Caterpillar helmet
The caterpillar helmet is a military type of helmet in which a fur caterpillar is attached over the helmet bell (directly or on a metal bracket). Often, especially among lower ranks, the caterpillar was made only of wool. The helmet bowl was made of metal or leather and adequately protected the wearer from saber blows. There was also a (usually metal) chinstrap that offered additional protection.
history
The caterpillar helmet appeared in antiquity, but then disappeared again. From the American War of Independence , it found increasing distribution again, especially among the cavalry . The English caterpillar helmet type with its caterpillar pulled into the forehead is named after Banastre Tarleton (a British commander of this war). In pre-revolutionary France , Bavaria , Württemberg , Baden and Austria large sections of the foot troops also wore the caterpillar helmet. In the course of the Napoleonic Wars , however, this type of helmet was largely supplanted by the foot troops by the cheaper shako . From 1843 on, the spiked hat prevailed among the cavalry . Only in Bavaria was this helmet shape, characteristic of the Bavarian army , retained until the death of Ludwig II .
Banastre Tarleton, oil painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds , 1782
Ludwig II in the uniform of the 4th Chevauleg Regiment with a caterpillar helmet. There the caterpillar is attached directly to the leather helmet shell
Officer of the French carabiniers , 1812; here the caterpillar is attached to a bracket above the helmet bowl
Louis Braun : Bavarian infantryman, Max Lehner, stretcher of the medical company
literature
- Wilhelm von Diez : Under the caterpillar helmet. The Bavarian Army 1848–1864. Edited by Paul Ernst Rattelmüller . Association of Friends of the Bavarian Army Museum, Munich / Ottobrunn 1979.
- Walter Seibold , Gerd M. Schulz : The helmets of the Royal Bavarian Army 1806–1918. Bavarian military publisher Gerd M. Schulz, Gröbenzell 1999.