The SSh-39 was a helmet that was used by the Soviet Union during WWII. It featured leather padding and cloth straps for comfort and was greatly inspired by the earlier M1936 Helmet and M1935 Stahlhelm before it. The helmet itself was made of steel.
The design was rugged and simplistic, with very little additional features being added. The simplicity though, added to the helmet's reliability and combat effectiveness. However, with the positive effect of the helmet's reliability came the negative effect of the helmet's uncomfortability, which led to soldiers choosing to abandon their helmets in search of cloth hats. Furthermore, it was also known that most Red Army soldiers believed that it was too coward-like to wear a helmet into combat.[1]
Some early examples of the SSh-39 were fitted with decals of the Red Star on the front of the helmet, though these were later removed in favor of simplicity and mass production.
Variants[]
The first variants of the SSh-39 helmet were several, undesignated models which each changed up the layout of the inner liner and replaced some fabrics. However, the first and only important variant was the SSh-40 model. This model also changed the inner liners but instead totally redesigned it, making far more simple and mass-production friendly. Secondly, the helmet had several changes in the riveting of the design.
History[]
The SSh-39 helmet was designed in 1938 and subsequently adopted in 1939 by the Red Army. It was designed to replace all other helemets already in use such as the French Adrian helmet or the M1936 model. From then on, it was used all the way until 1942 when it was replaced by the SSh-40 which itself served until the end of the war. Millions of models had been produced during the war, however most came from only three different factories.[2]
References[]
- ↑ Zaloga. J. Steven. The Red Army of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Osprey Publishing (1984), page 34
- ↑ http://www.personal.kent.edu/~rclawson/RussianHelmets/stamps.html