M33 helmet

Italian M33 from World War II

The M33 Helmet (Elmetto Mod. 33 in Italian) is a steel combat helmet designed in the 1930s in Italy, and was the standard combat helmet of the Regio Esercito up to World War II, and of the Esercito Italiano well into the Cold War.

Background

Dating back from 1925, the Italian Army had engaged in experiments to find a new model of combat helmet that could replace the aging and not completely satisfactory Adrian helmet adopted in 1915; coupled to this was the fact that the Adrian was originally a French design, and it was probably felt (under the fascist regime) that an Italian-designed model was more appropriate.

In 1932 after lengthy trials (with prototypes from many Italian and foreign firms) it was decided to adopt one of them as the M31 helmet. However this model (recognizable by the small crest on its top) wasn't completely satisfactory, because its cupolar blowhole design wasn't seen as being efficient, and was rather perceived as a structural weakness. By replacing it with three ventilation holes (two on the sides and one on the rear), the Model 33 was born, and was adopted with a circular on November 29, 1934.^[1]

Usage

While not possessing the same degree of protection offered by the German Stahlhelm, the M33 was seen as a successful design, since it offered more or less thrice the resistance offered by the Adrian, was rather light (some 1.200 gr) and wasn't particularly uncomfortable.

During World War II it was the main combat helmet employed by the Italian Army, but the lack of resources meant that some second-line troops were issued the Adrian helmet, or even no helmet at all. It continued to serve as the main combat helmet of the Esercito Italiano until the 1990s.^[2]

Notes

↑ Cappellano, Filippo; Pierallini, Livio (November 2012). "L'elmetto mod. 33". Storia Militare (230): 9. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
↑ "L'Elmetto Italiano Mod. 31 - 33". Retrieved 26 November 2014.

References

Filippo Cappellano and Livio Pierallini, L'elmetto mod. 33, in Storia Militare n. 230 (November 2012)

External links

The M31 and M33 helmet on the Italian Army website [Italian]

Helmets

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Ancient	Attic Boar's tusk Boeotian Chalcidian Coolus Corinthian Galea Illyrian type Imperial Kegelhelm Konos Late Roman ridge Montefortino Negau Phrygian Shmarjet

Medieval and Early Modern	Armet Aventail Barbute Bascinet Burgonet Cervelliere Close Enclosed Falling buffe Frog-mouth Great Hounskull Kabuto Kettle Lobster-tailed pot Mempo Morion Nasal Pickelhaube Sallet Secrete Spangenhelm

1914 to 1945	Adrian Brodie Bulgarian M36 Danish M1923 German Stahlhelm Greek M1934/39 Italian M33 M42 Duperite M1 Mk III Portuguese M1940 Polish wz. 31 RAC Soviet of WWII Swiss L'Eplattenier

Post 1945	Advanced Combat CABAL II CCB CG634 Enhanced Combat (Aust) Enhanced Combat (US) Flight GOLFO Head Gear System HSAT Iraqi M80 Iraqi M90 JK 96 Lightweight Mº 44 E.T.A. M63 M76 Para M87 M1C Mk 6 Mk 7 Modèle 1951 Modèle 1978 Modular Integrated Communications MPC-1 OR-201 Paratrooper PASGT Sfera SPECTRA SSh-60 SSh-68 Type 66

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