Two Romanian ww2 helmets

Here are my recent purchased helmets





Please note they are what I consider to be the true romanian ww2 helmet with the german type liner, not the dutch tipe liner.
The blue helmet is also signed.
if you are interested i would try to make more photos and a more detalied description (e.g the chinstrap there are 2 tipes from what I have seen)

i must say those are two goodlooking helmets.
where did u get them?
i myself been serching for some Romanian ww2 helmets but cant seem to find any.
care to help.

Dragos1984

I was lucky... those are the first romanian helmets i saw from 3 years...i payed a lot of money but i'm happy with them. Last year i saw in an antique store about 6 pcs. but with the dutch tipe liner, so i wasn't interested. Now i'm lookin' for one with Carol's badge on the front

Hi PzG,

I saw a Carol-badged helmet a few years ago. Inside the liner seemed to consist of four(?) small whiteish leather cushions that I think may have been packed with something like horsehair. Is this the type you are looking for? (Regretably I have no access to the one I saw, which was not for sale.)

Cheers,

Sid.

Hi Sid...yes I'm looking for this kind of helmet...but i think the helmets with Carol badge have the dutch tipe liner. I don't have the time for the moment but I will go to The military museum in Bucharest to look at the helmets that are kept there...then I should say for sure what tipe of liner are the helmets with Carol's badge. By any luck have you some pictures of the helmet you told me of?

Hi PzG, Sorry. I haven't had contact with the owner for years and I have no photos of it. Cheers, Suid

Hello Dragos. I bought Romanian helmets from the army M39 with dutch liner and german liner with 100.000 lei a pice. Try at military units in your city. They have M39 and ssh40 helmets. I bought all from that unit I have 7 Romanian M39
helmets.All this helmets come from military units.



This post has been edited by Claudiu1988 on September 18, 2005 06:15 pm

What was the bright blue paint used for ? I noticed that this helmet had the original WW2 khaki dark green paint below the blue paint.

I may be wrong, but it may be a gendarme helmet. That was their color.

Take a look at the Image attachment guide.

I may be wrong, but it may be a gendarme helmet. That was their color.

I thought that the military gendarne in WW2 would have had the same khaiki green helmet as the rest of the army but with the addition of a white painted stripe on it with the letters "IC". Could this have been repainted in 1951-52 for a UN contingent ? The Bulgarians reissued WW2 helmets in 1952 and repainted them in bright blue for UN involvement.

That blue color is for helmets painted in the late communist years and early 90's for military police and riot troops. I have a communist helmet painted in the same colour. You will notice that colour if you look at the helmets of the MI troops that were sent to crush the protesters in Piata Universitatii in 1990.

Hi everyone, I am new with this site.
But let's get to the subject.... I have a roumanian M75 model painted in blue but it was actually picked up from a military unit - airpilot training school and I guess that is why is painted like that. So, "maybe" the blue M39 were also issued to air units.
For Dragos 1984 I can say that you can find M39 helmets either on Covaci street, or in flea markets. I saw a few there but they were rusty and only the shell. Solid condition though....

All Romanian M.39 Dutch style helmets initially had in front King Carol’s II cipher. After his abdication, in September 1940, that badge was grid away as it could be seen in many photos of Romanian soldiers in WW2.

In September 1938 a contract for 500.000 helmets was signed with the Dutch company Verblifa. The model selected by Romanian military authorities was the M. 1934 Dutch pattern, a surprising decision motivated maybe by the total difference from the neighboring armies head gears. It gave a unique appearance to the Romanian soldier, especially in profile, the Dutch liner imposing to be carried front inclined. Between the liner and the shell there was a lining in thin orange felt. A new order for 300.000 helmets was released in May 1939.

Until the beginning of 1942, 628,000 helmets were delivered by Verblifa.
In April 1940, Netherlands was invaded by Germany, so the Dutch company was forced to work for the Wehrmacht.

During the 1941 and 1942 campaigns the front line units were equipped with M.1939 helmets but because of heavy looses, especially after Stalingrad defeat, an obvious shortage of helmets occurred. Germany asked Verblifa to produce helmets for the Romanian army, with availabe Dutch shells but equipped with German M.1935 liners. The lining (between liner and shell) was in thick gray felt. These helmets are the most frequent found in collections and antique shops because they were later delivered and carried at the end of the war.

From the beginning of 1950’s, Dutch helmets were progressively replaced by the Soviet M.1940 type. At the end of 1960’s old Dutch pattern helmets, kept in the army stores, saw service again in an attempt to avoid any resemblance with the reproved Soviet military. It was already obsolete, especially by its fastener straps. After a few tests with different types of liner and straps, the M.39 pattern was definitively abandoned for a new model, M.1973, an ugly and most inefficient head gear.

The M.39 Dutch helmets with Carol II cipher are very difficult to find and, therefore, very expensive. They belonged especially to officers who, after Carol’s abdication, were forced to resign, so they didn’t carried their helmets in campaign. Their liners are of the Dutch pattern but made in black or natural good quality leather.


M.39 helmet


M.39 modified helmet


M.39/42 helmet


M.39/42 helmet - inside


Sorry for the bad quality of photos.

Very informative post. Thank you!