Item Description
Original Item: Only One Available. Now this is a wonderful item that had more than just a single life. The helmet started out as a Cold War era Polish Wz50 which was exported to a number of Arab countries due to its low price. The helmet was widely used by both the Iranians and Iraqis during the Iran-Iraq War. After the helmet’s second life, it became a part of the famed “Crossed Swords” Victory Arch in Baghdad, Iraq.
The monument consists of a pair of outstretched arms which appear to be exploding out of the ground, each holding a sword which meets at a central point. The swords, which are made of stainless steel, are based on the weapons carried by Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas, the Arab leader at the Battle of Qadisiya (from where the monument derives its Arabic name). A small flagpole rises from the point where the swords meet, about 40 meters (130 ft) above the ground. Al-Rahal used photographs and plaster casts of Saddam's forearms as a model for the design of the hands. Toward the end of the project, after Ghani had taken over, the sculptor personally took an impression of one of Saddam's thumbs, and the resulting fingerprint was added to the mold for one of the arches' thumbs. At the time, Iraq did not have a foundry sufficiently large to cast the sculpture, leading to much of it being made abroad. The arches were made by an international consortium led by the German foundry H+H Metallform. The blades of the stainless steel swords weigh 24 tons each. Cast in Iraq, they are partly composed of metal from guns and tanks of Iraqi soldiers killed in the Iran-Iraq war. The hands and arms of the monument are of bronze, cast in the United Kingdom at the Morris Singer Foundry. The arms rest on concrete plinths, the form of which make the arms appear to burst up out of the ground. Each plinth holds 2,500 helmets (a total of 5,000 helmets) which, Saddam claimed, belonged to Iranian soldiers killed during the war; they are held in nets which allow them to spill onto the ground beneath.
The helmet shell is another Warsaw Pact copy of the Soviet SSh-40 design, along with the Czech M53 and Hungarian M70, the liner and chinstrap was influenced by the Italian M33. The shell being painted a dark green color for the army and blue for the air force and navy. The liner is held in place by three rivets and based primarily off the Italian M33 helmet with its eight leather tongues, rivet placement along with the chin strap as well. Starting in 1962 branch specific stenciled insignia would be applied to the front. A variant for use by the civil defense was developed which featured a prominent crest on top and insignia on the side with its respective city.
The helmet, which is just a shell, is in wonderful condition considering it was exposed to the elements for over a decade. It still retains the original green paint though it may have been repainted for when it was used to decorate the arch.
Comes more than ready for display.
- This product is available for international shipping.
- Not eligible for payment with Paypal or Amazon
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