M1 Helmets

[bimbo's great niece]

Hello All,

 

Does anyone have any info on any unit insignia or special markings that 348th Engineers wore on their helmets? I have seen some examples of the Amphibous forces patch on the front with the arc above it. Anyone have any pictures or recollections?

 

Thanks!

Joe

[SonofaMP]

First of all, there were no Army regulations authorizing or governing the use of helmet markings. Prior to the D-Day invasion there didnt seem to be much use of helmet markings. Probably due to lessons learned from prior amphibious assaults, the ground commanders wanted a way of quickly recognizing the different units of the combat teams in the confusion of the beachhead. It was usualy the unit commanders that required their men to paint the marking to be used for each branch on there helmets.

As for the 348th, they were under command of the 5th Engineer Special Brigade and most would use the Amphibious Forces patch for the helmet marking. Navy Beach Battalion men attached to the engineer teams had a gray band painted around their helmets to distinguish them from army personnel. Officers were identified by a vertical white stripe on the back of the helemet and non-comms had a hortizontal white stripe on the back of the helmet. Not sure why the white arc was used other than to to designate as Engineer Special Brigrade, The arc was used by engineer, quartermaster & military police attached to the brigades.

[CaptO]

Good info, thanks Larry. I had always wondered why you see the guys with helmet markings on D-Day, but not others. I just figured it was a D-Day specific thing like the invasion (or "don't shoot at me, dummy!!) stripes on allied airplanes.

 

Here is one of Robert Capa's pictures of the landing. You can see the half circle marked on the soldier's helmet on the left.

[SonofaMP]

By all accounts D-Day was probably the first widespread use of helmet markings for unit identification and mostly used by the assault troops. Markings varied & were inconsistant in most cases. Some infantry units painted their division insignia on the helmets, others didnt. The ones that did used black or dark colors so they wouldnt stand out. If you read veteran accounts, most of them rubbed out that white arc as best they could or covered it with mud to avoid being sniper targets. If you were a german sniper up on the bluff overlooking the beach scene in the above photo, what`s the first target your going to pick up on?