M45
Well-known member
I understand this youtube clip is showing M40 helmet production at the Quist helmet factory. Notice skilled craftsmen are making helmets using the 'old world' style cold press forming method. A steel disc is gradually pressed into shape using a number of cold pressing stations, probably with a few heat treatments in between to relieve stresses. Then the rims are rolled using machines and handwork before the final heat treatment. This is the way M40 German helmets were produced during the tenure of Fritz Todt as minister of armaments. He died in an air crash in February 1942 under somewhat suspicious circumstances.
Albert Speer was the next armaments minister. He apparently was not impressed with the German traditional production methods using skilled craftsmen and old world style manufacture, but was impressed with America's mass production assembly line methods, dispensing with most of the skilled craftsmen and using less skilled workers to perform just a few tasks quickly and efficiently, greatly increasing overall output.
Speer's quest to increase efficiency of German armaments production probably involved the 6 July 1942 order for helmet factories to cease the inward crimping of the helmet rim (M40) by 1 August 1942. This meant that stahlhelm would now be produced by a rapid hot-stamping method more akin to modern factory production methods (M42). All helmet factories complied with this order except Quist, who continued with M40 production until the wars end. Quist finally began M42 production in mid 1944 after receiving a second order. But even after the 2nd order, Quist showed no great enthusiasm for producing the M42.
The questions are, why did Quist ignore the first M42 order and continue to produce the M40 until wars end ? After finally complying with a second order, why did Quist produce the M42 in such small numbers (as per common collector knowledge) ?
Two possible reasons come to mind, and both may be true.
1. Quist greatly valued high craftsmanship in its products which can be seen on their M40 helmets. The M42 order may have been seen as an insult to their abilities, as the M42 was a more automated, machine-produced helmet requiring comparatively little handwork.
2. By switching to mass production methods of manufacture (M42), helmet factories could dispense with many of their skilled craftsmen (press operators, rim rollers, etc) who were needed on the Eastern Front. Quist no doubt knew that by switching to full blown M42 production, many of their valued craftsmen would be put into unform and slaughtered in the East. So to justify keeping them employed at the factory, Quist simply refused to switch over to full blown M42 production.
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