Who are the soldiers shown in the photograph?

Perhaps, one of most confusing images to come out of the Second World War are the photographs of Chinese soldiers wearing German helmets. Some of the confusion may come from knowing that the Germans were allied to the Japanese. If Japan was fighting the Chinese, then why were the Chinese wearing German helmets?

In fact, the helmets in these photos are not Chinese copies but are real German produced helmets. The reason as to why the Chinese are wearing them lay in the complex relationship that existed between Nationalist China and Germany in the 1930s. Cooperation between Germany and China was, in fact, a logical choice. In the 1930s China and her army were in desperate need of modernization. Although the threat from warlords had mostly been dealt with by the 1930s, China’s ability to produce manufactured goods was far behind what was needed. China faced a growing threat from Imperial Japan and an internal communist threat.

If Nationalist China wished to confront both these threats, it was going to need a modern military with the latest equipment. It was this relationship that was formed between China and Germany that would lead to the Chinese military’s purchase of German M35 helmets for their own use. As China moved to modernize its armed forces, the choice of German helmets was a logical one. The M35 helmet was the most modern steel combat helmet at the time.