M44. It was nicknamed Kesslerbombe with reference to the General Keßler. It was used by the KVP of the DDR and it was fitted with two different suspension systems during its life in service. The first one fixed with three rivets as in the WW2 models, the second type required further holes in the helmet shell. It was substituted by the helmet M1956. M1956 The East German M-56 helmet was originally designed in 1942 as a replacement for the M1935/M1940 model Stahlhelm. It was initially developed for the Wehrmacht by the Institute for Defense Technical Materials Science in Berlin (see M1944 above). The helmet had seen trials since 1943 but was not adopted during World War II. The design was not used until the requirement for a distinct German helmet for the Volkspolizei and the National People's Army arose. The East German leadership was motivated in large part by a desire to avoid provoking the offence that using a traditional Stahlhelm design would have caused East Germany's Warsaw Pact allies (especially Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Soviet Union), but a more practical military necessity was also present due to the continued use of surplus Stahlhelmen by West German units, in particular border guards. Moreover, the East Germans suspected the West could re-issue the Stahlhelm on a general basis in the Bundeswehr at any time and therefore needed a helmet that was easily distinguishable from that of their potential enemy. For both reasons, the 1942 design was likely chosen because it was the most similar of all German designs to the most recognizable Soviet helmets, in particular the iconic SSh-40 design. Such a design not only served a political purpose but was one that NATO armies were unlikely to closely duplicate. Indeed, the M-56 was similar enough in appearance to the SSh-40 that some Westerners failed to realize its German origins altogether and assumed the East Germans had adopted a Soviet design. The M-56 helmet came in three basic versions, Mod 1 or I/56, Mod 2 or I/57 and Mod 3 or I/71, and was widely sold (or given) to Third World armies. West Germany M40/51 When the Bundesgrenzschutz (BGS) (Federal Border Guards of Germany) was formed in 1951, it was supplied with old salvaged and refurbished M35, M40 or M42 helmets. Among the changes made, there was the replacement of the interior and the introduction of new eyelets for the chinstrap,