The Adrian M 1915 helmet was the military helmet distributed to French troops during the First World War. It was conceived as an emergency when millions of soldiers found themselves engaged in trench warfare and head injuries became a significant proportion of battlefield casualties.
It replaced a steel brace adopted in February 1915 and was distributed to from September 1915.
These helmets come from the Japy factories and were designed by foreman Louis Kuhiv. They were commissioned by Steward Adrian, and will keep that name (from Adrian).
The Adrian helmet was designed to protect soldiers from shrapnel from shells exploding above the trenches. The presence of a crest is reminiscent of cavalry helmets; it is intended to absorb shocks coming from above (the crest is crushed, then the shock is transmitted to the shell of the helmet). Like most helmets of this era, there was no question of trying to stop the direct impact of a rifle or machine gun bullet. The helmet was made of mild steel with a thickness of 7/10 mm it weighs only 765 grams, lighter than the German helmets (Stahlhelm) and British (Brodie helmet) which appeared later (February 1916 for the German helmet , end of 1915 for the English helmet). Horizon blue in color, it was, unlike the latter, made up of 3 parts, the helmet itself, the front visor and the rear visor, and had in addition the crest. On the front of the helmet was screwed the insignia of the weapon (infantry, artillery, cavalry ...), the best known being that of the infantry, an exploding grenade surmounted by a flame, stamped with the initials "RF ".
More than twenty million Adrian 1915 helmets were produced, and widely adopted by other countries, such as Italy, Belgium, Thailand, Russia, Romania, Poland or Serbia. The Soviet model, with a large red star, became a symbol of the line soldiers of the USSR.
In 1926 a new version of the Adrian helmet was adopted. Made of stronger steel, in one piece plus the crest, 3 million were produced. From 1935, khaki replaced horizon blue in the French army and therefore the color of the helmet was modified, with shades ranging from yellow khaki to green khaki through brown. In the French army, the Adrian helmet (essentially in its 1926 version) was standard equipment until after the Second World War, and was used by the police forces until the 1970s. collectors.