![]() ![]() The mask and filter plate were reduced in size to ensure that less exhaled air would build up inside the mask. The fit was improved due to the addition of a strap across the top of the forehead and a more rigid frame (Rahmen means frame in German). On the right is the improved Rahmenmaske introduced during the spring or early summer of 1916. This specific model is referred to as Bandmaske in most of the sources I've found. On the left hand side is an early M1915 Gummimaske introduced late in 1915 and widely issued by January 1916. The term Gummimaske is used to describe all models of German WW1 gas masks made of rubberized cloth. I hope it answers some of your questions. A few good online resources have appeared over the years including one or two excellent articles in French. These are not the best WWI Germans in gas masks - in fact they are the worst to date - but they are a useful addition to their Great War range, and for those looking to game or model this era with Strelets figures these provide one of the most disturbing yet characteristic images of a soldier of that conflict.I have spent many years researching the subject and know how sporadic the available information is. Their style means these figures do not work well with any except others from the Strelets range, so it is just as well that that range is very large already. At least he is not waving it in the air, but even so it is out of place in a set of this date. No German officer was stupid enough to carry his sword into battle by this stage of the war, yet Strelets continue to insist on providing their officers with this weapon, as they have done here. It should, and does, have a bipod, but this is solid and crude, so again not a good model. The third figure in the last row carries not a rifle but the MG 08/15, a 'lightened' version of the excellent MG 08 machine gun. Detail is chunky and largely lacking on items such as rifles, while the poses are fairly standard and rather flat. ![]() The masks avoid any issues with faces, but some hands disappear entirely, as do some straps and belts. Unusually for Strelets some of the figures have a noticeable ridge where the moulds met, but the standard of sculpting generally is what we would expect from this manufacturer. Other items too are exaggerated, while bayonets and entrenching tools are also truncated, but in general the kit looks OK. This has happened here with the ammunition pouches, of which there is only room for two on each side rather than the historically accurate three. However Strelets always struggle with small items, and generally make them bigger than they should be. The greatcoat is single-breasted (apart from that of the officer) and is accurate, as is most of the kit. The other indicator, the metal cylinder in which the gas mask was kept, is also worn by most here and again appeared during 1916. The Model 1916 steel helmet, which started appearing in numbers in early 1916, is worn by everyone here, so these men are broadly appropriate for the second half of the war. All are wearing a greatcoat, which obscures the rest of their uniform, so for dating purposes we have just two elements to consider. Add to that the vagueness of Strelets sculpting and we can confidently say that the men in this set could be wearing any of these masks. The three major types of mask mentioned above have another similarity that is useful to us they all look more or less the same at this sort of scale. Up until now such masks have only appeared on a handful of German figures, so this is the first set to be dedicated entirely to this particularly unsettling subject. All these masks were similar in that they were made up of a rubberised cloth face with two windows for vision plus a filter cylinder that was screwed on. A combination of technical improvements and difficulties in obtaining materials brought in first the Rahmenmaske and then the Ledermaske. While Germany had been one of the leaders in developing irritant and poisonous gas attacks, it did not have a particularly reliable gas mask until late 1915, when the Linienmaske began to be issued. The first gas masks had been crude and not particularly effective, and there was always the risk that you wouldn’t be able to put the mask on properly before being overwhelmed. ![]() All the major combatants of World War I used gas at one time or another, and for most soldiers injury or death by gas was feared much more than by the bullet or shell. ![]()
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