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Firstly we must apologise for this exhibit not being a WW2 relic. It is of course a German M16 from WW1.
We were so pleased to accept this into the museum collection and we knew that other enthusiasts would be interested in seeing it.
The helmets provenance is certain, as the soldier who found it inscribed the location and date on the rear (he was a signwriter by trade). He picked it up in October 1918 in Bourlon Wood.
The gruesome story told to the relatives being that he and his comrades were clearing the battlefield after the fighting and found a German officers corpse, wearing this helmet. When the Tommies picked up the cadaver the head fell off!
There is no reason to doubt the story. Of interest here is the characteristic three colour camouflage and the black outlines between them. One can see how such a pattern would blend into the broken landscape of mud and shattered vegetation of the Somme front of 1918.
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