George Armstrong Custer Posted 15 November , 2005 Share Posted 15 November , 2005 I've seen what purports to be 'an original French artillery general's helmet' for sale. It would appear to be a standard adrian helmet, with standard artillery insignia, but embellished with three silver stars (see picture above). My question is, does anyone know whether these existed? I know British generals/staff officers had on occasion insignia affixed to the canvas covers of their brodie helmets; and of course US generals in WWII sported a varying array of stars fixed on the front of their helmets. But the French in WWI - did they wear helmets with metal stars of rank fixed to them? If they had, I would have expected the whole helmet for a French general to be of a deluxe finish - particularly the all important comfort zone of the lining! And wouldn't a generals helmet, like those of WWII US generals, carry only the generals rank insignia and not that of a standard version of his arm of service? I'd be interested to know if anyone knows of pictures of French Great War generals with rank-badged helmets? Ciao, GAC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle bill Posted 16 November , 2005 Share Posted 16 November , 2005 Yes they did exist, the one in the photo doesn't look very honest in my opinion. I wouldn't touch it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Armstrong Custer Posted 16 November , 2005 Author Share Posted 16 November , 2005 Yes they did exist, the one in the photo doesn't look very honest in my opinion. I wouldn't touch it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanks for that - I share your reservations over this piece. Quite apart from the fact that a generals helmet would almost certainly be of the highest quality - particularly the liner (which on this example is bog-standard issue), it can be seen that the application of the stars has damaged the paintwork immediately surrounding them; and the top star intrudes over the top of the helmet crest and the artillery device. Both of which lead me to believe they were added much later to the helmet. On a question posed in my original post, do you know if a genuine general's helmet would have sported an artillery arm of service badge, or only insignia of rank (I suspect the latter)? Ciao, GAC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 17 November , 2005 Share Posted 17 November , 2005 I haven't seen one before with the artillery badge , but these helmets did have the standard national army "flaming grenade" badge. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD60 Posted 17 November , 2005 Share Posted 17 November , 2005 On this page a photo of an american general with a french helmet. Stars were added by him on the helmet. http://batmarn2.club.fr/clignonus.htm Means some personnal adaptation were possible without being a general rule. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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