Austrian Police Helmets

During the early days of the National Socialist Party, many Austrian model World War I helmets were requisitioned for use by the German Police (Deutsche Polizei).  Following the Annexation of Austria in 1938, the Austrian police were integrated into the German Order Police (Ordnungspolizei).  However, even before this time Austrian pattern helmets were used by the German Army.  One of the many reasons why the German military used the Austrian helmet is related to the fact that it could be modified to accommodate the new M1931 helmet liner.  Austrian helmets did not have the large, bulky interior bolts for attaching the chinstrap like those typically found on German M1916 and M1917 helmets.  This made the modification much simpler and more practical with regards to the use of the chinstrap.  However, most of the early issued police helmets continued to use three-pad style leather liners instead of the updated M1931 type.  Police helmets of this kind were painted a dark to medium blue-gray color using smooth paint inside and out.  Twin decals were applied to the helmet as shown in the photograph at right.  These insignia consisted of the un-bordered police eagle shield and the National Socialist Party decal.  In 1940, a large number of these helmets were repainted in rough texture field-gray military paint.  These later issued helmets often had the bordered style police eagle transfer instead of the earlier pattern without the silver border.

Information Tracks are organized by subject matter and their content is directly related to the service arm or organization to which each topic is related.  Topic areas that bridge one subject matter to another are cross linked within each Information Track.

This Information Track provides historical facts pertaining to Austrian Police Transitional Helmets from 1935-1945.  Individual links related to this subject are outlined below.