Table of contents for August 2022 in The Armourer

Ratisbon’s 50th Contemporary auction The next Ratisbon’s auction is fast approaching and runs from 2-10 July. All items sold are subject to a 22.5% Buyer’s Premium. Let’s see what’s been consigned, starting with an early M33 SS service dagger with vertical hangar. This is a nice clean blade featuring the etching ‘Meine Ehre heißt Treue’ and the maker’s mark of ‘Rich. Abr. Herder, Solingen’. Bidding starts at £2,995. Next up, a German Cross in gold to Major Hans Endres serving with Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 74. Part of the 2. Panzer-Division. He was also awarded the Knight’s Cross on August 14, 1943. This is made by Gebrüder Godet & Co. Berlin. Maker marked ‘21’ on the back of the pin, six-rivet type. It has a black, enamelled swastika without chipping, multi-piece construction with…

Huge auction at Hermann Historica The European auction house recently wrapped up no fewer than seven auctions over a five day spell, covering everything from classic arms and armour, to Viennese binoculars and post 1919 militaria. Let’s start with the classics though and an Ottoman mace, c. 1600. This featured an iron head with nine, slightly chiselled and partially gilded surfaces and a short, square punch. Some of the gold plating had been rubbed off but it still sold for €2,500 (includes Buyer’s Premium of 25%). There were lots of daggers up for grabs, so here was a coralstudded Ottoman yatagan, c. 1800. The blade featured narrow fullers on both sides on the back with (worn) silver inlays on both sides. Handle and blade setting made of formerly gilded copper…

In 1707 four Royal Navy ships of the line foundered on rocks along the coast of the Isles of Scilly. HMS Eagle, HMS Association, HMS Romney and HMS Firebrand sank with the loss of almost 2,000 men including Commander in Chief of the Fleet, Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell on Association. In a subsequent Admiralty enquiry, the catastrophe was found to have been due to an inability to accurately gauge the flag vessel’s longitude. This spurred a race to find a scientific solution to enable systematic and exact methods of navigation. The earliest developments in the art of navigation at sea were in the Eastern Mediterranean by the Phoenicians some 4,000 years ago. Phoenician mariners made use of basic sea charts and calculated a ship’s position and direction of sail from…

Landing craft were small and medium seagoing watercraft used during offensive military invasions. They were used for deploying Marines, soldiers, equipment, vehicles, and supplies from ships to shore. These highly effective and adaptable craft were mass-produced by America and often altered to perform various functions during WWII. However, the Americans were not the first to design this type of vessel, it was actually the Japanese who employed them during the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937. Having a small, rapidly deployed landing craft with a ramp in the bow to permit the rapid movement of troops made such an impression on US Navy and Marine Corps observers at the Battle of Shanghai, the Americans embraced the concept. Landing craft during WWII were designed and built with flat bottoms because of their…

Edinburgh was quick off the mark to raise companies of rifle volunteers from the very start of the Volunteer Movement in May 1859. But unlike other large cities where the several corps raised were allotted individual numbers, the Scottish capital from the beginning preferred to organise their volunteers into a single regiment. By the end of 1859 some 15 companies had been raised which were all to receive additional titles indicating their origins, for example, ‘Advocates’, ‘Citizens’, ‘Writers to the Signet’, ‘Accountants’ and ‘Bankers’. In 1865 the regiment was honoured by the conferring of the title 1st Queen’s City of Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer Brigade, by which time it numbered 25 companies.…

RECORDS New records for Jubilee In celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign Forces War Records is releasing medal rolls from the Coronation and Jubilee celebrations of former monarchs King George V, King George VI as well as reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II. Forces War Records is currently transcribing thousands of these new records with further records being added weekly. The records include information on individuals that were awarded the medals as personal souvenirs for their participation in a previous Coronation or Jubilee events. Much of the content being added is exclusive to the Forces War Record site and will be beneficial to those wanting to find out if any of their ancestors received this royal honour. There is a long history of awarding medals to mark Royal Jubilees and…

The next auction at Morphy runs from 12-14 July and has a mix of classic arms and firearms. One of the first items is an Indian Shield (Dhal) from around 1850. This has engravings reminiscent of Farsi calligraphy. There’s a central, raised area decorated with pierced decorations with further depictions. The estimate is $1,500-$2,500. The next item is an attractive German Morion with gilt and blued decoration of the Munich Royal Guard. From the first quarter of the 17th century it has distinct form with a high comb and dual peaks. It’s a two piece construction with eight floral rosettes. The estimate is $2,000-$4,000. If you’re looking for a wheelock, then take a look at this German pistol, c. 17th century. It features an octagonal barrel made without sights, retained…

Orders, decorations, medals and militaria were the order of the day in the May auction at newly renamed Noonans. An interesting lot for you first, it was a rare WWII CB, inter-War North West Frontier 1930-31 Operations DSO, Great War 1914 Operations MC group of 12 awarded to Major-General C. A. West, Royal Engineers, latterly Assistant Chief of Staff at SHAEF. The decorations were the Most Honourable Order of The Bath, CB (Military) Companion’s neck badge; Distinguished Service Order; Military Cross; 1914 star, with clasp; British War and Victory Medals, with MiD oak leaves; India General Service 1908-35, one clasp for 'North West Frontier', with MiD oak leaf 1930-31; 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45. The lot sold for £7,084 (includes Buyer’s Premium of 28.8%).…

PART 4/6 The first three articles in this series on Cold War, Warsaw Pact webbing have focussed on three of the largest and most developed of the Soviet-aligned nations, the USSR, Poland and East Germany. There were, of course, many smaller states allied with Moscow and these nations had much smaller, less developed militaries and much smaller economies and procurement budgets. This makes the equipment used by these countries very interesting as older items continued in service for longer and as smaller amounts of equipment were purchased in the first place, collecting items is much more challenging than with the larger nations. In this feature we are going to look at Bulgaria which was ruled by Todor Zhikov from 1954 until 1989. In 1988 the Bulgarian People’s Army numbered 152,000…

Following the invasion of Poland and France, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, commander of the SS, was eager to expand the Waffen-SS for what he termed a the crusade against Bolshevism. Consequently, a new Nordic formation was constructed, originally organised as the Nordische Division (Nr.5), and its core of men composed of eager Nordic volunteers and ethnic German Waffen-SS personnel. In late 1940 the SS Infantry Regiment Germania of the SS-Verfügungs-Division, which had drafted mainly ethnic Germans into its units, were incorporated into its formation to bolster the newly recreated division. In December 1940, the new SS division was to be designated as SS-Division Germania. However, in early 1941, its name was changed to SS-Division Wiking. The Wiking division comprised of three motorised infantry regiments, Nordland, Westland, and Germania. In addition to…

On the eve of war there were 60,000 policemen and 300 policewomen in England and Wales, divided between 182 separate police forces, but policing became more difficult during World War II due to the blackout and blitzed homes. Particularly as experienced policemen began to be called up to serve in the armed forces and were replaced by unpaid, part-time, volunteer War Reserve Constables, men who were older, or in reserve occupations. There was also the Corps of Military Police, but its powers were restricted to arresting members of the Armed Forces who had committed civil or military offences. There’s a rose-tinted myth about plucky Brits in the Blitz all pulling together, however the reality is that crime rose by 57% as murder, looting, robbery, theft, rape and forgery all flourished.…

The French Army of 1854 was considered to be the best military force of Europe by many contemporary observers, since it had been completely re-formed and re-organised by Napoleon III during the previous year. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, France had soon restored her status of great power and had lived through some chaotic years from a political point of view. During 1815-1830 the country had been ruled by the restored Bourbon monarchy and had started to have a growing colonial interested that culminated with the invasion of Algeria in 1830. In 1848 Paris was ravaged by a popular revolution, which caused the definitive end of the French monarchy. France became again a republic, for the second time after the years of the Revolution. New democratic institutions were…

Due to the way magazines are published, I write this column well in advance of you reading it, so it can be hard to be topical. I’m writing this on Monday 6 June, the 78th anniversary of the D-Day landings, so please forgive me as you read it sometime in July. The D-Day Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of France (and later western Europe) and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front. Due to its importance, items from D-Day are highly sought after and often…

This little gem of a military museum to the famous Men of Harlech, covering seven famous British regiments, is located centrally in the main street of the pretty town of Brecon, South Wales. Whilst it is much smaller than the big, national museums, do not be put off, as it is a treasure trove, packed with over 33,000 rare and fascinating soldiering memorabilia. There is much to see and enjoy, a very good variety of items, all being laid out very carefully and descriptively in each room, covering the different periods. There are some wonderful, framed prints of famous actions, medals and uniforms and this is a fine reference centre for any student of militaria. The museum covers the fascinating story of some of the British army’s most famous regiments,…

Lots of German militaria at Ratisbon’s 49th Contemporary Auction. Let’s get things started with a Luftwaffe fighter pilot’s winter flight jacket. This pattern was mainly issued to fighter pilots towards the end of the war and is therefore also known as a Reichsverteidigung pattern since air combat mainly happened over German ground at this time. Both sleeve zippers were fully working and the metal was marked ‘ZIPP DRP’. It sold for £1,256.85 (includes Buyer’s Premium of 22.5%). To go with a jacket you really need some leather flight trousers and here’s a pair for aircrews, including pilots. These type of trousers existed as a rather heavy winter pattern with fur lining and as a lightweight type in tan and blue colours. This is a late-war type from leather in a…

History credits Napoleon Bonaparte with saying, “An army travels on its stomach,” meaning it needs food to survive, flourish and conquer. As far as logistics are concerned, rations and ammunition are of the utmost importance for an operational army. However, it is impractical and almost impossible for field kitchens and their personnel to maintain contact with combatants as modern warfare seldom uses the obsolete tactic of opposing grand armies on a single battlefield. Rather, war is conducted by smaller units with occasional large-scale operations. To this purpose, the inception of portable and packaged individual meals for soldiers was adopted. Ideally rations for WWII needed to be inexpensive, easy to transport, enduring, lightweight, nourishing and tasty. However, no one hwas able to meet all of these requirements and tasty definitely took…

The Egypt medal was awarded in 1882 to those British and Indian forces which took T part in the conquest and occupation of Egypt. After 1882, Britain was drawn deeply into the affairs of the Sudan, then governed by Egypt, but increasingly dominated by an aggressive Islamic resurgence under the Mahdi. As a result, Britain became involved in serious campaigns in the Eastern Sudan around the Red Sea port of Suakin in 1884 and in 1885, as well as launching the major Nile Campaign of 1884-1885 to relieve General Gordon and the Egyptian garrison besieged at Khartoum. Throughout the period 1882-1896, before the full-scale Anglo-Egyptian reconquest of the Sudan, 1896-98, there were also continual clashes along Egypt’s frontier, some of them serious affairs. The silver medal, of usual dimensions, bore…

Further to the article in The Armourer (April 2022) on Naval surgeons and noting the role of Sir Gilbert Blane in promoting excellence, let’s have a look at an award he created. In 1830 Sir Gilbert Blane established a fund for the encouragement of Naval Medical Science in association with the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of London. The fund of £300 was to be used to confer gold medals, to be awarded jointly by the Presidents of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, to the Medical Officer of the Royal Navy who was judged to demonstrate: ‘The most distinguished proofs of skill, diligence, humanity and learning in the exercise of their professional duties’. It was first awarded in 1832 and originally every two years, based on the excellence and…

The story of the 40mm QF 2pdr Mark VIII began in 1923 with the Royal Navy T requirement for a suitable rapid-firing weapon with which to defend its surface vessels from closerange air attack. The basic principle had existed in WWI in the form of the QF 2pdr Mark II, a scaled-up 40mm version of the QF 1pdr Maxim gun of 37mmx94R calibre. This weapon was plagued with reliability issues associated with both its mechanics and ammunition. Clearly there was room for improvement so work began on a suitable design in 1923. The resulting weapon was the Vickers Armstrong 40mm QF 2pdr Mark VIII. This weapon, which became universally known as the Pom Pom (a name coined from its monotonous firing tone), differed from the previous Maxim-based weapons by having…

Facebook: www.facebook.com/armourermagazine Twitter: @The_Armourer Post: Letters Page, The Armourer, Warners Group Publications, West Street, Bourne, Lincs. PE10 9PH Email: armourer@warnersgroup.co.uk MUSEUM VISIT In the April issue of The Armourer the museum visit went to the York Castle museum. I went before lockdown so this must be the second revamp. When I went some years ago you could see all the Yorkshire Regiment and Yeomanry and a big collection of rifles and one of the largest collections of horse brasses. When I went again was all gone in what must have been the first revamp, and we all know what that means. Geoff Pullman, Bridport, Dorset Ed says: It’s still worth a visit but I certainly decry any museum that removes militaria in order to showcase artists impressions or a sanitised gallery…