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| First World War German aerial dart |
Prior to the issue of steel helmets to the British Army in March 1916, the British soldier wore khaki cloth caps. These provided absolutely no protection from bullets or other missiles and made the soldiers very vulnerable to steel darts like this which were dropped in their hundreds from German planes over the British front line trenches.
'I turned over one poor chap on a rocky, bloody crag on Tanngoucha. He was facing the right way, the last round of a clip in the breech and three dead Germans in front of him. His name was Duff. After all is over - and the remainder of the Empire is understandably irritated with Ireland - I hope these countless Duffs, from both the North and the South, and in all three services, will be remembered.
(Brigadier Nelson Russell, Commander 38 (Irish) Brigade, 1942-44)
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