I am blatantly swiping this set of photos from a neat (and fairly new) blog I stumbled across, entitled Soviet Gun Archives. There aren’t a whole lot of posts there yet, but they cover some excellent material.

As for this post, it’s on the subject of Austrian WWI metal body armor. Several countries experimented with the idea, the most well-known probably being the German machine-gunner’s armor. Well, this Austrian setup is a bit awkward for general use:

However, it isn’t designed for just running around in. The whole point is that you can take it off, fold the side under, open the little hatch, and have a handy portable pillbox!

It only protects from the front, though, so it’s vital that you not get flanked – or attacked with explosives.

No word on whether this was ever produced in quantity or saw any real combat use.