Louis Auguste Adrian
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Louis Auguste Adrian | |
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| Born | 29 August 1859 Metz, France |
| Died | 8 August 1933 (aged 73) Paris, France |
| Allegiance |  France |
| Service/ | French Army |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
Louis Auguste Adrian (August 29, 1859 – August 8, 1933[1]) was an engineer and French military officer credited with the design and introduction of the Adrian helmet.[2] The helmet was used by French armies during World War I and in the beginning of World War II. It was later adopted by many other armies, with lasting use into the 1930s. Louis Auguste Adrian was also credited with the design of the Adrian barracks, which were temporary, quickly-erected military barracks.[3]
Biography[edit]
Louis Auguste Adrian was born in Metz. He lived with his parents during the German annexation in 1871. In 1880, Adrian was admitted to the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris.[4] After passing artillery and engineering schools, he chose engineering as his focus of study.
In 1885, he moved to the region of Cherbourg and worked in Saumur, Rennes, Saint-Malo, and Granville. From 1891 to 1895, Adrian was in charge of the defensive installations of Cézembre, off the coast of Saint-Malo.
In 1907, after he reached a senior position in the Ministry of War, Adrian investigated fraud and corruption. He retired in May 1913 but was asked to be reinstated in 1914 during the beginning of World War I, where he was responsible for clothing. Adrian saved 4,000 tons of cloth from seizure by the Germans in Lille, and, on his own initiative, provided soldiers with sheepskin caps for the winter, as well as trench boots.
The Adrian helmet[edit]
In December 1914, Adrian designed a light steel helmet that fit under the kepi which weighed about 700 grams. Inexpensive and easy to manufacture, 7 million helmets were produced per year and the style was adopted by many armies. The helmet was effective in dramatically reducing serious head injuries and related fatalities. In the winter of 1914, 77% of serious wounds were head injuries and 80% of those injuries were fatal. In 1916, 22% of serious wounds were head injuries and 50% of those injuries were fatal.
The Adrian barracks[edit]
Louis Adrian began creating portable barracks in August 1915 when supplies for tents ran out.
The Adrian barracks were made out of prefabricated wood. They were multi-purpose and used as barracks, offices, stores, hangars, workshops, operating rooms and reception rooms. Many barracks survived the war, and some were still used as housing up until the 1970s, either in their original form or with extra covering. The barracks had many advantages. They were economical and cost about the same as a tent of the same size. They were easy to assemble with unskilled labour, and they were portable, modular and reusable while remaining stable. The basic model was 12 meters long and a second unit could be attached. The barracks were initially constructed without gutters and covered with tarred canvas. For civil use, corrugated sheets and gutters were added. The Adrian barracks were used as far as Africa, Salonika and Corfu.
Other projects[edit]
Adrian also researched and developed breastplates, shatter-proof glasses, and armored turrets for aviators, and studied the use of solar energy. In 1918, Adrian was asked by the Prime Minister of France, Georges Clemenceau, to locate the German long guns that bombarded Paris via the triangulation of the expended shells that landed in Paris and Compiègne Forest. Adrian finally retired in 1920.
Later life and death[edit]
Adrian was decorated as a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour on June 16, 1920. He died in the military hospital Val-de-Grâce on August 8, 1933. His grave in Genêts features a granite Adrian helmet.
References[edit]
- ↑ Archives numérisées de Paris, August 8 1933, act 1012
- ↑ It seems that the person who developed the 1915 helmet model was the workshop manager Louis Kuhn, in the Japy factories. Adrian's role in a co-design varies depending on the source, but it was he who had it mass-produced for the French Army.
- ↑ - (2021-02-25). "Genêts and the man who saved a million lives in WW1". Normandy Then and Now. Retrieved 2021-09-03.
- ↑ Fiche matricule d'Auguste Louis Adrian à l'École polytechnique
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