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German Helmets of the Second World War Volume II: by Branislav
Radovic
Published in January 2002 by Schiffer Publishing, the Volume II of this
two volume series features an extensive array of detailed full color
photographs of German helmets. Photographs in this volume emphasis
details common to German paratrooper helmets, decals, chinstraps, and
relic helmets found in Eastern Europe and Russia. The book
contains a number of helmets from the private collections of the author
and a handful of US and European collectors. The author is a well
regarded collector and historian living in the UK who has been an avid
helmet enthusiast since childhood.
Both
volumes are large hardback editions that average a price of about $80 US
per volume. These are expensive books, but perhaps the best in a series
of up and coming titles designed to give the reader a close-up look at
various details of the original helmets. Volume I features a brief
introduction of each helmet model, while Volume II provides photographs
of paratrooper helmets and a variety of battlefield recovered helmets
from Eastern Europe and Russia.
However
neither volume provides much text or historical information on the
helmets. Volume II is virtually void of any text which is a common
feature of Schiffer books. This is a bit of a drawback in the
sense that some information published in other books on this subject
could be refreshed and updated with the latest information known to
collectors. This series is clearly intended to be simply a large
photographic index of helmets in private collections.
A
number of helmets and related components pictured in the book have
already come under suspicion as being high end fakes due to their rarity
and also their appearance. These include SS helmets, helmet covers,
camouflaged helmets, and some of the battlefield recovered helmets. At
least one chinstrap shown in the book has been positively identified as
a postwar West German model chinstrap used on Border Guard (BGS)
helmets. |
