alexanderhistorical

Thanks for that notice, E. Nimitz had a brilliant career, and I was unaware that he kept diaries. I'll enjoy reading them. Bill

These are just great! Hard to find images of sinking vessels - thanks so much for sharing them. Bill

Of course, don't forget the schoolbooks issued by Julius Streicher (illustrated by FIPS) - probably the most vile things ever published. A link to "Der Giftpilz". Copies were ordered destroyed after the war. http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/thumb.htm Bill

My "favorite" would have to be a signature found in a guestbook (and graciously given to me by the consignor) of Karl Hans Maximilian von Le Suire (8 November 1898 – 18 June 1954) General der Gebirgstruppe who commanded the XXXXIX Gebirgs-Armeekorps, and a Knights Cross awardee. In November 1943, the 117th Jager Div. began Unternehmen Kalavryta (Operation Kalavryta), intending to encircle Greek guerrilla fighters in the mountainous area surrounding Kalavryta. During the operations, some German soldiers were killed and 77 of them, who were taken prisoners, were executed by the Greek guerrillas. On 10 December 1943 von Le Suire signed the order for the German division to "level the locations Mazeika and Kalavryta". In total, more than 1200 civilians were killed during the reprisal operations. About 1,000 houses were looted and burned and more than 2,000 sheep and other large domestic animals were seized by the Germans. The following day the division burnt down the Monastery of Agia Lavra, a landmark of the Greek War of Independence, and dispatched several monks there by pitching them off a nearby cliff. My dog in this fight? My great-great grandfather was one of the Greek patriots who swore an oath to fight the Turks in 1821, launching the Greek Revolution - this was at Agia Lavria. My father was raised in Kalavryta, and one or two of his friends survived the massacre by taking blood from other victims, wiping it on their faces, and "playing dead". Fittingly, von Le Suire was captured by Soviet troops in May 1945 and died in Soviet captivity on 18 June 1954 in a prisoner of war camp at Stalingrad.

Never, ever heard of one of those being offered for sale.

Thread is here: http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=717482

T To blow my own horn...I dissected the passport in multiple posts at WAF after Craig refused to provide any further info on its source, additional images, etc. He also claimed his "publicist" altered the Josef Mengele Wikipedia site, and according to the Wikipedia editing log, the same "publicist" added negative content to my own Wikipedia page. The thread at WAF is long, but once you sift through the attacks, it's quite revealing. Now I am after the forger, whom I suspect is the seller himself.

Tom, his initials are believed to be "H G". To disclose his name here would be unfair to him, in case I have the wrong man. I'll PM you the "suspect". Bill

Very cool - have never seen such a seal used on the exterior of an envelope. Likely inter-governmental correspondence. Bill

And it does not resemble a rubber stamp or a printed signature.

Agreed. Typical lithoed signature.

A seller of Graf Spee-related POW and police documents, all forgeries, made an appearance at the MAX Show last October unloading a large grouping of spurious documents. He has also sold a great number of related documents on eBay, though we obviously haven't seen them first-hand. He is an Argentine national, and accepts cash only. Some of these came into our hands, and we've examined them carefully. The key to identifying the fakes is the photographs attached to each piece. The images often are horizontally striated, indicating that they were produced on a laser printer. A few others appear "pixillated". Documents also have police stamps and the rubber-stamp of an inspector named "Modelo". The seller may also have sold the now-infamous "Mengele passport". If any readers were offered any such Graf Spee items (or Mengele items) by such an individual, please PM me. Bill

Thank you - a terrific and very informative post. Thank God that in civilized countries, we're done with the stuff (I hope).

Thanks. Something I don't see too often.

My God. Ghosts...RIP. Thanks for locating that fine video, Chris. Agree the award ceremony in the trench was excellent.