The French military had a major part to play in the WWI and WWII. Not just for their resilient soldiers and deadly firepower, but also for the introduction of one of the earliest steel ballistic helmet. Introduced in 1915, the M15 Adrian helmet, which is known in French a Casque Adrian, was a combat helmet issued to the French Army during World War I.

Prior to its development, head wounds from the falling shrapnel generated by indirect fire became a frequent cause of battlefield casualties. You should know that this was period where millions of French troops were engaged in trench warfare. This prompted the design of the first standard helmet of the French Army. It is largely considered as the first modern steel helmet.

From its inception down till the 1930s, this helmet remained the basic helmet of many armies. During the World War II, a subsequent version known as the M26 was later introduced. Shockingly, there have been researches that have found that the Adrian helmet performs better than most modern military helmets in protecting the head from shock waves created by overhead blasts.

This research, which was carried out by the Duke University, has found that the performance of most WWI helmet was very against ballistics and blunt impacts. Sure, modern military helmets have advanced over the years. But in terms of protecting the brain from shock waves from nearby blasts, the modern helmets are no better than WWI helmets.

Another important helmet is the Modèle 1951 helmet. It was majorly used during the Algerian War. It replaced a variety of helmets used during the Second World War, including the Adrian helmet, Modèle 1945 helmet and American-supplied M1 Helmet.

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