German (?) helmet symbol identification

A friend of mine sent me this photo for an identification of the helmet symbol; to me is completely new and never seen before.
There is no data to have a time reference; someone does know something? [url=https://servimg.com/view/20260429/3]

Have seen this photo on a number of occasions, but a search of the internet to find the image was fruitless for me.

IIRC, I saw it in a book about WW I.  I believe it depicts WWI era German Stormtroopers .


Photo of a supposed genuine WW I German M16 Sturmtruppen helmet .




                                                                                                               

Thanks for your opinion!

Personally, looking at the “artwork” seemed a bit similar to the WWI style, and this is also my first impression.

But the look of the uniform and the helmet itself suggest (to me) a more recent timeframe.

Maybe late Reichswehr?

Yes, my first instinct was to attribute it to WWI German Stormtroopers.

But the absence of lugs on helmet does suggest a later time. Those are Finnish soldiers during 1941-1944 " war of continuation "

Images on helmets seem to have been stenciled , not hand painted.     What screwed me up for a moment was the unfamiliar ( to me ) lightweight uniform and the snowy backround.






                                                                                                             

They are Finns for sure. Only the guy on the right seems to be wearing a First World War period helmet, but we know that the Finns ended up with lots of those. This photograph has been widely reproduced in coffee table photo books on WW II. I can probably dig out a credit for it.

Ah! Finnish! Thanks a lot!

The puukko knife worn by middle soldier also is a good clue.

I looked up the photo - it is captioned as the Leningrad front in 1941 in Ross Burns (ed.), The World War II Album, Bison Books, 1991.

I looked up the photo - it is captioned as the Leningrad front in 1941 in Ross Burns (ed.), The World War II Album, Bison Books, 1991.

Good detective work Andrew.

Bought a lot of interesting paper bound Bison Books in the 80s. Mostly from Dover Army Navy whenever I drove through Dover Delaware on the way to Va. Beach. They had a huge pre owned book section and I always found something good there. They are still there ..

Yeah, in the days before the internet, those books were some of the best sources for photographs.