US, British and Allied Reenactment

Hello,

My Dad was in the Home Guard and did Fire Watch duties from the roofs of factory buildings in Birmingham. We used to have an old steel helmet in our garden shed, which didn't look like the standard 'Tommy' helmet but now I believe to be a 'MMOR 2 41' and was used by Civil Defence. My brother informs me that this was in fact the helmet that Dad used to wear during Fire Watches.

Dad did relay the story of doing HG drill with broom handles. I think his unit did eventually get some rifles but it may have been the case of taking turns in sharing them. So, I don't know if he did get a 'Tommy' style helmet eventually or that the 'MMOR 2 41' was the type normally issued to those doing Fire Watch anyway. Any ideas?

Hello again,

I've now discovered that the helmet I refer to is the 'Zuckerman'. Said to have been 'issued to Civil Defence workers in areas likeley to be bombed'.

Crikey!

It seems that this design doesn't have a chin strap, unless modified by the user.

Does it have loops/lugs for a chin strap? Some early issues of HG helmets came without chin straps and the HG were to get them made up locally so the same may be the same for the CD. My grandad was in the ARP in Newport, IoW and he had a standard Mk II helmet (I think, I haven't seen it in 30yrs.) that was black with ARP stenciled on the front.

Cheers!

Hello, Thanks for the reply. Sadly my Dads 'Zuckerman' helmet was given away a few years ago. There are some of these helmets on eBay at the moment and I notice they do have lugs for a chin strap.

So, would he have had a Zuckerman for Fire Watch duties but also have been issued a 'Tommy' steel helmet? I have a photo of him in HG uniform wearing his service cap. I know he was also issued with a greatcoat rather than a cape.

What ho

I find this interesting as I was told ARP was not written on helmets. I have seen ARP on helmets in post war films but not on period photos. However I always thought that as ARP was fairly un regulated folks probably did write ARP on their helmets. Now I know they did.

Harry

Unless I am mistaken didn't the ARP become the Civil Defense? I'd swear I've seen wartime photos of ARP marked helmets. From what I understand when the CD were allowed to join the Home Guard, and they had a CD issued helmet, they would not get a second helmet.

Cheers,

Hello. My Dad was never a part of the Civil Defence, he was only in the Home Guard. He did Fire Watch as part of his Home Guard duties. He was issued a Zuckerman helmet for Fire Watch because as I understand it the 'Tommy' helmet was considered less than useless in areas being bombed. The are references on other websites to the 'Tommy'(Mks2-4) helmet offering poor protection in this type of situation, even though the design continued to be the standard for forces personnel for many years.

As of 24 June 1940 it was laid down that a steel helmet would be part of the uniform of the LDV. Due to the state of the Army after Dunkirk the Army got priority. During the Blitz London Home Guard units were borrowing them from the reserve stock of the Metropolitan Police. If a one was using an employer's helmet for fire watching duties and HG duties and then got one issued a military one for HG use he had to return the employer's helmet. At the begining the Home Guard got the service grade Mk II but after January 1941 they started to get the lower grade "Helmet, Mk II, 2A or 2B". These were ones that were rejected by the Army for various "discrepancies of manufacture but... taken into use for the Home Guard". These are identified by having a single hole(2A) or two holes(2B) drilled in the rim adjacent to the chin strap lugs.

So to sum it all up your Dad may have been wearing the Zuckermann helmet for fire-watching and Home Guard untill the Home Guard got him a Mk II and then he wore the Zuckerman just for fire watching.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

I'm rather ignorant of these matters, but is it possible that it was one of the bakelite helmets worn during firewatching due to fear of loose eletrical cables during bombings etc.?

I remember reading something about it sometime ago...could well be wrong

The Fire Guard Helmets were also produced in steel. One story is that a Fire Guard tested the strength of his helmet by dropping a dart, from the top of a ladder, onto the helmet, and it went right through the helmet. Whether the helmet in question was plastic or steel is not mentioned.

Cheers,
Peter