REICHSMARSCHALL!

[filfoster]

Not a reference or color photo anywhere of Goring's Reichsmarschall interimstab.  What happened to it?  What does it look like, besides the ivory shaft?  Is the head gold or platinum or silver or aluminum?  What devices are on it? What metal are they?

Lots of photos and palaver about the Reichsmarschallstab but nada on the interimstab.  Not even a good color photo on Google. 

Anyone?

[filfoster]

....Even the wonderful reference "Mythos Marschallstab" has only two, incomplete black and white photos of it. 

[Bayern]

Hello, in the book Naval Marine and Air Force uniforms of WW2 , Andrew Mollo - Malcom Mc Gregor ,appears a colorized photo of Hermann Goering wearing a litewka in pigeon grey colour and carryng the Interimstab . that is the everyday baton .nothing spectacular, more a walking stick than a baton . If you dont have the chance of read the book , search about photos of for example Marshall Keitel when he signed the German capitulation . he went there with the interimstab and put in on the table

[Marcon1]

Is this the one ??

Edited February 20, 2020 by Marcon1

[filfoster]

Bayern: Thank you.  I do have the Mollo book and the illustration, as a drawing, even if based on a photo, is inconclusive of the color of the Reichsmarschall Interimsstab baton head. The formal baton, or reichsmarschallstab, for instance, was very different in composition of materials (ivory shaft, vice velvet covered for 'ordinary' marshals or grand admirals, platinum vice silver, etc and the diamonds) compared to the lower rank generalfeldmarschallstab batons, that his Interimsstab for that rank, Riechsmarschall, might have also had significant differences. I am hoping this post will elicit a response with a photo or reference work that gives details of the reichsmarschall Interimsstab on the metals of the headpiece and its badging. The badging itself may be different: was one of the eagles a Reichsmarschall eagle, clutching crossed batons?

Surely there must be a color photo, rather than a drawing or painting or contemporary article that describes this.

Marcon: Thanks, but no, that's only a 'regular' Heer generalfeldmarschall interimsstab. The higher rank Reichsmarschall interimsstab was different (see my prior post, please).

Edited February 20, 2020 by filfoster

[P.F.]

Not a colour photo, but might give you an idea of the detail.

[filfoster]

Thanks for the photo. It's hard to see more than the facing badge. 

My tentative opinion is that the handle/cap is made of Platinum with gold or platinum (the Iron cross) badges.

Still hoping for a color photo with detail. 

[Alex K]

Once again, not colour but I've got this on file

[Bayern]

Hello , The interimstab of Reichsmarschall appears to be lost ,the two other batons of Goering are in USA . the only data about it is that the shaft was made of ivory , the handle and knob probably were made of silver with the eagle in gold , or perhaps due the pompous nature of Goering in platinum as you suggests . another option is gold or gold plated silver 

[GdC26]

Another pic of the interim baton in use, currently for sale on German Ebay: https://www.ebay.de/itm/352973648046?ul_noapp=true

[filfoster]

Bump...no color photos of the stick baton of the highest-ranking military officer in the Third Reich?  Hard to believe but obviously very hard to find!!

[Marcon1]

Hi,

Are these of any help ?

 

If not, try Google images with "color photo's of Goring" as search instruction.

Regards, Marcon1.

[filfoster]

Marcon1:  Yes, these are the best ones I've found, too but the coloration of the head piece just isn't clear enough. If you had to bet on it,  I'd guess it's platinum and not gold but I've seen gold head piece replicas that look pretty convincing.  My working opinion until something better surfaces (optimist that I am!) is that it was platinum. (Silver or aluminum would have been too pedestrian for the Reichsmarschall!   Consider that the silver-colored accents to his Reichsmarschallstab were platinum).

Whereabouts of the original?  Would it surprise anyone if some GI's surviving family have this gadangus hanging in the family room or the downstairs 'man cave' with little idea what it is?

"Grampa said it was some big shot's. Looks like a band drum major's baton or a little pool cue stick, don't it?"

Edited March 4, 2020 by filfoster

[Marcon1]

Hi,

Just found this info on Wehrmacht-Awards.com

His Interimstab was made of gold and with the same model as those of the Luftwaffe, and the name "H. Goering" engraved on the base. The body was of ivory and white entwined cord dracona white, black and red. Measured 78.5 cm.

Also found 2 possible places where it might be.

Generalfeldmarschall Hermann Goring
Currently at theNational Infantry Museum, Fort Benning/Columbus (Georgia, USA)

His second model, present at the West Point Museum.

[filfoster]

Marcon1:  Thanks for this. The batons at Fort Benning and West Point are his Feldmarschallstab and Reichsmarschallstab, respectively, the formal batons. 

These museums don't have the Reichsmarschall interimstab or his field marshal interimstab.   So, we're left wondering where these are now.  It seems unlikely that they were destroyed because they were obviously of importance and would either have been taken from him in person or from a place he was known to have been, like Carinhall (blown up at his own order) or one of his apartments.

Photos show he had it or perhaps the Reichsmarschallstab with him when he was captured by US troops in Bavaria at the end of the war: (see him holding this 'bag' in the photo):

It's in the cloth bag he's carrying unless that's the Reichsmarschallstab, which, given the wide grip he has on it, seems more likely. Still, It's hard to imagine he'd left it behind in Carinhall or wherever he skedaddled from.

The most likely event was that an enterprising GI relieved him of it and it's been out of the public eye since. Odds are that it's still out there somewhere, ditto his Feldmarschall interimstab.

I hope a few of this forum's members will join us in this fun quest. This artifact is one of the most valuable and significant objects of the Third Reich. Imagine its value today!

Edited March 6, 2020 by filfoster

[ErWeSa]

Gentlemen,

should you already have this information, please ignore my post.

Goerings Uniform (cap, tunics, badges etc.) his Reichsmarschallstab and the Interimsstab are described in UM (Uniformen-Markt 17/1940 (together with the other GFMarschallstäbe).

It says: Interimsstab des Reichsmarschalls. Aus Elfenbein gefertigt, mit goldenen Beschlägen und schwarz-weiß-roter Schnur mit Quaste. Länge etwa 85 cm. Verzierungen auf dem Beschlag: Hoheitszeichen aus Platin, EK. und Hoheitszeichen der Luftwaffe.

Rough translation (hopefully accurate enough - I don't know how to translate the technical terms correctly):

Interimsstab of the Reichsmarschall. Made of ebony with golden fittings and black-white-red cord with a tassel. Length about 85 cm. Ornaments on the fittings: National emblem made of platinum, I(ron) C(ross). and National emblem of the air force.

[filfoster]

ErWeSa: Thank you. This is helpful. Still not sure what the head piece is made of, e.g. what 'gold fittings' refers to. Headpiece?

White gold or yellow gold? 

[Bayern]

ErWeSa , Elfenbein is not ebony .It means Ivory . the fittings are the headpiece and the tip . it says also that the EK and the Luftwaffe emblem are made of platinum 

[ErWeSa]

On 26/08/2020 at 03:15, Bayern said:

ErWeSa , Elfenbein is not ebony .It means Ivory . the fittings are the headpiece and the tip . it says also that the EK and the Luftwaffe emblem are made of platinum 

Thank you Bayern! Ivory and ebony... 

[Bayern]

My pleasure, Ivory is white, Ebony, is black . 

[filfoster]

The bottom color photo above shows what clearly looks like a white metal head. If it's gold, it's white gold, then.

[Bayern]

I only translate ,goldene beschlage is golden fittings

[filfoster]

But the above photos, although ambiguous, seem to show a silver toned headpiece, not a yellow gold.

[Bayern]

Interpretation is free and thinking dont pay tax !

[filfoster]

The hunt for a better photo continues......