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This has got to be my favorite piece of militaria period. I got this from a guy in the UK back in 2006. the story behind the helmet is as follows:
THIS IS A VERY RARE GERMAN SS HELMET, RETAINING MOST OF IT'S ORIGINAL LINER, FOUND IN THE 1970'S IN A TUNNEL/CAVE ON JERSEY, CHANNEL ISLANDS. THIS IS A VERY NICE ARTIFACT FROM THE OCCUPATION OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS DURING WW2. IT HAS SURVIVED WELL WITHIN THE TUNNEL, WITH IT'S LINER MOSTLY INTACT AND THE SS INSIGNIA STILL VERY CLEAR. I HAVE OFTEN WONDERED HOW THE HELMET CAME TO BE LEFT THERE BY A GERMAN SOLDIER. WAS IT JUST LEFT BEHIND? LOST? STOLEN????
Sure it is beat to hell, rusty, liner falling apart, but the story of the SS in the Channel Islands during WW II is quite fascinating really.
"The military occupation of the Channel Islands by Nazi Germany during World War II lasted from 30 June 1940 until the Liberation on 9 May 1945. The Channel Islands, which are crown dependencies, and thus not integral parts of the United Kingdom, were the only portions of the British Isles to be invaded and occupied by German forces during the war.
As part of the Atlantic Wall, between 1940 and 1945 the occupying German forces and the Organisation Todt constructed fortifications round the coasts of the Channel Islands.
The majority of the workforce was slave labour composed of prisoners of war from Eastern Europe, as well as Spanish republicans.
In Alderney, a concentration camp, Lager Sylt, was established to provide slave labour for the fortifications.
The Channel Islands were amongst the most heavily fortified, particularly the island of Alderney which is the closest to France. Hitler had decreed that 10% of the steel and concrete used in the Atlantic Wall go to the Channel Islands, because of the propaganda value of controlling British territory."
(from wikipedia)
So you see the concentration camp on Alderney was run by the SS, naturally they went back and forth from the islands. So that more than likely is how the helmet came to be left there.
Steven
THIS IS A VERY RARE GERMAN SS HELMET, RETAINING MOST OF IT'S ORIGINAL LINER, FOUND IN THE 1970'S IN A TUNNEL/CAVE ON JERSEY, CHANNEL ISLANDS. THIS IS A VERY NICE ARTIFACT FROM THE OCCUPATION OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS DURING WW2. IT HAS SURVIVED WELL WITHIN THE TUNNEL, WITH IT'S LINER MOSTLY INTACT AND THE SS INSIGNIA STILL VERY CLEAR. I HAVE OFTEN WONDERED HOW THE HELMET CAME TO BE LEFT THERE BY A GERMAN SOLDIER. WAS IT JUST LEFT BEHIND? LOST? STOLEN????
Sure it is beat to hell, rusty, liner falling apart, but the story of the SS in the Channel Islands during WW II is quite fascinating really.
"The military occupation of the Channel Islands by Nazi Germany during World War II lasted from 30 June 1940 until the Liberation on 9 May 1945. The Channel Islands, which are crown dependencies, and thus not integral parts of the United Kingdom, were the only portions of the British Isles to be invaded and occupied by German forces during the war.
As part of the Atlantic Wall, between 1940 and 1945 the occupying German forces and the Organisation Todt constructed fortifications round the coasts of the Channel Islands.
The majority of the workforce was slave labour composed of prisoners of war from Eastern Europe, as well as Spanish republicans.
In Alderney, a concentration camp, Lager Sylt, was established to provide slave labour for the fortifications.
The Channel Islands were amongst the most heavily fortified, particularly the island of Alderney which is the closest to France. Hitler had decreed that 10% of the steel and concrete used in the Atlantic Wall go to the Channel Islands, because of the propaganda value of controlling British territory."
(from wikipedia)
So you see the concentration camp on Alderney was run by the SS, naturally they went back and forth from the islands. So that more than likely is how the helmet came to be left there.
Steven
