1940 German Army Campaign Album

ollaetta

I've been meaning to post these pics for some time so here goes (anything to avoid the bedlam of the last Saturday before Christmas!).

I picked up this album in Normandy last summer and the title translates as: "Pictorial History of the march and occupation of the 1st Friesian Batallion in Holland, Belgium and France 1940".

Many of the photographs have faded badly due to the seepage of glue through them but what makes it stand out, in my view, is the fact that whoever compiled it was a bit of an artist. Almost every page contains drawings, sketches and maps, all really well done making it a very personal record of the campaign.

A previous owner has scrawled English translations alongside much of the text which detracts a little but not too much from the album.

ollaetta

A few more pics.

Morlar

That is excellent, the fact that there is so much personalisation done to it makes it even more interesting. Thanks for posting those.

chem

It shows that it was real people, with feeling and passions, who fought in the war. They were not all evil, cold blooded killers, as the history books would have you beleive :rolleyes:

Any Idea what happened to the man who made it?

ollaetta

chem wrote: »

Any Idea what happened to the man who made it?

Unfortunately, no. The drawings are unsigned and there is no indication anywhere in the album of the identity of the person who compiled it. A pity.

SpitfireIV

ollaetta wrote: »

Unfortunately, no. The drawings are unsigned and there is no indication anywhere in the album of the identity of the person who compiled it. A pity.

Amazing album!! :eek: I find it strange though that with all the effort this guy went into doing the illustrations etc etc that he wouldnt have added his name, you'd imagine that'd be the first thing he'd have done on the cover page? Odd.

Morlar

CroppyBoy1798 wrote: »

Amazing album!! :eek: I find it strange though that with all the effort this guy went into doing the illustrations etc etc that he wouldnt have added his name, you'd imagine that'd be the first thing he'd have done on the cover page? Odd.

That is something I have noticed in collecting albums too, I have stacks at home and regularly check the ones for sale here and there and I can only think of a couple of examples I have ever seen where the owner signed it. I suppose at the time the person who owns it keeps it in their home post war and so doesnt think there would be any need to sign it much like you or I wouldn't sign a photo album we have. Usually to find the name of the owner you need the accompanying award documentation if there is any, I have seen times when people who buy albums get lucky by posting a picture on the web in places like waf or axis history & someone can identify them through that from some other source or by their rank at that time etc.

FarmerGreen

Verrry interesting. 006a.jpg

Die am weger
wir begraben
Kameraden -
stumm und tot

On the way
we buried
Comrades -
dumb and dead

And a name at the bottom of the page
Uffz. Eugen Luhring
Stab I. /JR489
28. 5. 40

Was it his album or the name of someone they buried.
28th May, Belgium surrenders to the Nazis, 2 days after the start of the evacuation of Dunkirk.

ollaetta

Hi FarmerGreen. I think it was definitely the name of one of the "dumb and dead".

The album covers the period 10th May to 25th June 1940. The very last photo is titled "Abfahrt aus Frankreich. Neuen Aufgaben entgegen!" which loosely means: Departure from France. New tasks given?. (I think!)

If you guys are interested, I can scan a few more pages.

FarmerGreen

>>"dumb and dead".

Sorry, crap translation.
I know what he meant though. "Voiceless, lifeless" is probably closer.
Disturbing to hear someones feelings from so long ago.
Mind you, he was good at the tech drawings, and how did he get the photos done?
I can imagine he strolled into the local chemist and asked for a quick turn round, at which point he was was told it takes a week.
After a days work Googling I wasnt far wrong. A long distance phone call tells me the punch line was. . .
"Ah well never mind, you can collect them on the way back."

>>If you guys are interested, I can scan a few more pages.
That would be great.

Morlar

ollaetta wrote: »

If you guys are interested, I can scan a few more pages.

Definitely - fire away

ollaetta

Ok, here's a few more of the undamaged pages. There are 76 pages in total but, unfortunately, a lot of the photos have been ruined by the glue seeping through.

Morlar

That just gets better and better. They are all hand coloured in coloured pencil or water colour ?

Thanks for posting those. If you ever decide you want to sell it give us a shout.

ollaetta

And a last few. Some of the photos on these show the glue damage.

ollaetta

Morlar wrote: »

That just gets better and better. They are all hand coloured in coloured pencil or water colour ?

Thanks for posting those. If you ever decide you want to sell it give us a shout.

Ta, Morlar. Coloured pencil mostly although some have a funny texture which is hard to describe. A workmate of mine is an artist and I must ask his opinion.

FarmerGreen

Thanks for letting us see this.
I like 14a.jpg, the cross and the telegraph poles disappearing into the sunset.
The colour may be a wax crayon they used to highlight maps with.
You know what soldiers are like for borrowing stuff.

Morlar

The memorial in 14a ;



Could to be this one ;



http://www.lyceefr.org/aaegd/gouraud/henrigouraud/navarin.htm

The angle is slightly different