The Stahlhelm M1956 or M56 was the official combat helmet of the East Germanmilitary (Nationale Volksarmee) during the Cold War, introduced in 1956. It is a native German experimental design from 1942 originally intended as an evolution and successor to the iconic Stahlhelm from the two World Wars but never adopted since Adolf Hitler considered it too similar to Allied helmets of the time.
The new sloped angular shape supposedly gave the new helmet more resistance to bullet hits. For the earlier World War I and II predecessor, use only Stahlhelm.
