Hello,
Several years ago this helmet came in to my collection, the friend I got it from bought it, believe it or not, on ebay.
In the lot wasn't only a helmet but also the owners Wehrpass and some period pictures.
In the past I have placed this helmet on various forums, so some of you will have seen it previously, but today I made new pictures and took the time to post it again on this forum.
The helmet belonged to Schütze Hans Frick, he was born in 1919 and lived with his parents in Burgholzhausen where he worked as a butcher, from November 1938 till March 1939 he served with the RAD and on December 12 1939 he was drafted in to the army.
After six weeks of basic training he was assigned to the veterinary company of the 251th Infantry Division; in 1940 a lot of the German infantry units still depended on horsepower to draw their supplies.
On April 12 1940 he gets transfered to the 7th company of Infantry Regiment 471 (251ID).
On May 10 1940 the 251th ID was part of the 4th army and participated in the invasion of the Low Countries, the target for the 251th ID are the Belgian forts on the right bank of the Meuse river in Liege.
Their first goal is the old fort of Embourg, a pre WW1 fort that had been modernized by the Belgian army in the interbellum.
At 10.00 PM on May 13 1940 his unit tries to take the fort by surprise, it is during this assult that he gets KIA; their attack was spotted by Belgian artillery observers and repulsed by artillery fire from the forts Embourg & Chaudfontaine.
His helmet was hit by at least two pices of shrapnel, the helmet gets penetrated and the inside is blown to pieces (parts of his hair are still on the inside of the helmet), no doubt that this killed him instantaneously.
He was buried in a fieldgrave and his helmet was used as a gravemarker.
In the summer of 1940 his father visits his sons grave and it seems that he has taken the helmet home as a reminder of his son; perhaps the family got comfort out of the fact that their son didn't suffer when he died. The father places the helmet in a homemade shrine in the livingroom of there home in Burgholzhausen.
After the war he is reburied in the big German warcemetery in Lommel (Belgium), also there they keep on visiting the grave of there son.
Now I'am going to let the pictures do the talking,
Peter
Several years ago this helmet came in to my collection, the friend I got it from bought it, believe it or not, on ebay.
In the lot wasn't only a helmet but also the owners Wehrpass and some period pictures.
In the past I have placed this helmet on various forums, so some of you will have seen it previously, but today I made new pictures and took the time to post it again on this forum.
The helmet belonged to Schütze Hans Frick, he was born in 1919 and lived with his parents in Burgholzhausen where he worked as a butcher, from November 1938 till March 1939 he served with the RAD and on December 12 1939 he was drafted in to the army.
After six weeks of basic training he was assigned to the veterinary company of the 251th Infantry Division; in 1940 a lot of the German infantry units still depended on horsepower to draw their supplies.
On April 12 1940 he gets transfered to the 7th company of Infantry Regiment 471 (251ID).
On May 10 1940 the 251th ID was part of the 4th army and participated in the invasion of the Low Countries, the target for the 251th ID are the Belgian forts on the right bank of the Meuse river in Liege.
Their first goal is the old fort of Embourg, a pre WW1 fort that had been modernized by the Belgian army in the interbellum.
At 10.00 PM on May 13 1940 his unit tries to take the fort by surprise, it is during this assult that he gets KIA; their attack was spotted by Belgian artillery observers and repulsed by artillery fire from the forts Embourg & Chaudfontaine.
His helmet was hit by at least two pices of shrapnel, the helmet gets penetrated and the inside is blown to pieces (parts of his hair are still on the inside of the helmet), no doubt that this killed him instantaneously.
He was buried in a fieldgrave and his helmet was used as a gravemarker.
In the summer of 1940 his father visits his sons grave and it seems that he has taken the helmet home as a reminder of his son; perhaps the family got comfort out of the fact that their son didn't suffer when he died. The father places the helmet in a homemade shrine in the livingroom of there home in Burgholzhausen.
After the war he is reburied in the big German warcemetery in Lommel (Belgium), also there they keep on visiting the grave of there son.
Now I'am going to let the pictures do the talking,
Peter