M1639 Stahlhelm

The Stahlhelm (Praeta: Salszhilm) is Praeta for "steel helmet", the usage and the type being popularised on the Benacian continent by the Elwynnbrigaden, a feudal militia and precursor to the Union Defence Force of Elwynn. The Imperial Army began to replace the traditional M15 Adrian helmet with the Stahlhelm during the early years of the Sxiro-Jingdaoese Confrontation in 1639. The term Stahlhelm refers both to a generic steel helmet, and more specifically to the Benacian design.

The Stahlhelm, with its distinctive "coal scuttle" shape, is instantly recognisable and became a common element of military propaganda on both sides during and after the War of Lost Brothers. Manufactured via ESB subcontractors, the M1639, fabricated from pressed sheets of molybdenum steel, of which 4,813,054 pieces were made before production ceased with the onset of the White Plague, was produced in numbers which far exceeded the requirements of the Imperial Forces and was, as a consequence, widely exported to other members of the Raspur Pact as well as gifted to the local defence forces of Shirerithian states as well as dubious militia groups on a global basis.

After the Kalirion Fracture, the Black Legions continued to call their standard helmet the Stahlhelm, but the Natopian design of the M1671, whilst retaining the tradition shape of the M1639, featured a shell made of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene materials and housings for modular communications and situational awareness equipment.