Original Czechoslovakia WWII Era Czech M30 Helmet with Spanish Civil War Medic’s Travel Diary - Worn at Battle of Teruel Sanidad Medico Jose Máiz Busto

Original Item: One-of-a-Kind. During the outbreak of the civil war in Spain, there was a huge demand for helmets. Limited stocks of local manufactured helmets were quickly put to use by both sides in the conflict. As a result, large numbers of foreign helmets were purchased to fill the gap, such as Italian helmets, French Adrian helmets, German Stahlhelms and the Czech M30s.

These helmets are believed to have been made for the Czech Army; the M30 helmet was never issued. Instead Czechoslovakia developed a new design with the M32 helmet. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil war the Spanish Republican Government brought nearly all the stock of the M30 helmets that had been manufactured.

During the civil war any captured helmets were used by both sides and hence Nationalist forces also used large numbers of M30 helmets.

This is an outstanding M30 which absolutely saw use in the Spanish Civil War by Medic Jose Máiz Busto from 1937 to 1938, especially during the Battle of Teruel. One side of the helmet is inscribed SANIDAD over the initials J.M.B.. This soldier’s name would be lost to time if not for his inscription of the helmet’s liner. Because of this, we know this man was Medic Jose Máiz Busto, who fought along the Teruel Front from 1937-1938. This of course refers to the Battle of Teruel, fought in and around the city of Teruel during the Spanish Civil War between December 1937 and February 1938, during the worst Spanish winter in 20 years. The battle was one of the bloodiest actions of the war, with the city changing hands several times by first falling to the Republicans and eventually being retaken by the Nationalists. In the course of the fighting, Teruel was subjected to heavy artillery and aerial bombardment. In the two-month battle, both factions together took 110,000 casualties.

There is more to the inscription, with another name and date of 1948 and signed J. Maiz, when he gifted the helmet to someone else in 1948 after World War II. This helmet makes for a fascinating research project!

The M30 is notable for having two ventilation lugs similar to German helmets of WWI. Unlike the earlier German helmets the lugs were just intended for ventilation only and not to support any additional armor plates. The M30 is usual in that it can be worn with the lugs to the front as believed to be original design or with the lugs to the rear. Period photos show the Spanish method of wearing the helmet was largely with the lugs to the rear.

The helmet retains its liner which does have some crazing and damage, and the chinstap which is unfortunately broken. 

This is an outstanding helmet with a fascinating story to be told. Comes ready for further research and display.