breastplate
Report a Mistake- Object Number 19750344-202
- Event 1914-1919 First World War
- Affiliation --
- Artist / Maker / Manufacturer Dayfield
- Date Made --
- Category Tools and equipment for science and technology
- Sub-category Armament, body armour
- Department Dress and Insignia
- Museum CWM
- Brand Name / Model Dayfield Body Shield
- Inscription CAPT. K.G. STRACHAN 42ND BATTALION CANADIAN
- Materials Steel, Fibre unidentified
- Service Component Canadian Expeditionary Force
- Unit 42nd Canadian Infantry Battalion
- Measurements Length 44.7 cm, Width 32.7 cm, Thickness 0.5 cm
- Caption Armour
- Additional Information Despite the highly industrialized nature of the First World War, soldiers employed medieval defences in order to survive. Steel breastplates protected sentries and machine-gunners against shrapnel. Soldiers on trench raids, where hand-to-hand combat was expected, sometimes used shields. Neither breastplates nor shields were capable of stopping a high-velocity bullet at close range.