GERMAN M31 HELMET LINER MAKER MARKED 64 SHELL ORIGINAL
GERMAN M31 LINER FOR 64 SHELL - ORIGINAL
This is an original WW2 German M31 helmet liner that has both the inner and outer metal bands. Maker marked.
- Metall-Lederverarbeitung W.Z. (Maker: Werner Zahn) in Bln.-Chburg 5 (Berlin), dated 1939.
- 64 n.A / 57
64 shell / 57 liner band
Unfortunately the leather liner has been modified . someone seems to have used 2 pieces of leather and joined them together to make the leather part of the liner .
Also looks like there might be part of the leather of a original German chin strap.
Does have the 3 original split pins and washers.
I bought a original German helmet in France to refurbish the shell and this liner was in it.
In 1934 a new liner system for German helmets was adopted, namely the model 1931 liner. The new liner took into account the size of a soldier’s head rather than only the helmet shell size. The M31 liner consists of two interlocking metal bands which are connected to each other with 5 steel leaf springs. The leather liner was attached to the inner metal band by small rivets made of aluminum and subsequently zinc-coated steel. The band is stamped with the liner head size and appropriate shell size. The leather part consists of 8 separate «tongues» which are perforated with 5 stamped holes to allow for ventilation. The liners for larger helmets (size 68-70) have 9 leather tongues.
For precise adjustment for a soldier’s head size, a woven drawstring is inserted through a 6th hole on the tip of each tongue. Between the leather and the inner band, a wool strip is attached to improve comfort and to avoid rubbing of the fragile leather against metal. Early liners were made mainly of aluminum parts changing to zinc-coated steel parts in 1940. The M31 liner consists of many parts and the 6 different liner producers that that existed obtained certain components (leather and rivets) from several other manufacturers.
SKU | O1274 |
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Weight | 0.251000 |