Lovely condition relic complete German Army M42 steel helmet with near complete liner and some paintwork remains bought at the Militia fair in Bologna in 2024 originally recovered many years ago from the Anzio landings the battle of 1944 in Italy

This is a very rare lovely condition German M42 helmet with a fair amount of paintwork remains which is fairly clear to see on the outside and the inside of the helmet it is lightly rusty and pitted with no rust holes and is lovely and solid not braking up or falling apart.The rare bit of the helmet is near complete liner the ring is totally complete and still has most of its leather liner still attached and its nice dark brown colour it also has the remains of the chin strap. The helmet has been very well cleaned as is perfect for display or any collection and a very rare helmet to find from the battlefield especially in this condition with A liner. The helmet bought at the Militia fair in Bologna in 2024 originally recovered many years ago from the battlefield around the Anzio landings the battle of January until June 1944 in Italy.The helmet comes with 2xA5 laminated information sheets with pictures.

Operation Shingle the landings in Anzio commenced on 22 January 1944, landing 36,000 men and 3,200 vehicles by the end of the day. Opposition was minimal on the first day, and Allied casualties were low; the Allies suffered 13 killed and 97 wounded, while 200 Germans were captured. British 1st Infantry Division had moved 2 miles inland, US 3rd Infantry Division had moved 3 miles inland, US 6615th Ranger Force had captured the port of Anzio, and US 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion had captured Nettuno. Having established a beachhead with relative ease, rather than advancing toward Rome to potentially force the Germans to divert forces from the Gustav Line or advancing toward Gustav Line itself to link up with the Allied forces in the Cassino area, Lucas chose to remain in place in order to strengthen the beachhead against a possible German counterattack.The Germans kept the Allies pinned in to the beach head for a few months but  by mid-May 1944, Allied strength at the Anzio beachhead reached 150,000 men (two British divisions and five US divisions). At 0545 hours on 23 May, 1,500 Allied artillery pieces bombarded German lines for 40 minutes, thus commencing a new Allied attempt at breaking out of the Anzio beachhead. After a week of heavy fighting on the 30th May seven German divisions successfully withdraw along Route 6 in Italy, Kesselring allowed his troops in the Velletri gap to slowly fall back from this area. On the same day, US 36th Infantry Division began penetrating the German Caesar C Line; it would be overrun by 2 Jun. Hitler saw no reason to hold on to Rome, and expressed such sentiment to Kesselring on 2 June, who agreed whole-heartily, 

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