DID THE WW2 GERMANS HAVE BODY ARMOR?
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DID THE WW2 GERMANS HAVE BODY ARMOR?
i have often wondered if the wehrmacht had body armor. like flak jackets. does any one know?
- Christian Ankerstjerne
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- Dennis Redler
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Did WW2 Germans
As far as I know, the Germans never used body armor.
The U.S. Army Air Force made use of several types of body armor for bomber crews in WW2.
Dennis Redler
The U.S. Army Air Force made use of several types of body armor for bomber crews in WW2.
Dennis Redler
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- Christian Ankerstjerne
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- Oleg Grigoryev
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Propaganda
These Soviet armoured life-vests were used only for propaganda purposes. I am sure that 9x19 Parabellum bullets "full metal jacketed" could pierce it easily. No effective mobile body-armours before kevlar!
- Oleg Grigoryev
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Re: Propaganda
yea forget all the stuff that veterans who actually used them told -propoganda -sure thing :roll:gabriel pagliarani wrote:These Soviet armoured life-vests were used only for propaganda purposes. I am sure that 9x19 Parabellum bullets "full metal jacketed" could pierce it easily. No effective mobile body-armours before kevlar!
Re: Propaganda
Does anyone have an accurate weight for this Soviet body armour? As a WW1 buff it looks to me in shape and concept quite like some WW1 Italian types, or a refined and modified version of the WW1 German breastplate with articulated groin-plates (the 'lobster tail') which was sometimes worn by sentries in conjunction with the stirnpanzer bolt-on bulletproof plate on the front of the helmet. The Soviet armour does look more compact (with the right shoulder cut-out, for instance, which no doubt made weapon handling much easier), but in order to achieve an effective thickness against shrapnel and low-powered projectiles using metal plates it would (based on WW1 experience) need to be heavy enough to limit the wearer's movement to a tactically significant degree.
Were the men issued with this armour perhaps hand-picked for their high strength and endurance to be able to operate effectively with it? Oleg, please let us know what the Russian sources say.
Were the men issued with this armour perhaps hand-picked for their high strength and endurance to be able to operate effectively with it? Oleg, please let us know what the Russian sources say.
These Soviet armoured life-vests were used only for propaganda purposes. I am sure that 9x19 Parabellum bullets "full metal jacketed" could pierce it easily. No effective mobile body-armours before kevlar!
Unless you have a source for this statement I take it as a pure baseless speculation from your side.
Best regards/ Daniel
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German sentries guarding pillboxes in WWI used steel body armor and helmet reinforcers (what the big lugs are for on a 1917 Stahlhelm). This was otherwise too heavy for combat but looked about like the Soviet breastplates in the photos above. It could deflect .30 caliber rifle or machinegun fire.
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