Romanian helmets

They are definitely not Bulgarian soldiers. Yes, the helmets are Soviet style, but they are not the M51\72 or Ssh40.
The uniforms seem to be an American. Another photo of the same book with another "Romanian" soldier on it. It's possible, that he's a Croatian. During the Croatian independence war 1991-1995 the Croatian forces used a large number of USA camouflage uniforms and lso diifferent models of helmets (Yugoslavian M1944, DDR M 56, Vroatian kevlar helmets and etc.)


This post has been edited by Sturmpionier on March 29, 2007 03:56 pm

This is a m34 dutch helmet used by romanian forces in communist era but with different liner and chin strap.
The liner looks similar to the standard m73 liner, with 4 liner pads (leather) and wool insulation.
The chin strap is quite fragile as it is made out of sinthetic material, PVC coated and also is very thin.

Funny, the Romanians used scrap material for the insulation in their helmet.

A nice helmet, this. I did not know they still used the original NL helmets in the seventies?!?

I once saw a light gray Dutch m34 with an egg shaped front plate. It depicted something like you would expect on a firemans helmet; axe, helmet etc.

Did you ever encounter one like that?

Regards,
Emile

No, I have never seen anything like that.
I have only seen front plates with royal emblems (dutch and romanian) and some armorial bearings (see dutchhelmet's blog) but these were not on a "egg shaped" plate.
Perhaps it was not factory made emblem, but a rework for fire brigades use.

The helmet lining is made of army blankets (light blue with 3 horizoantal white straps). I even have seen pieces of greatcoat khaki cloth used as lining instead of the original felt.

hi Andi, nice helmet, but i believe it's an m27NM insted of an m34. if you measure the height of the "curve" above the ear you will know. the m27NM has a height of aprox 0,9 cm and the m34 aprox 2,5 cm. if it's an m27NM, this helmet was captured by the germans in the 1940's after holland surrenderd and then given by the germans to the romanian army. nice that even after the war such helmets were redone and kept in use by the romanians.

I am not mistaking, it is an m34 helmet.
The angle of how the picture was taken is responsible for that impression.
I have just bought an m27NM helmet for my collection and I know the difference you are talking about.

This post has been edited by ANDI on April 01, 2007 12:38 am

well it must be the angle then. i really thought it was a m27NM. still it is an interesting helmet. did the romanians use a lot of these helmets after the war? holland did, they were often used by police, fire brigades, civil defence, etc. both m27NM and m34 were used, sometimes redone for the new owner.

After the war, the use of m27NM and m34 dutch helmets was discontinued and replaced with ssh40 russian helmets. But there were some exceptions, some of them being repainted and used for fire brigades and Traffic Controlers in the street.
During the last third of the '60'es, along with the political changes in our country (a slight declination of soviet influence, N.Ceausescu sworn as president), the russian helmets were also discontinued and thousands of dutch helmets were in use again (with dutch, german and some other local variation liners).
I have seen photos taken during the '70'es with soldiers wearing dutch helmets who were not even repainted, the place were the front badge stood still visible.
They were again discontinued gradualy, after the new m73 romanian helmet appeared.

This post has been edited by ANDI on April 01, 2007 08:35 am

similar information could be found here: http://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/index.php?showtopic=2142&hl=

Another helmet from my collection: a m73 romanian helmet with armorial bearings - infantry.
Unfortunately I don't know the story of these helmets, just that they were in short service and one reason is quite obvious...

These helmets were special produced for the 30th Guard Regiment and were carried on ceremonies and parades in front the “Supreme Commander”. They could be seen in many official photographs of the communist era military magazines.

It was also a blue painted version, probably for Air Force, Navy or Militia guard squads.

Today I have accidentally uncovered a "ADMIS" stamp on the interior of the liner on my Dutch helmet with German interior.


The marking is clearly visible as the hors hair pad has been eaten by moths (only one of the three pads survived).

Has anyone else ever seen this marking on the German liner?

[QUOTE=Sturmpionier,March 29, 2007 03:19 pm][QUOTE]

[/QUOTE]
There is the possibility this is the German Bundeswehr helmet as used by the Germans until their Kevlar Model came into service.

Kevin in Deva.

Hello Mihnea,

The interior/liner you show seems to be the Dutch variety and not German.

The stamp ADMIS I have never seen before, but then I have never had a Romanian helmet in my hands!

It could be that ADMIS is Romanian for "accepted". Are you Romanian?

Regards,

Emile