An album of photographs compiled by a German soldier during the German offensives in Poland, France and the Netherlands, between August 1939 and May 1940
A commercial photograph album (258 × 200 mm), containing 166 gelatin silver snapshot photographs (most between 45 × 60 mm and 60 × 90 mm, a handful larger at approximately 70 × 100 mm) loosely mounted behind photo-corners, with captions regularly throughout the album. Many of the photographs are also captioned on the verso.
Contrasting papered boards (worn, joints splitting, lacking part of the backstrip); photo-corners occasionally perished or lacking; a handful of prints a little creased, and a small number later tipped in or mounted; two prints lacking; the photographs are generally in excellent condition.
The photographs trace the soldier's progress from mobilisation in August 1939 and the invasion of Poland (14 photographs), through Trier and Kanzem during the Phoney War (26 photographs, one dated 16 February 1940), and the Battle of France (81 photographs, including Longwy and Ecly, then the Aisne-Oise and Marne canals, Neuville, Saulon-la-Chapelle and Dijon), before turning north again towards Belgium and the Netherlands (27 photographs, via First-World-War graveyards and the Maginot Line). The final section shows the invasion of the Netherlands (18 photographs), including striking images of Rotterdam in flames and in ruins after the German bombing of May 1940. The photographs provide an insight into the experience of a German soldier during the early stages of the war, showing troop movements, tanks and armoured vehicles, aircraft, river crossings, casualties and war graves, prisoners of war, and war-damaged towns and countryside. Notable images include: (1) A girl fleeing across an open field, with smoke in the background and a German soldier on the right, captioned 'Unsere Infanterie geht vor'; (2) A ditch, apparently containing the bodies of troops from France's African colonies. The caption, loaded with Nazi race theory, reads 'Neger sollen mithelfen Deutschland niederzuringen. Sie unterlagen Deutscher Wehrkraft und starben für die Plutokratien'; (3) Five images of a damaged airfield near Dijon, captioned 'Flughafen bei Dijon von Stukas zerstört'; (4) An old woman inspecting the twisted remains of a French munitions train near Joinville; and (5) De Noord windmill, Rotterdam, seen across the levelled city through the remnants of a neoclassical arch.
Item #145921
Price (AUD):
$1,750.00