TESTING STEEL HELMETS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2705, 26 February 1916, Page 7

TESTING STEEL HELMETS

fENTH ARTILLERY AT PRACTICE

N.Z. MADE HEAD-GUARDS PERFORATED

The Tenth Artillery engaged in practice with live shrapnel at Trentham on Thursday afternoon,' the _ number of shots fired being eight, while some novel features were introduced, involving the testing of. some steel helmets made at the Petone llailway Workshops.

Two guns were used, and they wero placed on the parade ground witli their muzzles pointing ' towards the eastern hills. Officers and men of the 11th, 12th, and 13th Artillery Reinforcements were at the observation point, a hillcrest about 500 yards to tho left of tho target upon which the guns were trained. Hitherto this target has been a spot on the hillside, which was well peppered by tho shrapnel in previous tests of gunnery. When the Ninth tired, it is said that some adventurous members of the Tenth Artillery hid themselves near the selected spot and enjoyed all the sensations of being under "shrapnel fire without being hit. On Thursday, • some stuffed canvas dummies, wearing steel helmets, took the place of these adventurous spirits, and every one of them was riddled with shrapnel bullets. Strangely enough, only one of the steel helmets was strjick. The effect, if the wearer had been.'a living man, would been to dangerously wound him. Judging by the hole in the helmet when seen in tho office of the Camp Commandant, Colondl H. It. Potter, a bullet or other projectile had struck the side of thohelinet a glancing blow, and pierced it in such a way that about three-quarters of au inch of ragged steel was driven inwards. It. would have resulted in the death of the wearer. Although it is presumed that tha hole was made by a shrapnel bullet, the opinion has been expressed by those competent to judge that the aluminium cone of the fuse was responsible for the wide gash in the helmet. Others who handled the helmets said that they could have been struck, with an axe without making any indentation. A polished surface on tho groove where the bullet or cone entered hears out the theory that a part of tho fuse was responsible for the hole. It may be mentioned that this helmet was perfectly smooth, without ridges or any projections at all, such as appear in photographs of similar French helmets. Experts in the camp consider that a slight ridging would have deflected the missile, or, at least, have made it change its course sufficiently to avoid inflicting a fatal wound. The results of this test, and of the tests made at Tre'nthain recently with similar helmets wbon subjected to bombfire, seem to show that a harder steel or a different shape will have to be devised bofore they can be served out for use by the troops. The bombs used were said to be much more power« fill than those. used in France and Flanders. On explosion, the fragments fore great holes in the steel helmets, such as would have caused instant death to the wearers. '