During the conduct of hostilities, the issue of security for both civilians and army personnel is especially acute. Therefore, it is not surprising that with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the volume of production of protective uniforms for soldiers increased significantly. Helmets did not pass this fate either. But the Red Army did not appreciate such concern of the command, fundamentally refusing a protective helmet.
In fairness, it should be clarified that the word "helmet" is the colloquial name for this part of the protection of soldiers. Officially, the metal headdress of the Red Army soldier is called "steel helmet". The Red Army entered the war, armed with helmets of mainly two types - SSH-39 and SSH-40, model 1939 and 1940, respectively. The differences between them were not significant, and were expressed only in different ways of attaching the underwire.
The main place for the production of helmets during the Great Patriotic War was Leningrad, and until 1942 production was established in Stalingrad. In total, in the period 1941-1945. The Red Army received 10 million helmets for a total of 34 million troops. Considering the volume of helmets already in warehouses by the beginning of the war, if not all, then the advanced units of the Soviet army did not experience a deficit in protective headgear. But the soldiers themselves practically did not wear helmets.
The refusal of Soviet soldiers to use the helmet was not uniform. As veterans later recalled, there were cases when the decision not to wear helmets was supported by entire divisions, even if the latter were near the front line.
The soldiers treated the protector of the helmet with a grain of salt. And in some parts, wearing them was considered almost a manifestation of cowardice. And the command did not always manage to reverse this situation.
But the soldier's dislike for the helmet had purely practical reasons. Indeed, in fact, this element of uniform was very uncomfortable. First of all, it concerns its weight. The Soviet SSh-40 was quite heavy - only the metal part weighed 800 grams. And therefore, after several hours of using it for its intended purpose, even the strongest Red Army men began to ache in their necks.
In addition, in the summer it was very hot in the helmet, so the soldiers often pushed it back to the back of the head or forward to the nose. In addition, in winter, problems also appeared with her - it was almost impossible to reconcile the helmet with the hat, since they simply did not fit on the head. But, perhaps, the scouts suffered most of all with helmets - colliding with tree branches or other obstacles, the helmet made a rather loud ringing.
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Perhaps the rejection of the widespread use of the helmet was also one of the factors that led to the catastrophic losses of Soviet troops at the front. Left without protection, the soldiers died from bullets and shrapnel, which could be stopped by a metal helmet. Therefore, the command tried to control the use of paints by the soldiers of the Red Army, setting a personal example or turning to punishments.
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But the Germans were stricter with this question. In the Wehrmacht, refusing to wear a helmet was equated with deliberate self-harm and almost sabotage, and the punishments were, accordingly, more serious.
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A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/310120/53268/