Inhaltsverzeichnis für March 2023 in The Armourer

One of the stories in the news this month comes from down under, courtesy of regular contributor Graham Caldwell who sent through some clippings. It’s about an auction being held in Queensland, with items from the estate of a deceased Waffen-SS officer. Now many of them appear to be the usual German militaria like daggers and medals, but in amongst these are some related to concentration camps and the persecution of the Jews. Are these genuine military collectables, or the source of morbid interest at best and neo-Nazi race doctrines at worse? In my opinion no, concentration camp items are not legitimate military collectables for someone’s private collection. They are historical items that need to be in museums to warn against the dangers of totalitarianism, fascism and racism. Does this…

Fine arms at C&T The Fine Arms Armour & Miitaria auction at C&T takes places on 8-9 February and here’s a selection of what has been consigned. First up, a WWII German DRL Sports Badge for War Wounded. This is a fine example of the special pattern award badge for war wounded with the golden wreath and silvered lettering to the centre. Reverse of the award has Wernstein Jena makers mark and ‘DRGM 35269’. Complete with the original pin and catch fixing. The estimate is £100-£200. We’ve covered the Berlin Olympics before and here’s your chance to get hold of the 1936 Olympic games medal complete with its original ribbon and housed in the original white leatherette case of issue with Olympic rings impressed to the lid. Remains in generally…

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Named Kaiserschlacht by the Germans, the Kaiser’s Battle was the brainchild of First Quartermaster General Erich Ludendorff who, along with Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, the Chief of the German General Staff, acted as a military dual-dictatorship. In his memoirs Ludendorff summed up why 1918 would be the key to victory: ‘Owing to the breakdown of Russia, the military situation was more favourable to us at New Year 1918 than one could ever have expected. As in 1914 and 1915, we could think of deciding the war by an attack on land. Numerically we had never been so strong in comparison with our enemies’. He might have also added that Germany needed to quickly win the war before more than two million American troops bolstered the Allied forces on the…

Named for the dam on the River Amstel that enabled the city to be built on an area of flood plain, the former fishing village became a major port and hugely important centre for finance and trade during the 1600s. Shielded from the horrors of World War I by Holland’s neutrality, the German invasion plans gave the Dutch capital no such protection in the summer of 1940. With the Dutch viewed by the Nazis as fellow Aryans, the occupiers were initially keen to work in partnership with the citizens of Amsterdam. As storm clouds grew over Western Europe, the Netherlands began discreet preparations to defend itself in case of attack. Jan Munk was a schoolboy at the time and remembered, “Watching the Dutch soldiers from my bedroom window erecting barricades…

The Kaiserschlacht was Germany’s spring offensive in 1918 and was a last desperate push before the US had chance to deploy its vast resources to the Western Front. It came as a severe blow to the Allies and forced them to retreat from frontlines they had held for many years. Late war collectables are often easier to find than items from earlier in the conflict, so a collection focussed on this battle would be of appeal to many collectors. The soldiers advancing in the Kaiserschlacht were well equipped and, by 1918, a gas mask was an essential piece of equipment. As the nature of war gasses changed, so the masks needed to be updated. One of the changes made to German respirators in May 1918 was to add a clip-on…

AUCTIONS 30 January - 3 February 2023 Hermann Historica T: 0049 89 54 72 64 90 www.hermann-historica.com contact@hermann-historica.com 8 February 2023 Marlows T: 01785 214100 OR 07789 628030 www.marlowsauctions.co.uk info@marlowsauctions.co.uk 8-9 February 2023 C&T Auctioneers T: 01233 510050 www.candtauctions.co.uk enquiries@candtauctions.co.uk 14-15 February 2023 Special Auction Services T: 01635 580595 www.specialauctionservices.com mail@specialauctionservices.com 15 February 2023 Warwick & Warwick T: 01926 499031 www.warwickandwarwick.com richard.beale@warwickandwarwick.com 18-26 February 2023 ratisbon's T: 0049 8541 905 3699 www.ratisbons.com info@ratisbons.com FAIRS 12 February 2023 Wolverley Militaria Fair T: 07816 853878 www.facebook.com/wolverleymilitariafair/ 12 February 2023 Brecon Militaria Market T: 01639 720202 OR 01639 722479 12 February 2023 Hertfordshire Militaria and Medal Fair T: 01923 448903 OR 07425 155876 www.hertfordshiremilitariamedalfair.com sovereignfairs2022@outlook.com 19 February 2023 The International Birmingham Antique Arms & Militaria Fair T: 07710 274452 www.birminghamarmsfair.com info@birminghamarmsfair.com 26 February…

We had a quick look at the early consignments last month, so here are more of the lots in the auction that runs from 18-26 February. First up, an M33 SA Service Dagger with hanger. The dagger comes with a clean blade showing the etched motto ‘Alles für Deutschland’. It’s RZM ‘M7/83’ maker-marked and features a nice light brown wooden handle with original inlaid SA roundel and eagle. Includes the brown leather hanger. Starting price will be £528 (BP is 22.5%). What do you make of this next item, it’s a Wound Badge in gold of the so-called Condor Legion type, 1st pattern. It’s a nice, gold-plated tombak badge that’s hollow inside, in nice condition. Bidding starts at £440. Interesting lot next, centre around Panzerfaust manuals and various other bits…

When the fighting had ceased for the day, Allied troops would settle down in a billet or foxhole and look for some form of escapism. The one thing that they could rely on was a good book, to take them away from the frontlines, or news of the wider war and the Home Front. Books and magazines were already hugely popular before the start of World War II, newsstands bursting with papers and periodicals about all manner of subjects were available for eager readers every day. They would find themselves in higher demand than ever before as the war grew as the men that were fighting it wanted fresh reading material to enjoy during their down time. An early British attempt to help quell the demand was made by The…

The road to power for Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist Party was not straightforward. In the early days, where political fighting on the streets was an everyday occurrence it seemed like violence was the best way to seize power. This led to the failed Beer Hall Putsch of 8-9 November, 1923, when Hitler and 2,000 supporters attempted to seize power from the Bavarian government in Munich. That resulted in Hitler and many of his cohorts ending up in prison. And so, 10 years later, when the NSDAP finally took control of Germany, Hitler decided to reward those who had taken part in the Putsch (on the NSDAP side) and had joined the NSDAP (or affiliated organisation) by 1 January 1932. He created the Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 9.…

HMS KING GEORGE V The first of the King George V class of battleships was built by Vickers-Armstrong at Newcastle upon Tyne and commissioned on 11 December 1940. Designed and built within the constraints of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 which stipulated a maximum displacement tonnage of 35,000 tons, the exigencies of war required an upscaling of her displacement within the existing blueprint which caused problems with buoyancy, particularly at the bows and had a lasting effect on seaworthiness. On completion of sea trials, the ship joined the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow before crossing the Atlantic on her first voyage transporting Lord Halifax, British ambassador to the United States, escorting a convoy on her return journey to the UK. In March 1941 HMS King George V provided operational…

The failure of the Thuer conversion to challenge Smith & Wesson’s domination of the cartridge-revolver market forced Colt to try again. Production was short-lived, ending in the early 1870s after little more than 5,000 had been made. Thuer’s system had proved to be delicate and unreliable: clearly, something better was required. Responsibility for upgrading Thuer’s metallic-cartridge Colts fell on Charles Brinkerhoff Richards. Born in Brooklyn in 1833, Richards had worked in Colt’s Hartford factory from 1855 until leaving in 1858 to establish his own consultancy in New York. He was to go on to be a highly-successful engineer, becoming Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Yale University’s Sheffield Scientific School and one of the founders of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Owing to the outbreak of the Civil War, however,…

Hitler’s Trojan Horse NIGEL WEST At the start of WWII the Abwehr, Germany’s intelligence service, was well run by Admiral Canaris and had tentacles all over Europe. However, by 1943, defeat for Germany was inevitable which was reflected in the performance in the Abwehr. Canaris and others were involved in the 20 July 1944 bomb plot to kill Hitler, agents defected and there was conflict with the Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS (SD), the NSDAP’s own intelligence service. This look at the final years of the Abwehr shows how it unravelled and how the British knew about the bomb plot. As with all spy-related books, there’s a lot of who did what and went where, without it amounting to a great deal. The result makes for pretty turgid reading. • Frontline Books…

WIN 3 copies of… Desert Armour: Tank Warfare in North Africa The first of two books exploring the North African campaign, these are the early years covering 1940-41. The events were split into two halves, firstly British and Commonwealth countries crushing the Italians, followed by the arrival of Rommel and the Afrika Korps. The story of the British combined arms attack on Bardia was one of the rare early war triumphs. It’s a hefty book with high production standards, printed on glossy paper with photos throughout. Now, thanks to the generosity of specialist book publisher, Osprey Publishing, we have three copies to give away. Simply answer the question below and go to the website to enter. WIN 3 copies of… Dark Waters, Starry Skies Author Jeffrey Cox returns to the…

The Austro-Hungarian Army had a unique set of equipment that was developed over the years before World War I and then adjusted throughout the conflict to reflect the increasing shortage of raw materials. The Austro-Hungarian army was heavily influenced by the German Army, its close neighbours both geographically and politically, however equipment was unique and some aspects reflected the unusual dual monarchy of the nation. The army was split into three parts: the Austrian Imperial Landwehr, the Royal Hungarian Honved and the common army that recruited from the whole country. There was some effort to combine the forces into a single army from 1916 onwards, with the force known as the Kaiserlich und Konigliche Armee, usually shortened to the k.u.k. Austro-Hungarian equipment is not as easy to find on the…

Britain found itself in a familiar situation to the Napoleonic and Crimean Wars on 4 June 1940 when the demoralised British Expeditionary Force and assorted French and Belgian troops struggled ashore after Dunkirk. Most of the up-to-date weapons and equipment had been destroyed or captured and little government capacity to replace it existed. Although more astute politicians had foreseen another conflict with Germany, despite the Munich Agreement of 30 September 1938, preparations were in their infancy. Even a modern upgrade of the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield rifle, based on 1895 designs, had not been built in any quantity. Studied since 1925 the trials prototypes of Rifle, No.4 Mk I had last been made in the Enfield Small Arms Manufactory in 1933! As Royal Ordnance Factories at Fazakerley, Shirley and Maltby were…