SSh-39 and SSh-40
two of three types of combat helmet worn by the Soviet Union Red Army in World War II
The SSh-39 (Russian: СШ-39) and SSh-40 (Russian: СШ-40, both from стальной шлем, stal'noy shlem, lit. 'steel helmet') were two similar designs of steel combat helmet designed and used by the Soviet Union's Red Army. They were the main forms of helmet in use during World War II and had only superficial differences between them.
History
In 1931, soldiers of the Red Army received a small number of steel helmets. They were used during military exercises in 1931.
Since 1936, the first standard army helmet, the SSh-36, began to be made for the Red Army. In 1939, camouflage nets (worn over helmets to improve camouflage) began to be made in the USSR.
SSh-39
The SSh-39 was of simple, more modern design, and was much easier to manufacture than the SSh-36. The SSh-39 would be the standard design for Soviet helmets for the next 29 years, with only minor changes occurring during that time. It is also the design for the helmet on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow. The helmet was produced primarily in three factories, the Stalingrad Tractor Factory (designated CT in the ink stamp), the Red October Factory (ЗКО) also in Stalingrad, and the Lysva Metallurgical Factory (LMZ). The first liner was an eight-finger leather liner, similar to those of the German M35 to M42 Stahlhelm designs.
“SSh-39 and SSh-40” enters the record as two of three types of combat helmet worn by the Soviet Union Red Army in World War II. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what SSh-39, SSh-40 and three can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q617857. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1931, 1936 and 1939.
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This entry incorporates text from “SSh-39 and SSh-40” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.