Ostaboos rise up

Babylon Berlin I think.

It looks worse in just about every way compared to the stahlhelm, it is much wider which makes your head a larger target, and someone is more likely to clip the edge of it, it doesn’t really cover the ears, upper neck or back of the head very well, a helmet is supposed to protect against mostly shrapnel, and debris not bullets, but this leaves much of the head open, and the most glaring problem, it looks like shit, I don’t know they they didn’t just stick with the stahlhelm or something similar, it would look less comedic, and would probably offer better protection.

Helmets are good at defending your head. I think it was adopted a lot more after WW1 as explosives became more deadly and used by the enemy often.

I’m talking about this specific helmet, not helmets in general.

* upper back of the neck

*why they didn’t

Not covering the ear is actually a good thing: it makes it easier to hear shit.
Regardless, they were shown to be effective and they were most importantly cheap in terms of metal.

Eh it was more specifically against shrapnel in the trenches: a lot of stuff was flung up and came back down.

The Wehrmacht tested the new version and found it provided better protection than the old one. I suspect that being more rounded, it deflects shrapnel better.

Hearing is nice, but many soldiers prefer to wear ear muffs or ear plugs, because constant loud noises can fuck you up in the long term, and besides, I would prefer slightly dampened hearing over a piece of shrapnel or bullet to the side of the head.

Eh a lot of helmets don't cover the ear: the tommy helmet didn't for example.