The Chemico Body Shield.

[Breguet]

In his " Wings Over the Somme" Gwilym Lewis talks about his father's offer to send him a "Chemico Body Shield".

What were they and can anyone tell us much about them?

[Rinahe]

Hi Breguet,

In a Osprey's book (Maybe that about the 'Kaiserslactch') I have seen a pic of a Tommy wearing the Chemico Body Shield. I think it's a kind of body armour used by the 'Trench Raiders', but I don't know what type of material was it made. It looks like a padded armour.
The soldier on the pic was also wearing an standard helmet, knife with gauntlet and even a 'Morning-Star' !

Best regards,

Rinahe

[Romani]

There are many web sources

The Aerodrome Archive
http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/ar...hp/t-2500.html

Western Front association
http://www.westernfront.co.uk/thegre...bodyarmour.htm

Book. Osprey Elite 84 World War I Trench Warfare vol 2. page 12


Body armours were widely trialled, but for reasons of weight and cost were used only on a limited basis. Early in the war many companies particularly on the Allied side, offered body armours and 'coat of plates' for private purchase. In 1915 and 1916 the idea of a 'Bomber's Shield' [this refers to a grenadier in the trenches, not a bomber pilot!] was investigated by the British Design Commitee, Trench Warfare Sectiom, wich expermiented with materials as diverse as steel, Shantung silk, vulcanised fibre, 'woodite', rubber and resinated kapok.
A british silk 'necklet' [Yes, silk in layers can slow bullets, and except for not covering the top of the head, is more of a medieval haubergeon than a necklet] for the neck and shoulders was issued on a scale of 400 per division, it had surprisingly good ballistic qualities, but was expensive and degraded quickly .The Chemico body armour worked on similar principles , being a sandwich of different materials including linen, cotton, and silk.

Other sources (like the second link provided) talk of Kapok also known as wich is a fibre from a tropical tree wich was used as a filler for lifejackets among other things, stiffened with phenolic resin.

Based on current knowledge on body armors, I believe it was a combination of all the above of layers of silk with kapok stiffened with resin

It was thus a form of primitive kevlar. I can guess the silk layers slowed the bullet down and the stiffened kapok absorbed the blunt trauma.

Oh, I found something more in a message board

The Chemico Body Shield was one of two types of soft body armor used by the British . The other being the silk necklet. The Body shield was manufactured by the County Chemical Company of Birmingham. The armor is a heavily padded waistcoat weighing six pounds. A test conducted by Bashford Dean in Washington DC. demonstrated it was capable of stopping an automatic pistol ball (9mm?), jacketed in alloy, at a velocity of 300 foot seconds. The padding is about an inch thick and is composed of many layers of tissue, scraps of linen, cotton and silk, said to be hardened by a resinous material; is covered with brown muslin. The Chemico Body Shield only saw extremely limited service. Its cost was around £5.

Joe Sweeney

It would be interesting to know if on the upcoming book on the Schlastas, the Schlatflieger crews wore body armor in addition to steel helmets..

[EdStevens]

If I'm interpreting that correctly as 300 feet per second, that is one sloooow bullet!