Romanian helmets

Can anyone identify this WW2 helmet found in Bucharest last month ? It is painted red. The red paint is original to the helmet. No other paint under it. Has a khaki wool cloth liner.

This helmet you have found has the same color as this helmet

No. Not like your helmet. This on is red. Really red. Check out the nterior.

Could it be a fireman's helmet?

Gen. Dénes

It is the same red paint that is on this WW2 camoflauge helmet with rare netting. This helmet is painted red and black over green and shows all three colors on the outside of the shell. Used by Recon and sniper troops.



Right side with netting.

Righ side without netting.

Left side with netting.

Left side without netting.

Interior.

As you can see, same red paint used on the camoflauge helmet. However, the other helmet is solid red with no green paint under it. Came originally painted red and the red paint matches that of the camoflauge helmet.

During the 1960s, a lot of M. 1916 (Adrian) and M. 1939 (Dutch) helmets, roughly restored and repainted, were distributed to the civil fire defence squads in the factories or other public institutions.
This helmet could be such an example: an old M.1939 shell, scrubbed before to be full red repainted, with improvised liner and strap.

This red helmet with the black/kaki stripes is rather unusual. It’s out of question to be a reconnaissance/sniper WW2 head gear as in the Romanian army this kind of soldiers hadn't any distinctive symbol. The red shell is extremely visible and it would be a suicidal idea to carry this helmet in a battle action.

Many helmets and other military stuff came out from different theatres and cinema prop stores and they bear many fanciful or exotic transformations made by costume designers according the plays or movies needs. They later puzzle honest collectors or uniformologists. It also might be the case for this helmet.

The camouflage net seems to be an old WW2 British style helmet cover with attached strips of jute or hessian. This was never carried on the Romanian army and might be also an eccentric addition.

The first red helmet you posted is not originally painted red as all Dutch helmets (with the original paint) have the "years" that hold the chin strap unpainted, also the interior flaps are made of wool that is very similar to the one used in Romanian WWII uniforms.

Therefore I believe this is a conversion into a fireman's helmet.

The second helmet is strange, I'm sure it was not "Used by Recon and sniper troops." in those colors; I think it was painted after war for fun or to be used in a theater or movie (as Kepi mentioned) or it used as part of a costume.

The net puzzles me but I don't think it is Romanian or used in WWII.

The Romanian Army did indeed wear camoflauge netting in WW2. What exactly did it look like ? How do you know for sure that this example is not Romanian ?

The Romanian Army did indeed wear camoflauge netting in WW2. What exactly did it look like ? How do you know for sure that this example is not Romanian ?

The camouflage covers for helmets were very rare in the Romanian army during WW2. The Romanian soldiers often used a mixture of mud and grass, or only mud, to reduce the shining of their M.39 helmets.



There are very few photo evidences that in action they used some kind of textile or metallic (wire) netting to hang foliage twigs.







Attached strips of jute to the helmet netting was common in the British and US armies, especially for paratrooper units.

So, in my opinion, that netting, although it looks old, is not Romanian.