SMGM-3209 Ground find Battle Damaged SS M-40

Well, if someone was wearing this helmet when this damage happened, they likely had half their head blown off. There are several impact areas on this helmet and it’s hard to say what happened exactly. I would say that due to the metal cracking, there is a good chance this damage happened in the cold weather. The large hole looks like a bullet went in on and angle that caused the round to spin around the inside shell before losing velocity. In the process breaking some metal off and causing a crack. The same side reveals two more impact dents. On the other side we have a major impact as well. This time, not fully penetrating but hitting with enough force to cause major cracks in the metal. While we will never know if this was target practice or actual battle damage, I think there is a good chance this dude walked into a machine gun and got turned into a human meat pie. After the helmet was damaged, it was clearly left behind in the field or wherever and oxidized. I don’t think this helmet was really ever buried as the oxidation would likely be worse, the decal would be much worse and i also don’t see any evidence of dirt. A real fun conversation piece and an opportunity to pick up a SS helmet for a fraction of the cost of an undamaged one.