I found the wider brimmed civilian pith helmet very useful when working out side in the American south. The old safari movie white hunter's helmet. Soaking it in water for cooling purposes only seems to work in a very dry climate. You could not find a white one when I got mine. They were very practical.

I had heard of the caps being browned with tea or coffee, but I never knew that they would specifically soak them in water to keep the men cool over a march! Brilliant stuff.

When I was a kid, before there was such a thing as home video, my dad told me an abbreviated version of Zulu and as a result I had a minor obsession with the movie (he told it really well.) Many years later, when I was in high school, I got to see Zulu and The Man Who Would Be King on a double bill and it remains one of the best movie going experiences of my life.

"But the worst o' your foes is the sun over'ead: You must wear your 'elmet for all that is said: If 'e finds you uncovered 'e'll knock you down dead, An' you'll die like a fool of a soldier." Kipling, Young British Soldier

"Anyone love the old Zulu movie staring Michael Cain?" Better question: Anyone NOT love the old Zulu movie staring Michael Cain?

Old army joke: Officer to soldier; "Pith Off!" (i.e, remove your headgear when indoors) Soldier; "But Thir, I only jutht got here!"

I live in Thailand, and have both the white and Khaki styles. As Shirley Temple was told in "Wee Willie Winkie", NEVER go out in the sun without your pith helmet, not even if you are a mad dog or Englishman....

The German Afrika Korps started out using pith helmets. But they quickly switched to the simple 'fighting hats' for the remainder of their existence. Just look up 'Afrika korps hat.' The North Vietnamese Army also used very broad pith helmets.

The movie ZULU was one of the best movies ever ! A great lesson on how tactics can allow a smaller number of combatants to defend itself against an overwhelming force. Michael Cains first movie. Really worth seeing.

I remember my Guyanese wife telling me about the British officer checking the village for mosquitoes and supervising the spraying for them. He always wore his Pith Helmet too. That was in her childhood when the place was called Guiana 😁

This video was so British it colonized my PC

I wore one of those every summer for 22 years playing with a pipe band. They are cool and comfortable.

A side effect is it makes you look taller, always useful when dealing with the natives. The policeman's hat in the UK is a good example, as are the busbys guard regiments wore, or the top hats popular in the UK when social distinctions were a thing.

It was not unknown that when a young man was about to embark on a campaign in foreign lands his friends would say "You're taking the pith aren't you?"

I find my buff pith imperial helmet very useful on hot summer afternoons. Good design and excellent reminder of more interesting times.

I was standing in line behind the last man to be issued the suntan Bermuda shorts, Bush jacket and Pith Helmet in Jul 60. I was issued the 505 Suntan Uniform and was very happy. Although the 505s would not hold a crease at all, except where you did not want a crease. I still to this day do not understand why the American AF was so dead set on looking like the British RAF/Army in uniform.

Very informative video! The Vietnamese were using pith helmets (of a different design) during the Vietnam War.

That hat will make you the very model of a modern Major-General ;)

The Custodian Helmet is the headgear traditionally worn by male police constables and sergeants while on foot patrol in England and Wales. Officers of all ranks in most forces are also issued a flat, peaked cap that is worn on mobile patrol in a vehicle. Ranks above sergeant wear the peaked cap only. However, some Inspectors wear the Custodian Helmet, but with two silver bands around the base (to match the two pips worn as rank insignia) to denote their position. Claimed by some sources to have been based on the spiked pickelhaube worn by the Prussian Army, it was first adopted by the London Metropolitan Police in 1863 to replace the "stovepipe" top hat worn since 1829. In 1863, the Metropolitan Police replaced the previous uniform of white trousers, swallow-tailed coat and top hat in favour of very dark blue trousers, a more modern button up tunic and the early type of helmet which had an upturned brim at the front and a raised spine at the back, running from the bottom to the top of the helmet, which became known as the "cockscomb".

I've got a khaki one, the kind with six aluminum-grommeted holes on each side (two over four) and a fake brown leather strap with aluminum buckle. It's made in Vietnam and I use it for school crossing guard duty. It works great!!

In addition, the White reflects the hot sunlight off of it, keeping the wearer cool.

The pith helmet and red coat is such an ancient and iconic image of the new world. Britain were forerunners and seeing a soldier dressed in this uniform in the blazing afternoon sun of Africa is an image as old as maps of the world. It's a trend of greater days that have gone before. The Brits were certainly a superior and intellectually advanced civilisation hence why I'm speaking the language now.

When you know every great line in a film you know you're on a winner, loved this film as a 12yr old in 69 my son loved it in 99, thats a great film

Zulu is one of the best historical movies ever, and focuses on individuals instead of glorious fantasy.

I once wore a pith helmet around Brittany, maybe 2003? A very attractive French female came up and asked Why I was dressed as a colonialist? Sadly my schoolboy french could only reply " Cest Pratitque" I meant it's practical but it might also mean I have permission to enter port after a bout of plague, no ... it didn't end well.

Pith helmets are cool, Want one.

I own a Khaki pith helmet which I wear regularly out and about for the last 2 years. It gets a lot of love and has had only two neg comments. My son's bride did not want me wearing it to the wedding. And a gamer thought I was trolling him but didn't say boo to me. My son set him straight by telling him I never gave him a second thought. I have never noticed any movement restrictions in wearing it except trying to look down and under something. But it keeps the sun off me. I didn't know you could wet them down. I avoid wearing it in the rain because I thought it would make the material swell out of shape.

In the Zulu wars, the big regimental badge was also removed, as it reflected the sunlight and could be seen very easily in the veldt.

Love the info, and love the story of the battle of Rorke's Drift. Thank you for posting!

That was a great helmet.

My grandfather who died well before I was born was a regular in the Indian Army in the late 19th century. He told my father that when on a march if a soldier lost his pith helmet he would collapse within 20 minutes from the sun. They referred to it as 'Being hit by the doolally stick'.

Rick Rescorla, Chief of Security for Morgan Stanley's World Trade Center office, sang a Cornish adaptation of "Men of Harlech" with a bullhorn, along with other anthems, to keep employee spirits high while they evacuated during the September 11 attacks. After helping save more than 2,700 employees he returned to the towers to evacuate others until the towers collapsed on him.

An old soldier who served with the Durham Light Infantry during the second South African War told me that the infantrymen would wear their ammunition pouches back to front on the waist belt to prevent the cartridges falling out

Mr. Witt, sir? Be quiet now, will you? There's a good gentleman. You'll upset the lads.

Thank your posting. Really love the final statement by the Colour Sergeant, " Because there is nobody here. Just Us !"

Pith helmets were still in use during World War I in warmer climates like the middle east and at Gallipoli. I never knew about the steeping them in water though, good little nugget of information there thanks :-)

One of the first tasks of the new British camouflage unit in the Dessert at El Alamein was to figure out how to hide something like 60,000 gallons of gasoline 5 gallon cans from the Germans in flat dessert. Upon surveying the dessert the head of the camofleurs (a former stage magician) saw four huge piles of cardboard pith helmets (they were issued to each soldier in the dessert, discarded as soon as possible, and policed up by the slightly anal retentive British army into four 70 foot piles). The head of the unit realizing that without an object to compare them in scale to he ordered the gasoline to be hidden UNDER the piles! They were able to do this at night, when the German reconnaissance flights came up the next day check the British lines (and their preparations to attack the German fortified defensive positions) they did not notice that the piles were all now over 100 feet tall! When the German reconnaissance did spot the 'piles' of gas cans (hidden under tarps to avoid evaporation, in reality TANKS and boxes arranged under the tarps), they thought the attack would come from the other end of the line where the fuel was. When the Battle was started Rommel was on medical leave and had been informed by his reconnaissance and intelligence officers that the attack would come at the inland end of the line, not the coastal end, and would not come for some weeks, so he had agreed to the leave. So those cardboard sun helmets did in fact help win WWII! LOL

It's interesting that during your video the helmet is casting a good size shadow on your face which illustrates what you're saying about how it protects you from the sun ☺

The founder of my school -1857-, "Mackay School" in Chile, Peter Mackay, was an veteran officer of the 2nd Warwickshire Rifles Regiment. The anthem of my school is just the melody of Men of Harlesh but with another lyrics.

i have a replica boer war period helmet which i where as often as i can as i found it extremely comfy and protects me from the sun very nicely. it also makes me feel like myself, but so do all military head gear so ja.

The slope at the back of the helmet may have caused a problem when firing from a prone position

Men of Harlech stop your dreaming can't you see their spear points gleaming!

I always thought Pith helmets looked ridiculous. Then I played a 19th Century English explorer out doors for a week and had one of them (reproduction of course) as part of my costume. I was immediately impressed at how cool it kept me head. Even without soaking it in water. Amazing helmet.

Not only did the soldiers stain the white FSHs khaki brown, they also removed the metal regimental badges from the front of the helmets. These tended to glint in the sun in foreign climes, and made an excellent aiming point for enemy rifle fire. This was also one of the last wars to be fought with British soldiers wearing the traditional scarlet-red coat into battle. The red coats faded as the Cape Frontier Wars wore on, and by the time the Anglo-Zulu war erupted in 1879, the Imperial soldiers had marched as much as 1,500 miles all over South Africa, before arriving at the battlefields in Zululand. hadsunlight difficult fortheirkhakiagainstwhosesimilar. practicalkhakiuniform, British 'red coat' uniform came to an end.

Don't you thow those blood spears at me in non convincing Michel Cain voice!

One of the best movies ever made...

WOW! Fascinating! Straight from the heart of the U.S.A. (Texas) I'm giving you two thumbs up ! Thanks for enlightening me...

You did mention the color of the helmet, which was a double edged sword. On one hand, the color reflected the suns rays, helping to keep the person wearing it cool. On the other hand, it made for a good target at distance. Typically, a solder wearing the helmet would only discolor it prior to battle, but would otherwise keep it clean.

This is actually a 'Topi' as the soldiers knew it not a 'Pith helmet' as used by the marines bandsmen and it is still in use today. It was and still is the basic design for the British police helmet.'Cach' or Kack' (not too sure of spelling) is also Gaelic for shit.

Jeffrey! Bring me my fighting trousers!

All sides wore pith helmets during the war in North Africa in WW2, but with a wide brim to keep the sun off better. They're light, relatively cool and they keep your face in the shade. It's all good. As for the white standing out in the sun, I would think the troops at Roarkes Drift had that covered with their bright red tunics with a white helmet at the top. Lucky for them the Zulu's were not proficient with the rifles they captured at Isandlwana or the result could have been quite different.

Excellent explanation of 'why the pith helmet'.

I love the movie

That I did not know... Thank You.

I had no idea about the water soaking, but it makes perfect sense given the materials and design for desert climates. For the same reason it's not unusual for people to wear cotton and soak their shirt in a hot and arid place. I want to try it out in the desert! Of course, in anywhere but a hot and arid place water retention is a downside. It's only where water evaporates rapidly that you get the cooling effect.

This was really interesting. I learned a lot. I had no idea that it was made either of cork or pith … didn’t even know what pith was, until I read all the comments. Well done for finding all these interesting facts. Good luck with your channel. On the strength of this video, I have subscribed! Thank you.

The white helmet might make a good target but what about a redcoat?

Well its an improvement for the wearer over a massive hairy bear skin.

This was the only movie I saw while in Navy Boot Camp in 1964. That had to be in our 7th week in Basic Training. Thousands of recruits were sitting on bleachers at one time out in the open. Our movie projector shined on the giant cloth white screen showing the movie on both sides at once. My side showed me the word !ULUZ but the letters faced in reverse as well. Thru my life I have seen this film presentation of Rorke's Drift bordered by Zululand. I think I dated the battle of Montidier, Noyon wrong by accident, but didn't catch it until too late! The battle took place from June 9 to the 13th of 1918. The only Great battle, that lasted 5 days, that I know of.

Col Sergeant Frank Bourne... an absolute unit. I found his character inspiring as a kid. Finding out that the character was based on a real person at an event that actually happened for the most part... that was even better. Great, now I want a Pith Helmet.

Mausers made those red jackets outdated.

That was really interesting! :P

Filipino forces during world war 2 still used pith helmets on combat. :)

Very impressive engineering, I did think you'd be able to see the bright white bobbing heads a mile off and never knew they intentionally stained them but it makes perfect sense. All in all I'd give this video a rating of "presoaked coffee stained pith helmet" for being both interesting and informative, more please!

Now thats a nice fucking helmet. I wonder why the british didnt keep this design until today

Quite frankly, not enough people were broad brimmed hats today. Hats are an important preventative measure against skin cancer, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation (www.skincancer.org/prevention/sun-protection/clothing). I live in the United States, which gets considerably hotter than Europe, so a hat like that would actually be really practical here.

Militaries around the world generally follow the fashions of the leading power. In Europe in the second half of the 19th century that was Prussia. Prussian victories made the spiked helmet popular. The pith helmet was a tropical variation of the British home service helmet.

If anybody is interested in the battles of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift, the lead up to them and their aftermath plus a fascinating history of the people and places of that part of South Africa, I'd like to recommend the book "The Washing of the Spears" by Donald Morris, which I happen to be in the middle of reading at the moment. It's fantastic.

Kacke in german means shit

Wait, this isn't lindybeige?

A British soldier always had a big clean helmet, not necessarily white but always kept in good order.

Thanks for answering this! I always wondered what was up with those weird looking helmets

Great Video. Are those Wargames factory miniatures you have in the Rourkes drift terrain ?

You talk like lindybeige.

Pith helmets were most often used in the Northern and Southern hemispheres and typical placed on the head using the hands of the wearer.

Like the Bobby helmet, it made the wearer look taller, the Wolseley pith helmet that replaced it, gave the wearer better sun protection, but didn't look as cool.

It's so you DON'T get PITHED on!

I'll stick to my Fedora, thank you very much.

Nice video, don't think I ever really got my mind around the "cover"till now. Seems like it still holds some value today.

Great video 😁 Zulu is an old favorite. Didn't know the helm could soak water and cool pretty nifty

Would have thought it appropriate to show the INSIDE, so we could see the webbing, etc. Do better next time...!!!

"Men of Harlech" is a WELSH song, not an English song. just sayin'..... ;-)

I liked this. good short tale, interesting, well done Major Sven. I am interested in the movie, saw it again recently and liked it once more

This is my 2nd viewing and I just appreciate your sharing this with us! Little things or big things we just accept and take for granted have a purpose and a story. You did your "bit" here!

I thought that britons had cone heads, thus the form of that helmet. What a disapointment!

it also means shit in Irish as in "Seamus a caca" or James the shithead what they called James II after the Boyne also forgive the spelling as I am not a native Irish speaker

As a Royal Marine, we wore these on ceremonial occasions.

I had a Marine Corps pith helmet in highschool. Loved it.

Used during the Boer War whereby they set up the first concentration camps!

My dad was issued with one in WW2 on the voyage to N Africa. Many troops threw them into the sea thinking they were ridiculous, they were then charged with "self harming" when they were badly sunburnt!

I love the Uniform of the 24th regiment of the Anglo-Zulú war, specially the pith helmet, sorry if I have mistakes, I spek Spanish :)

The reason is not design, which may be good. It is military fashion. London Bobbies wear a variant. They are PRUSSIAN HELMETS made popular after the Prussian victory over the French in 1870. They also appeared briefly in the US Army at the time.

"We're 'ere because we're 'ere because we're 'ere, because we're 'ere..." WW1 British marching song. Predated by the CSMs comment in this movie.

Okay, these things sound incredibly handy in the places where the British were deployed. But what about in combat? I am aware that these things were practically useless in world war 1, and were replaced with metal helmets, but what about pre-modern peoples? you know, those that have yet to invent things like mortars, bullet casings, and breech-loaded guns? I'm running a quest involving dimension hopping, and I want to know if these are good for what I have in mind.

I agree with everything said about the helmet, unfortunately, The white helmet (and the white shoulder belt) provided a beautiful target for sharpshooters.

That's very interesting, I did not know that! Well done old boy!

even the french used such design in Vietnam, if I'm not mistaken

Ok ok ok, I get it. They do apparently have a "utilitarian" aspect. But I also still think those bright new helmets make a great target, especially with that shiny medallion on the front.

My 'must have' attire for the BBQ, against the blistering heat of a Welsh summer ;-). Surprisingly comfortable.

That was a very pithy bit of information young sir. Good show.Nice diorama of Rourke's Drift