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UNIQUE FRENCH W.W. 1 GENERAL'S HELMET

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Offered is a French model 1915 Adrian helmet but unlike all others known this helmet is primarily a composition material or cork. Additionally, it was custom made expressly for a famous French general.

At first whiff this nearly mint condition helmet appears to be the regulation stamped metal Model 1915 Adrian but when one picks it up it becomes clear that the shell and brim of the helmet are made from cork or "pith" and the canvas trim around the brim is sewn in place. The only metal components are the top long crest, the rank stars on the front and the crossed cannon "RF" badge they surmount. All this is painted in regulation gray/blue. The big question is why a "tropical Adrian helmet"?

As it turns out the owner Brigadier General Charles-Arthur Maitrot  was intimately tied to the then French colony of Algiers (Algeria). Maitrot was a brigadier general in the French army, and an author of several books on military and geopolitical strategy. He was born on 4 June 1849 and died in Algeria on 28 February 1924. He graduated from Saint-Cyr military school in August 1870 and saw service in the Franco-Prussian War. In 1886, he served in the 106th Infantry. He was named Knight of the Legion of Honor on September 16, 1889⁴.In 1897, as a squadron leader, he was chief of staff of the 12th Division. He attended artillery school at the Ecole Superior de Guerre from which he graduated with honors. In 1901, as a lieutenant colonel, he was deputy chief of staff of the 6th Army Corps. He served in 1903 as a colonel in the 162nd Infantry. In 1907, then Chief of Staff of the 6th Corps. “He has the initiative of creating cover hospitals, temporary hospitals intended, during mobilization, to take in the lightly ill, or the wounded from their neighborhood while waiting for the deployment of ambulances and medical facilities”. As early as 1911 Maitrot was warning the country about imminent German aggression. With the start of World War 1 in 1914 he, now a general, commanded the north-western sector of the defense of Toul. In 1916, he was the commander of the Maille Camp (Aube and Marne departments). Here he oversaw the training of foreign troops including Russians, Senegalese and Algerians. A picture exists of him reviewing his Algerians during the Great War. After the war he was the first president of the Association Amicale des Croix de Guerre, founded in 1919. He died in Algeria in 1924. A street in a town in Châlons-en-Champagne France bears the name of "General Maitrot" as a memorial. Here is a list of his military publications:

1912: Général Maitrot, Nos frontières de l'est et du nord: le service de deux ans et sa répercussion sur leur défense, Paris, BergerLevrault, Editeurs, 1912, 239 p.

1913: Général Maitrot, Les Manœuvres françaises du sud-ouest en 1913, les opérations (The Operations, The Lesson of the Manoeuvres), Paris, Berger-Levrault, Editeurs, 1913, 17 p.

1914: General Maitrot, The French and German Armies. Their artillery, their rifle, their equipment. Comparison, Paris, Berger-Levrault,Editeurs, 1914, 144 p.

1914: General Maitrot and Colonel Arthur Boucher, The Germans on the Border. Notre défense, Caen, C. Valin, 1914, 16 p.

1914: Général Maitrot, Nos frontières de l'est et du nord: l'offensive par la Belgique, la défense de la Lorraine, Paris, Berger-Levrault, Editeurs, 1915, 135 p.

1919: General Maitrot, The Peace It Takes in France. Les réparation s, les garanties, le châtiment, Nancy, Paris, Strasbourg, Berger-Levrault, Editeurs, 1919, 144 p.

1919: Général Maitrot, Le Nouvel état militaire de la France, l'armée de demain, Nancy, Paris, Strasbourg, Berger-Levrault, Editeurs, 1919,93 p.

1920: Général Maitrot, La France et les républics sud-américaines, Paris, Berger-Levrault, Editeurs, 1920, 390 p., translated into Spanish IN 1920 by E. Contamine de Latour

1921: Général Maitrot, La Prochaine guerre (son caractère scientifique), pages d'histoire, Paris, F. Alcan, 1921, 109 p.

Prior to the Great War Maitrot was stationed in Algiers (Algeria) and here he wrote a book(s) on the people, the country in general, and its long history. "General Maitrot is part of this phalanx of officers who, shortly after the war of 1870, were sent to the East, remained there without interruption for more than thirty years or returned, at their request, after a few years of service in other regions". At the time of his death, he was living there and is now buried there. One can understand today why he had this tropical helmet custom made. Not only was it infinitely sensible for use in the heat of Algeria, but it was certainly very comfortable for wear back in France. The use of light weight helmets by French superior officers goes back to the time of Napoleon 1. Examples of normally heavy iron skulled cuirassier helmets have been found made of silver washed thin copper. These were purely designed for "full dress" but were actually worn in combat! Later in the 19th century, "European officers commanding locally recruited indigenous troops, as well as civilian officials in African and Asian colonial territories, used the pith helmet. Troops serving in the tropics usually wore pith helmets".

This helmet was made prior to the end of hostilities on November 11th. 1918. This is certain because a tag inside the officer quality custom interior has the sizing in French, English and American. The fine leather sweat band indicates the helmet was made by "DC Paris" outfitters during the First World War. "C-A M" is neatly inked inside the sweat band. The functioning chinstrap is in place and is perfect. The blue/gray paint has minor crackling as would be expected because the helmet is over 100 years old.  The brigadier general' s 2 stars are metal as is the crossed cannon "RF" (French Republic) badge they surmount while the comb on top of the helmet is actually stamped metal. None of these elements have ever been off this helmet. The helmet came out of the estate of the general and has with it is a January 14th, 1918, dated mourning card which he signed below his patriotic sentiments.

An important piece of military headgear to a significant intellect and outstanding general officer whose military carrier lasted more than half a century.  [PE][ph:L]

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