Danish M/46 helmet

M/46 helmet 

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The M/46 helmet was a failed attempt to make a helmet to replace the large amount of British Mk. II's, Mk. III's, Mk. IV's and Swedish M/37 in service with the Danish army in the aftermath of WWII.  

Production began in 1946 and was undertaken by the company Glud og Marstrand. The same company that produced the M/23 helmets before the war.
Right after the war they had begun production again and approximately 4700 M23/41 helmets for the navy were produced. Glud og Marstrand were the only company in Denmark with the capacity to produce the M/46 helmets in the numbers needed.

The M/46 helmet borrowed the shape of the shell from the Swedish M/37 helmet. For the untrained eye they look almost similar. The liner is often the best way to tell which one is which. The M/46 were made with two different type of liners. The first liners were scavenged Mk. II helmet liners! Later they made a US Style liner with webbing and plastic for the helmets used by the civil defence. Both type M/46 helmets used a US style chinstrap. Made out of khaki webbing. 

The chinstrap bales are fixed and spot-welded in place making the straps prone to breaking when used over a long period of time.  

They are found with a greyish / green coarse paint job. ( they mixed the paint with sand) and a smotth grey paint job. (For CF use) 

A total of 30.000 helmets were produced, and most ended up with the navy (they stopped using them in 1951) and the Civilforsvaret (civil defence). It was never adopted by the army (officially), since they adopted the US M1 helmet in 1948. (M/48)  

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Above: The front of the helmet.

Above: The rear of the helmet

Above: The interior. Notice the Mk. II helmet liner. 

Above: The chinstrap and buckle. It is made out of webbing and brass.

Above: Chinstrap bale... Spot-welded in place. 

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 Above: Swedish M/37 helmet for comparison.

Danish M/49 gas mask

The mask with associated equipment: 1. Filter M/47, 2. Gas mask M/49, 3. anti dimming cloth, 4. Carrier 164.115-4, 5. two pair of protective goggles, 6. Manual, 7. Cleaning cloth.  

Remember! you can enlarge the picture by clicking on it! 

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The Danish M/49 gas mask is one of these items that everyone knows exist, but no one owns.

I was lucky enough to find one, with all the different items that normally are missing + the altered British carrier used together with the mask. (see the first picture) 

The mask is a re-design of the Danish M/38 gas mask that the army used from 1938 and until 1943. The M/38 (as did the M/31) saw some post war usage, but it was quickly replaced by this mask.

The stopped covering the mask in cloth, and the eyepieces can no longer be unscrewed to put in anti fogging discs. Instead they introduced an anti-dimming cloth. 

The mask is made of a one pice rubber part, an intake / exhale valve assembly, two eyepieces and a rather comprehensive strap system. The strap system exactly the same type of strap system used on the M/38 mask. All metal parts are made of aluminium, and the exhale / inhale valve assembly is down to the smallest detail the same as the M/38 mask.

The carrier is an interesting item, since it has been altered to meet Danish requirements. 

The C-hooks were cut off together with the shoulder strap rings. The C-hooks were then placed vertically together with two green webbing straps and two new buckles. This made it possible to carry the carrier in a vertical position, instead of the horizontal position as the British intended.