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Helmets (or lack thereof)


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I was watching some Youtube videos earlier, and came across this compilation of footage from the Battle of Berlin. One of the things I noticed was the lack of helmets, especially among the Red Army. I don't think I saw a single Soviet soldier wearing a helmet in this entire video. They were either wearing ushankas or side caps, even among the front-line infantry fighting in the city. 

 

I've also been reading a memoir from a Soviet soldier called Tank Rider by Evgeni Bessonov. He mentioned never wearing a helmet throughout the war and almost no one in his unit did either. He felt they were too heavy and cumbersome and that he couldn't see as well. I've also read that some Soviet soldiers thought it funny how everyone in the US Army wore helmets 100% of the time. You can find loads of pictures of Soviet troops with or without helmets in large numbers, and it seems the Red Army had no rules or regulations about helmet-wearing. The Germans seemed to wear a lot of helmets of course, but not always. Does anyone here know about any specific rules in the Wehrmacht about helmets? I suppose it would make sense that the Germans, with their fascist aesthetics and nice-looking uniforms, that they would be into a totally uniform look for their soldiers and make everyone wear a helmet, but I don't know for sure.

b7zqSb8.jpg

 

In CM, everyone always wears a helmet, unless they are a really high-level officer or something. I'm hoping that with the upcoming Red Thunder module, with the addition of winter combat, that we will see lots of ushanka-wearing Red Army troops running around.

Meanwhile, I started using this mod that replaces all the Soviet helmets with side caps, which I think looks really cool:

http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/?p=638

If anyone hasn't seen that mod yet I would check it out.

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Hi,

thanks for the compliments, but they are not necessary.

This mod was not a great creative work. It was a simple model-swap with available resources.

 

@Splinty

Sorry, but I don't think that this is possible (with my abilities).

It would eventually possible to use several models, but I think that they would probably use all the same textures what will look silly...

 

Greetings, alex

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone here read Russian? Here's a copy of the 1942 Combat Regulations for the Red Army at CM level. Believe if there's an order about helmet wearing, it would be in here. I know the Combat Regs for the Armored and Mechanized Troops prescribe hatch closure for tanks entering combat, so it seems reasonable to expect that a helmet reg would appear in the book for the infantry. 

THE COMBAT REGULATIONS OF THE INFANTRY OF THE RED ARMY. PART 1. (THE FIGHTER, DIVISION, PLATOON)
https://www.prlib.ru/en/node/399088

If you don't read Russian, here's the translation, courtesy of the US Army's CARL.

http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cdm/ref/collection/p4013coll8/id/2472

In skimming the enormously useful Russian language (no subtitles) doc "Fall of Berlin" (1945), I was astounded at how few helmets I saw and puzzled that people were wearing cold weather ushankas in May, as opposed to the pilotkas AKA sidecaps. A couple of other things are worth noting: scouts breaking out amphibious jeeps holding bazooka teams and crossing the river with them, several uses of Panzerfaust as MOUT weapons and how fast the Russian flamethrower teams could move. Mind, the flamethrower was all each man was carrying as far as real gear (no rifle or knapsack). The FT guys positively scampered! Am starting to believe that maybe some high level decision was made that troop mobility and SA were more important than head protection, for how else to explain such a massive failure to wear helmets?

Regards,

John Kettler

 

Edited by John Kettler
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The Combat Regs for Infantry are great, but either CARL's copy is wonky, I'm not reading and comprehending properly, or both. The squad and platoon level material doesn't seem to be there, and each of the three downloads builds upon the previous one as the hierarchy ascends. Fabulous material, but nothing directly pertinent to this discussion. Now if you wish to man a security post, I've got you covered in the Combat Regs.

Regards,

John Kettler

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