and the rubber "doughnut" pad was not adopted. However, the US manufacturers were able to produce a shell with better ballistic protection than the original.^{[citation needed]}
• M1917A1: a redesigned liner and a new webbing chinstrap were approved for service in 1934. This model went into full production in 1941, when 904,020 were produced.
• M1917 Civil Defense Helmet: this helmet was produced to equip the Civil Defense Corps at the start of the war, and differed from the standard helmet in having a simplified liner and thin webbing chinstrap.^[28]