German Stahlhelm manufacture and testing in 1941

The Stahlhelm ('steel helmet') is a German military steel combat helmet intended to provide protection against shrapnel and fragments or shards of grenades. The term Stahlhelm refers both to a generic steel helmet and more specifically to the distinctive German military design. The armies of major European powers introduced helmets of this type during World War I. The German Army began to replace the traditional boiled leather Pickelhaube ('spiked helmet') with the Stahlhelm in 1916. The Stahlhelm, with its distinctive “coal scuttle“ shape, was instantly recognizable and became a common element of propaganda on both sides, just like the Pickelhaube before it. In 1934 tests began on an improved Stahlhelm, whose design was a development of World War I models. The company “Eisenhüttenwerke Thale“ (now “Thaletec“) carried out prototype design and testing, with Dr Friedrich Schwerd who was responsible for the original 1915 design once again taking a