Saturday 19 October 2013

Feldzug im Westen - campaign in the West 1940





an evocative (and occasionally gruesome) album belonging to a Luftwaffensoldat who, according to the seller served in the close reconnaissance Nahaufklärergruppe 12 during the invasion of France. At the time of writing the auction still has five days left to run here. The album opens with pictures of men lounging around on their satellite field in the Eifel (Bitburg) during April 1940 and takes in all the 'hot-spots' of the French campaign from Sedan to Amiens via Hesdin and Le Touquet. One shot is even captioned in French, " c'est la guerre" - this is war ! Towards the end of the album there is a picture of German  field artillery (I presume) photographed in Boulogne-sur-Mer - the guns are lined up along the quayside in the town (Sealion preparations?). Some of the final shots in the album depict Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe Hermann Göring in Wissant, which is a small village just along the (Channel) coastal road from Cap Blanc Nez (four miles south of Calais) the white cliffs that look out across to Dover, Kent, England. Click on the images for a full screen view.