Portuguese M1940 helmet

Last updated May 02, 2019

The M1940 helmet was the primary combat helmet used by the Armed Forces of Portugal, from the 1940s to the late 1960s. The M1940-63 and the M1940-63 Paratrooper are improved versions of the M1940 helmet that were introduced in the 1960s and are still in limited use. Besides being used by the Armed Forces, the M1940 and the M1940-63 helmets were also used by the Portuguese Security Forces, including the Public Security Police and the National Republican Guard (GNR). This helmet was largely replaced by the PASGT in the early 1990s.^[1]

A combat helmet or battle helmet is a type of helmet, a piece of personal armor designed specifically to protect the head during combat.

The Portuguese Armed Forces are the military of Portugal. They include the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the other unified bodies and the three service branches: Portuguese Navy, Portuguese Army and Portuguese Air Force.

Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country located mostly on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost sovereign state of mainland Europe, being bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain. Its territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments.

History

Until the early 1940s, the standard combat helmet of the Portuguese Army was the Brodie helmet, adopted during World War I, two versions of which were in use, referred in Portuguese service as the M1916 and the M1917.

Portuguese Army land forces of the Armed Forces of Portugal

The Portuguese Army is the land component of the Armed Forces of Portugal and is also its largest branch. It is charged with the defence of Portugal, in co-operation with other branches of the Armed Forces. It is one of the oldest armies in the world, with its origins going back to the 12th century.

The Brodie helmet is a steel combat helmet designed and patented in London in 1915 by John Leopold Brodie. A modified form it became the Helmet, steel, Mark I in Britain and the M1917 Helmet in the U.S. Colloquially, it was called the shrapnel helmet, battle bowler, Tommy helmet, tin hat, and in the United States the doughboy helmet. It was also known as the dishpan hat, tin pan hat, washbasin, battle bowler, and Kelly helmet. The German Army called it the Salatschüssel. The term Brodie is often mis-used. It is correctly applied only to the original 1915 Brodie's Steel Helmet, War Office Pattern.

World War I 1914–1918 global war originating in Europe

World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.

In the late 1930s, it was decided to replace the M1916 and M1917 by a new modern helmet. Several foreign helmets were tested and finally a Portuguese design was adopted in 1940, being designated M1940. The M1940 was allegedly inspired in the design of helmets used by the Portuguese soldiers of the 15th century. It was made of steel and manufactured by the Fábrica de Braço de Prata (military factory of Braço de Prata) in Lisbon.

Steel alloy made by combining iron and other elements

Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, and sometimes other elements. Because of its high tensile strength and low cost, it is a major component used in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons.

Fábrica de Braço de Prata, originally Fábrica Militar de Braço de Prata was a small arms, light artillery, ammunition and ordnance factory owned by the Portuguese Government. It also designed and developed its own armament and ammunition in addition to the licensed production of foreign weapons, including a Portuguese version of the Heckler & Koch G3 widely used during the Portuguese Colonial War.

Lisbon is the capital and the largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 505,526 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km². Its urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits with a population of around 2.8 million people, being the 11th-most populous urban area in the European Union. About 3 million people live in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, including the Portuguese Riviera,. It is mainland Europe's westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast. Lisbon lies in the western Iberian Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and the River Tagus. The westernmost areas of its metro area form the westernmost point of Continental Europe, which is known as Cabo da Roca, located in the Sintra Mountains.

In the early 1960s, a modernized version of the M1940 was developed and adopted in 1963 as the M1940-63. The M1940-63 had a variant specifically designed for use by paratroopers.

A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into an operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World War II for troop distribution and transportation. Paratroopers are often used in surprise attacks, to seize strategic objectives such as airfields or bridges.

From 1961 to 1974, the M1940 and the M1940-63 helmets were used in combat by the Portuguese Armed and Security Forces in the Portuguese Overseas War.

The Portuguese Colonial War, also known in Portugal as the Overseas War or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation, was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974. The Portuguese regime was overthrown by a military coup in 1974, and the change in government brought the conflict to an end. The war was a decisive ideological struggle in Lusophone Africa, surrounding nations, and mainland Portugal.

Although largely replaced in the late 1980s by modern kevlar combat helmets, the M1940-63 is still in limited use, namely as a ceremonial helmet used by the Portuguese Army's Military Police.^[1]

Kevlar is a heat-resistant and strong synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, this high-strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires. Typically it is spun into ropes or fabric sheets that can be used as such or as an ingredient in composite material components.

The Army Police, usually called the Lanceiros, is the military police of the Portuguese Army — formerly designated as Polícia Militar between 1953 and 1976. In the Portuguese Army it is a speciality of the Cavalry Arm, being the instruction and organization of the Army Police forces is of the responsibility of the Regimento de Lanceiros Nº 2.

Related Research Articles

The Pickelhaube, also Pickelhelm, is a spiked helmet worn in the 19th and 20th centuries by German military, firefighters, and police. Although typically associated with the Prussian Army, which adopted it in 1842–43, the helmet was widely imitated by other armies during this period. It is still worn today as part of ceremonial wear in the militaries of certain countries.

Stahlhelm is German for "steel helmet". The Imperial German Army began to replace the traditional boiled leather Pickelhaube with the Stahlhelm during World War I in 1916. The term Stahlhelm refers both to a generic steel helmet, and more specifically to the distinctive German design.

Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops is a combat helmet and ballistic vest that was used by the United States military from the early 1980s until the mid-2000s, when the helmet and vest were succeeded by the Lightweight Helmet (LWH), Modular Integrated Communications Helmet (MICH), and Interceptor Body Armor (IBA) respectively.

M1 helmet U.S. Army helmet, issued to the US military from 1942 until the 1990s.

The M1 helmet is a combat helmet that was used by the United States military from World War II until 1985, when it was succeeded by the PASGT helmet. For over forty years, the M1 was standard issue for the U.S. military. The M1 helmet has become an icon of the American military, with its design inspiring other militaries around the world.

The M15 Adrian helmet was a combat helmet issued to the French Army during World War I. It was the first standard helmet of the French Army and was designed when millions of French troops were engaged in trench warfare, and head wounds from the falling shrapnel generated by the new technique of indirect fire became a frequent cause of battlefield casualties. Introduced in 1915, it was the first modern steel helmet and it served as the basic helmet of many armies well into the 1930s. Initially issued to infantry soldiers, in modified form they were also issued to cavalry and tank crews. A subsequent version, the M26, was used during World War II.

A combat uniform, field uniform, or battledress, is a type of uniform used in combat, as opposed to dress uniforms worn in functions and parades. In American English, the term fatigues is often used, originally being a term for soldiers' work uniforms. The combat uniform is generally camouflaged, either in monochrome such as a shade of green or brown to approximate the background, or in a disruptive pattern.

Disruptive Pattern Material (DPM) is the commonly used name of a camouflage pattern used by the British Armed Forces as well as many other armies worldwide, particularly in former British colonies such as Kenya.

The Modular Integrated Communications Helmet (MICH) is a U.S. combat helmet and one of several used by the U.S. military. It was developed by the United States Army Soldier Systems Center to be the next generation of protective combat helmets for use by the U.S. Army.

Custodian helmet high helmet worn by police in England, Wales, and other places

The custodian helmet is the modern name applied to the helmet worn by male police officers in England and Wales and certain other places around the world. It is synonymous with the "bobby on the beat" image.

The Mk 6 helmet was the standard combat helmet of the British Armed Forces as well as another supplied helmet of the UN during peacekeeping operations. The Mk 6 replaced the Mk IV helmet in army service and the RAC helmet in naval service. The jump in MK numbers is thought due to the confusion surrounding the MK IV helmet using the MK V lining, introduced in 1959. The MK 6, introduced into service from 1985, is designed to accept modern ear protection, Bowman personal radios, and respirators. The helmet is manufactured by NP Aerospace, and is reported to have an "almost unlimited service life" by the manufacturer.

The maroon beret in a military configuration has been an international symbol of airborne forces since the Second World War. It was officially introduced in 1942, at the direction of Major-General Frederick "Boy" Browning, commander of the British 1st Airborne Division. It was first worn by the Parachute Regiment in action in North Africa during November 1942. Although coloured maroon, the beret of the British Parachute Regiment is often called the "red beret."

FBP is a 9 mm submachine gun originally developed from a design first conceived in 1940 by Gonçalves Cardoso, an officer of artillery in the Portuguese Army. The onset of World War II halted development of the weapon, which was further modified and put into production in 1948.

The Polícia Aérea is the military police and ground combat special force of the Portuguese Air Force. The Air Police has as its main symbol the Blue Beret with the Emblem of the Air Force.

The lizard pattern is a family of many related designs of military camouflage pattern, first used by the French Army on uniforms from 1947 to the late 1980s. It was based on the British paratroopers' Denison smock.

The Iraqi M80 Helmet is a military helmet made of compressed canvas used by the Iraqi Armed Forces from the early 1980s onwards. They were used in the Iran–Iraq War, the Persian Gulf War/Operation Desert Storm, and the 2003 Invasion of Iraq/Operation Iraqi Freedom. These helmets were originally manufactured and designed in South Korea but in 1990 an Iraqi-made version appeared, which is usually fitted with a distinctive rubber rim. Both types of helmet are still in limited service with the Iraqi Security Forces but are being replaced by the American PASGT helmet.

The Modèle 1951 helmet was a military helmet used by the French military, iconic of the Algerian War. It replaced a variety of helmets used during the Second World War, including the Adrian helmet, Modèle 1945 helmet and American-supplied M1 Helmet.

The OR-201 is a combat helmet of Israeli origin. Developed in the 1960s, it was one of the world's first Kevlar helmets. It was subsequently exported on a large scale and been used by many militaries of the world.

The American fiber helmet is a type of sun helmet made of pressed fiber material that has been used as part of the military uniform by various parts of the United States Armed Forces, from 1934 to present. As of 2017, the helmet continues to be worn by US military rifle range cadres, as an icon for marksmanship excellence. The helmet is technically not a pith helmet, insofar as it is not constructed from pith material. However, in the more generic sense of design style, this type of sun helmet is modeled similarly to one and thus often referred to in common use as a pith helmet. Additionally, the helmet is not a combat helmet, insofar as it was not originally designed to protect the head during combat. However, the helmet was nonetheless assigned, at various times in the 1930s and 1940s, as combat gear for use in active theaters.

References

1 2 http://www.cascoscoleccion.com/portugal/por40.htm

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[cascos-1] 1 2 http://www.cascoscoleccion.com/portugal/por40.htm