WW1 / WW2 / 20th Century

Set of Three German Mutterkreuz, Early Ist Pattern in Silver, Two 2nd Patterns in Gold & Silver

The first is a very rare example of the first pattern Mutterkreuz Mother's Cross in silver in good condition. all awarded to the same lady, but she was supposed to return the first pattern as it was an error in the Third Reich distribution, which is why it is so rare. 85% of the value of the three medals is for the very rare Ist pattern medal

The Cross is more or less identical to the more common later pattern, except that on the back is stamped "Das Kindadelt dir Mutter' and the early style signature of Adolf Hitler. Later models have '16 Dezember 1938' and the later version of his signature. From 1933 to 1945 Hitler's signature changed a few times.
The 2nd is the gold cross 2nd pattern and the third a silver 2nd pattern.
The first pattern only existed for a very short time thus,. as a result, it is one of the rarest non military awards.
It was Adolf Hitler’s joint experiences of witnessing the manpower losses on the Western Front in WWI and deaths in his immediate family that were the behind a desire to encourage German mothers to have large families.
Three of Adolf’s siblings died as children and even his mother, who he doted on, died when he was just 18. By the time the National Socialists gained power Hitler had already formulated plans for expansion in the east with Lebensraum, or living space. The army, as well, would need those large families to provide a stream of new recruits. The honouring of motherhood was also another way of encouraging traditional German values to counter what Hitler, and many saw as the decadence of the more liberal, roaring ‘20s and early 1930s.

The result was a civil award that recognised the contribution of German mothers to the nation. The Ehrenkreuz der Deutschen Mutter, translated as the Cross of Honour of the German Mother, or as it more informally known, the Mother’s Cross, was instituted by statutory order on 16 December, 1938 by Adolf Hitler. The Cross was originally to be awarded on the second Sunday in May, or Mother’s Day, but as some three million German women were already eligible this was extended to include other important national occasions. It did mean that the first awards weren’t given until May 1939. The Mother’s Cross came in three grades, as follows:
Gold Cross – for mothers with eight or more children
Silver Cross – for mothers with six or seven children
Bronze Cross – for mothers with four or five children
Size: 36 x 46mm
Acquired from the estate of a late collector, acquired by him from his collecting period that commenced in the 1950's. Please note 85% of the value of this small collection is the the most rare ‘1st pattern’ silver example, these single and highly rare medals can easily achieve over £1000 today, 10 times the value of the 2nd patterns as we show here.

Photo 5 in the gallery shows the rear view of this 1st pattern mutterkreuz medal that was used to illustrate the versions in Militaria History published in 2018  read more

Code: 23744

Autograph Photo Martin Kuehne Commander of the I./Fallschirmjager-Regiment

Martin Kuehne
Luftwaffe Hauptmann Commander of the I./Fallschirmjager-Regiment 2, awarded his Knights cross on 29 February 1944. Martin Kuehne (1 November 1918 - 25 March 2003) what a highly decorated Major in the Fallschirmjager during World War II . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross is awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Major Kuhne's Awards and decorations;
## Parachute Shield Badge (28 April 1940)
## Iron Cross (1939) ## 2nd Class (18 May 1940)
## 1st Class (18 May 1940)

## Ground Assault Badge of the Luftwaffe (26 May 1943)
## Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe (7 October 1941)
## Medaglia d'Argento al Valor Militare (9 February 1942)
## Eastern Front Medal (16 July 1942)
## Libya Medal (11 February 1943)
## German Cross in Gold (23 July 1943)
## Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 29 February 1944 as Captain and commander of the I./Fallschirmjager-regiment 2
The campaigns he took part in were; ## Crete
## Battle of the Netherlands
## Battle of Crete
## Operation Barbarossa
## Victory of Leningrad
## Second Battle of El Alamein
## Italian Campaign
## Gothic Line Offensive

The Fallschirmjager Knights Cross winners between 1939-1945 are totalling 133 recipients.


1 was awarded in Norway
were awarded in Normandy
10 in Belgium
13 in Holland, early and late war
1 at Corinth
27 in Kreta
4 in Afrika
40 in Italy
8 on the Eastern Front
2 in the Ardennes
6 within the borders of Germany at the end of the war
Out of the 133 recipients:
69 were also awarded the German Cross in Gold
6 were awarded posthumously
20 recipients were KIA
1 was executed after the war
3 were killed in accidents
3 died from wounds received in action after the event
1 was a pilot. This autograph photo was given personally by Major Kuehne, detailed on the reverse and signed twice, dated 1991. On October 23rd 1942 the second battle of El Alamein was launched, German and Italian forces started their retreat from the area on 3rd November.

The British 8th army began to push the Axis forces westward through Egypt and Libya into Tunisia. The Allied high command decided on a plan to trap the Axis forces by landing a force into French North Africa and pushing Eastwards, while Montgomery?s 8th army pushed westwards and then northwards into Tunisia.

German paratroops had been in North Africa since July 1942 when Major General Bernhard Ramcke?s Fallschirm Brigade arrived to take part in the battles at El Alamein. His brigade consisted of 4 battalions, the 1st battalion commanded by Major Kroh, 2nd Battalion commanded by Major Baron von der Heydte, 3rd Battalion commanded by Major Heubner and the 4th Fallschirm-Lehr Battalion comanded by Maj Burkhardt. It gave a good account of itself in action but was almost destroyed in the fighting around El-Alamein and the retreat afterwards and many of his men were lost in the general surrender of May 1943. The remnant of his unit were reformed into part of the new 2nd Parachute division in 1943. Excellent condition.  read more

Code: 20793

A Very Good Original, WW2, Kriegsmarine Coastal Artillery Combat Badge Kriegsabzeichen für die Marineartillerie By Friedrich Linden of Lüdenscheid.

An original Kriegsmarine Coastal artillery badge by by FLL 43 – Friedrich Linden of Lüdenscheid constructed in zinc with nice gilt finish. . A zinc produced piece with a great amount of gold finish remaining. The Kriegsmarine maintained a large ground force, organized along the same lines as the German Army, which was known as the Marine-Infanterie . Kriegsmarine naval artillery and anti-aircraft crews were considered as shore personnel. Artillery units were organized into either regiments or sections while flak units were maintained in brigades and regiments. Both types of units were assigned to various ports and harbors and thus were under the direct operational authority of both the port commanders as well as the commander harbour security forces. During actual invasion of coastal regions by enemy forces, these units became part of the sea defense zones.
The Naval Artillery War Badge or War Badge for the Coastal Artillery (German: Kriegsabzeichen für die Marineartillerie) was a World War II German military decoration awarded to the crews of Kriegsmarine land-based marine artillery and anti-aircraft units. It was presented to personnel of coastal defense units, and anti-aircraft units. The award was instituted on 24 June 1941 by Grand Admiral Erich Raeder to reward the actions of both individuals and crew members. It was also awarded to those killed in action in said units

From a former special engineering unit {Ian Fleming’s so called ‘Red Indians} in wartime Europe were a vital part of clandestine warfare, and all parts of the units combat service were then trained in recognising enemy mines, booby traps, handling of explosives, demolitions, counter-demolitions, bomb disposal, and combined with recognition of enemy uniforms and equipment for intelligence gathering. Reporting all elements of their findings back to CoCO, and by them to the Admiralty. Fleming referred to such brave men as his ‘Red Indians’. see Casino Royale for reference.

There were seven active Marinekustenten-Bataillons or MKBs consisting of two to six companies each, prior to the invasion of Norway. These battalions were charged initially with protecting the coasts and harbors of Germany. With the fall of Norway, France, and the Low Countries, these units were expanded to include four large-caliber naval batteries between Calais and Boulogne. These were to be used during the planned invasion of Britain to provide the initial shore bombardment of the Dover Area and prevent the Royal Navy from interfering with the invasion fleet.

When the invasion was scrubbed in late 1940 in favor of starving Britain into submission, additionally Navy Artillery and Flak companies were formed to protect the many U-Boot bases being built along the Atlantic Coast. In mid-1941, battalions were formed to fortify the Channel Islands and the coast of Norway.

Artillerie of HKB was responsible for “Filling-In” the coastal areas between these points by covering possible landing sites. The Navy Artillery units were normally situated directly on the coast and used as direct fire control procedure similar to that used on ships, with the Army positioned further inland, which protected them from Allied “Air” and “Naval” attack, but limited their ability to track and engage enemy ships and landing craft. Navy artillery battalions were separate from the Heer, under the Navy.

Battery organization generally depended on the weapon system to which Fuhrer Directive 40, March 1942, provided detailed instructions for the construction and defense of what became known as the Atlantic Wall. This meant a massive expansion of the Naval Artillery, with some 100 Battalions* created by the end of the war.

Navy (Kriegsmarine) units were primarily deployed to defend, important ports, or harbors, rivers, estuaries, and other points critical to naval operations.
The brain child of naval commander Ian Fleming & Lord Louis Mountbatten, 30 Commando, this wartime unit was a secret well kept for over 50 years after the war by the Official Secrets Act, some remains classified. At the time, officially, they didn’t exist. The members of this unit were forbidden to discuss or document their activities, a pledge that many of the men kept even many years after the war was over, or even for their entire lives!
Due to the fact these men operated in very small groups on ‘need-to-know’ basis it is very difficult to get clear picture of everything they were doing.
Fleming’s/NID30AU secretary Miss Margaret Priestley (a history professor from Leeds University) played a vital role in the running and administration of 30AU and became his inspiration for Miss Petty Pettaval - the original character name that became Miss Moneypenny.
As revealed here for the first time! (see Beau Bête)

Miss Preistley transferred over to NID30AU during the winter of 1943-44 from DNR - (Department of Naval Research) where she worked as a civilian, although there were obvious links between DNR and NID30AU as intelligence on enemy targets was collected for Fleming’s ‘Black List’.

Also Known as: Fleming's 'Red Indians'
Fleming himself referred to the men of the unit as behaving like 'Red Indians'. (A reference he also used when referring to his character, James Bond, four times in his first novel Casino Royale. Which effectively makes this unit the ‘literary James Bond’s wartime unit’.)
Formerly:- (NID30 Command Office at Admiralty),
Special Engineering Unit.
'RED' Marines.
Latterly:- 30 Assault Unit,
 30 Advanced Unit, 30AU
 and incorrectly as 30th Assault Unit.
The number '30' was used for no better reason than it was NID/Miss Priestley’s Office Door number at the Admiralty. (Fleming’s Office was No. 39, see photo in the gallery of Fleming in room 39 of the Admiralty) 'Assault Unit' was 'overt' cover for the fact that they were intelligence gathering.
Date Founded: 30 September 1942
Date Disbanded: 26 March 1946
Date Reformed: February 2010 - 30 Cdo IXG
Mission When Founded:
The collection of technical intelligence and personnel from enemy headquarters and installations. Ahead of allied advances and before enemy could destroy it, to ‘Attain by Surprise’.

30 Commando consisted of Royal Marine, Army and Royal Navy elements that were organised into three Sections: No. 33, No. 34 and No.36 respectively. Initially code-named the Special Engineering Unit, the unit reported to the Chief of Combined Operations, though the Admiralty retained ultimate control of No.36 Section. No.35 Section was left vacant for the RAF to utilise but they never raised a troop to participate in 30 Cdo. Although they did supply intelligence officers and specific targets to pursue after D-Day for ‘Operation Crossbow’.
Unit members were given general commando skills and weapons training, and were then trained in recognising enemy mines, booby traps, handling of explosives, demolitions, counter-demolitions, recognition of enemy uniforms and equipment. Parachute training, small boat handling, recognition of enemy documents, search techniques including lock picking and safecracking, prisoner handling, photography and escape techniques were also taught.
A significant number of the initial recruits were formerly policemen. Although at least one ‘expert’ was recruited straight from prison, thought by the police to be the best safe-breaker in England at the time.
30 Cdo’s operational tactic was to move ahead of advancing Allied forces, or to undertake covert missions into enemy territory by land, sea or air, to capture intelligence, in the form of equipment, documents, codes or enemy personnel. 30 Cdo often worked closely with the Intelligence Corps' Field Security sections. More often than not each team consisted of two special operations Jeeps (As used by the SAS and 30AU) manned by one Naval Commander in possession of a ‘Black Book’ which listed targets from Ian Fleming’s famous ‘Black List’. The Naval Commander was the only man in each team who knew where and what the targets actually were. This Naval Commander was usually accompanied by at least one weapons expert or scientist who he relied on to evaluate the information or equipment they encountered. There were also usually at least six Royal Marines and one RM Officer whose main job was to do any fighting required and to keep the Naval Commander and any experts alive and out of trouble. (For details Reading section.)
The individual Sections served in all the Mediterranean and NW European operational theatres, usually operating independently, gathering information from captured facilities. The unit served in North Africa, the Greek Islands, Norway, Pantelleria, Sicily, Italy, and Corsica, 1942-1943 as 30 Commando.

As the Allies broke through 30AU split into many ‘Field Teams’ and these were responsible for capturing many and varied targets throughout Germany.
Team 2 under Curtis captured Prof. Helmut Walter, designer of the Me163 Rocket Plane and Midget Submarines at Kiel. (Kept by the British!).
Team 5 under USN Lambie captured Prof. Herbert Wagner (Handed to US Agents) designer of the guided flying bomb Hs293, already used to sink HMS Egret and to kill over 1000 troops on HMT Rohna. He went on to work for the US Navy. He did not surrender in Bavaria with Dornberger and the von Braun brothers as the Allied military would have us believe..
The capture of Prof. Magnus von Braun (Martin) V2 fuel chemist. (Handed to US Agents). He did not surrender in Bavaria as the Allied military want us to believe.
The capture of the designer of the Nazi V2 (who went on to the NASA Saturn V), Prof. von Braun and his brother. (Some men were convinced they were some of the scientists they caught!) Did they surrender in Bavaria as the Allied military want us to believe or was that staged afterwards? (see Beau Bête for details and FREE preview PDF, in Reading)
Team 55 under Glanville captured the entire Nazi Naval records collection at ‘Tambach Castle’.
Team 4 under Job(e) captured the Bremen dockyards with type 21; 25 submarines and destroyers. Then took the surrender of Bremerhaven and captured Naval HQ SS Europa and Z29 Destroyer. (All handed over to US Agents).
Team 2 Postlethwaite captures the Torpedo testing facility at Ekenförde.
Another team captured Admiral Dönitz (as Führer).
And many other things yet to be revealed by the government!
Ref; https://www.30au.co.uk
An amazing historic collection of information, including. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beau-B%C3%A9te-assigned-Flemings-intelligence/dp/B08R7XYHXW  read more

Code: 25712

A Very Rare WW1 German Airship Bataillon 'Luftschiffer' Regt. Nr.1 Officer’s Sword, of the Elite Imperial German Kaiser's Zeppelin and Airship Guarde Infantry, Only The Second We Have Seen in 30 Years

Probably one of the rarest German swords available, from the iconic German Zeppelin force of WW1. A duluxe quality blade bearing the Luftschiffer Battalion no 1, a Luftschiffer observation balloon and the Imperial German Kaiser's Garter Star symbol, plus a troop of horses pulling the balloon limber. Airship Battalion officer's swords are so rare as to be virtually unavailable, we have only seen one other in the past 40 years or so. We have not even heard or seen of another example in over 30 years. The German Airship Battalions were a small yet vital part of the Kaiser's Imperial German war machine. It was a mix of old and new technology that created the amazing new air services which in turn resulted in the iconic and hugely successful psychological warfare, of the highly feared and indomitable, so called, Hun in the Sky. The very beginning of true aerial warfare as we know it today. Some of the most famous stories of the war were based around the German Airships Zeppelins and the like and their continued use by Hitler's Third Reich right up to the late 1930's as can be seen, impressively and incredibly depicted, in the third of the Indiana Jones movies shows just how important they were considered. Any souvenirs or militaria from those early services are incredibly sought after, and very scarce indeed. All the weaponry connected with those services are particularly rare and very highly prized. At the start of World War I the Imperial German Army had five Luftschiffer (airship) battalions and one airship company. They were used as frontline observation posts and the larger ships as long range bombers. Fatalities of the crews were very high indeed due to their vulnerability. This sword is the best you could possibly hope for, as, not only does it have a deluxe etched blade, with two blued panels regimentally marked for the Luftschiffer Battalion No1, It also bears the Imperial Garter Star to represent this battalion was part of the Guard Infantry. The most elite part of the Imperial German armed forces, based in Berlin and assigned to the front lines in France and Belgium. The Luftschiffer became the backbone of German aerial warfare in the first years of the War, conducting reconnaissance flights as well as the first bombings of cities, including Paris and London.

Upon the outbreak of World War I, the Luftschifftruppe numbered around 20–25 zeppelins in service. The Luftschifftruppe began aerial surveillance early on in Belgium and France, but often came under fire by anti-aircraft guns. Because of their slow speed, they were very vulnerable. After three Zeppelins were shot down in the first month alone, the Luftschiffer were switched to naval surveillance, observing British ship movements, in which capacity they played a decisive role in the Battle of Jutland. Tests were done of dropping bombs from Zeppelins in order to increase their potential. Zeppelins had a typical carrying capacity of almost 9 metric tons, making them useful enough for this operation. Following the Christmas truce, Kaiser Wilhelm II approved of the Luftschifftruppe's bombing of England. On January 19, 1915, the first bombs fell over Britain, when two Zeppelins dropped 50 kg explosives on villages outside Great Yarmouth. Five people died in the first raid; 18 more raids that year would end in almost 900 casualties. Following the terror, the British government began taking measures to stop the bombings. Anti-aircraft guns were set up all over south-eastern England, as well as spotlights for night time.

The bombings in 1916 were more intense than in 1915. After an accidental bomb-dropping on London, the Kaiser approved of raids directly against the city's urban center. Twenty-three raids on London resulted in around 1,800 casualties. Despite safety precautions, civilians were still unprepared for the raids and zeppelins were still able to avoid defenses. By 1917 and 1918 the threat the Luftschifftruppe posed to London was diminished. Large-scale introduction of fighter planes caused nearly half of the planned bombings to end in failure. Only eleven successful raids occurred in the last year of the war. Nearly 80 zeppelins had been built for the Luftschifftruppe during the war; around 60 of them were shot down, including Peter Strasser's own zeppelin, with himself on board. The hilt is plated steel with wire bound fishskin grip. A blackened steel scabbard with slight denting.  read more

Code: 23637

An Interesting Collection Of Original German Third Reich Luftwaffe & Kriegsmarine Combat Badges & Awards & An SS & Army Buckle, Collected During WW2 By A British Bomb Disposal Officer. Untouched Since 1945, & Stored As Is For 80 Years

Bomb disposal sections of special engineering units {Fleming’s so called ‘Red Indians} in wartime Europe were a vital part of clandestine warfare, and all parts of the units combat service were then trained in recognising enemy mines, booby traps, handling of explosives, demolitions, counter-demolitions, bomb disposal, and combined with recognition of enemy uniforms and equipment for intelligence gathering. Reporting all elements of their findings back to CoCO, and by them to the Admiralty. Fleming referred to such brave men as his ‘Red Indians’. see Casino Royale for reference.


KRIEGSMARINE HIGH SEAS FLEET BADGE BY ADOLF BOCK AUSF SCHWERIN BERLIN
A nice early Kriegsmarine High Seas Fleet Badge by Adolf Bock Ausf Schwerin, Berlin (Flottenkriegsabzeichen) constructed in tombac. The obverse of the badge has a nice gilt finish and patina with sharp detail. The reverse of the decoration has t


The maker’s mark “FEC. ADOLF BOCK AUSF. SCHWERIN BERLIN” complete with a vertical block hinge and flat wire catch. The badge has no damage or repairs in very good condition by desirable maker.
The design was created by the well known artist Adolf Bock of Berlin and the design was approved and adopted in 1941 by the then Grand Admiral Raeder, Commander in Chief of the German Navy. Although the award was instituted in 1941, awards could be rendered in retrospect of service from the beginning of World War II.

The brain child of naval commander Ian Fleming & Lord Louis Mountbatten, 30 Commando, this wartime unit was a secret well kept for over 50 years after the war by the Official Secrets Act, some remains classified. At the time, officially, they didn’t exist. The members of this unit were forbidden to discuss or document their activities, a pledge that many of the men kept even many years after the war was over, or even for their entire lives!
Due to the fact these men operated in very small groups on ‘need-to-know’ basis it is very difficult to get clear picture of everything they were doing.
Fleming’s/NID30AU secretary Miss Margaret Priestley (a history professor from Leeds University) played a vital role in the running and administration of 30AU and became his inspiration for Miss Petty Pettaval - the original character name that became Miss Moneypenny.
As revealed here for the first time! (see Beau Bête)

Miss Preistley transferred over to NID30AU during the winter of 1943-44 from DNR - (Department of Naval Research) where she worked as a civilian, although there were obvious links between DNR and NID30AU as intelligence on enemy targets was collected for Fleming’s ‘Black List’.

Also Known as: Fleming's 'Red Indians'
Fleming himself referred to the men of the unit as behaving like 'Red Indians'. (A reference he also used when referring to his character, James Bond, four times in his first novel Casino Royale. Which effectively makes this unit the ‘literary James Bond’s wartime unit’.)
Formerly:- (NID30 Command Office at Admiralty),
Special Engineering Unit.
'RED' Marines.
Latterly:- 30 Assault Unit,
 30 Advanced Unit, 30AU
 and incorrectly as 30th Assault Unit.
The number '30' was used for no better reason than it was NID/Miss Priestley’s Office Door number at the Admiralty. (Fleming’s Office was No. 39, see photo in the gallery of Fleming in room 39 of the Admiralty) 'Assault Unit' was 'overt' cover for the fact that they were intelligence gathering.
Date Founded: 30 September 1942
Date Disbanded: 26 March 1946
Date Reformed: February 2010 - 30 Cdo IXG
Mission When Founded:
The collection of technical intelligence and personnel from enemy headquarters and installations. Ahead of allied advances and before enemy could destroy it, to ‘Attain by Surprise’.

30 Commando consisted of Royal Marine, Army and Royal Navy elements that were organised into three Sections: No. 33, No. 34 and No.36 respectively. Initially code-named the Special Engineering Unit, the unit reported to the Chief of Combined Operations, though the Admiralty retained ultimate control of No.36 Section. No.35 Section was left vacant for the RAF to utilise but they never raised a troop to participate in 30 Cdo. Although they did supply intelligence officers and specific targets to pursue after D-Day for ‘Operation Crossbow’.
Unit members were given general commando skills and weapons training, and were then trained in recognising enemy mines, booby traps, handling of explosives, demolitions, counter-demolitions, recognition of enemy uniforms and equipment. Parachute training, small boat handling, recognition of enemy documents, search techniques including lock picking and safecracking, prisoner handling, photography and escape techniques were also taught.
A significant number of the initial recruits were formerly policemen. Although at least one ‘expert’ was recruited straight from prison, thought by the police to be the best safe-breaker in England at the time.
30 Cdo’s operational tactic was to move ahead of advancing Allied forces, or to undertake covert missions into enemy territory by land, sea or air, to capture intelligence, in the form of equipment, documents, codes or enemy personnel. 30 Cdo often worked closely with the Intelligence Corps' Field Security sections. More often than not each team consisted of two special operations Jeeps (As used by the SAS and 30AU) manned by one Naval Commander in possession of a ‘Black Book’ which listed targets from Ian Fleming’s famous ‘Black List’. The Naval Commander was the only man in each team who knew where and what the targets actually were. This Naval Commander was usually accompanied by at least one weapons expert or scientist who he relied on to evaluate the information or equipment they encountered. There were also usually at least six Royal Marines and one RM Officer whose main job was to do any fighting required and to keep the Naval Commander and any experts alive and out of trouble. (For details Reading section.)
The individual Sections served in all the Mediterranean and NW European operational theatres, usually operating independently, gathering information from captured facilities. The unit served in North Africa, the Greek Islands, Norway, Pantelleria, Sicily, Italy, and Corsica, 1942-1943 as 30 Commando.

As the Allies broke through 30AU split into many ‘Field Teams’ and these were responsible for capturing many and varied targets throughout Germany.
Team 2 under Curtis captured Prof. Helmut Walter, designer of the Me163 Rocket Plane and Midget Submarines at Kiel. (Kept by the British!).
Team 5 under USN Lambie captured Prof. Herbert Wagner (Handed to US Agents) designer of the guided flying bomb Hs293, already used to sink HMS Egret and to kill over 1000 troops on HMT Rohna. He went on to work for the US Navy. He did not surrender in Bavaria with Dornberger and the von Braun brothers as the Allied military would have us believe..
The capture of Prof. Magnus von Braun (Martin) V2 fuel chemist. (Handed to US Agents). He did not surrender in Bavaria as the Allied military want us to believe.
The capture of the designer of the Nazi V2 (who went on to the NASA Saturn V), Prof. von Braun and his brother. (Some men were convinced they were some of the scientists they caught!) Did they surrender in Bavaria as the Allied military want us to believe or was that staged afterwards? (see Beau Bête for details and FREE preview PDF, in Reading)
Team 55 under Glanville captured the entire Nazi Naval records collection at ‘Tambach Castle’.
Team 4 under Job(e) captured the Bremen dockyards with type 21; 25 submarines and destroyers. Then took the surrender of Bremerhaven and captured Naval HQ SS Europa and Z29 Destroyer. (All handed over to US Agents).
Team 2 Postlethwaite captures the Torpedo testing facility at Ekenförde.
Another team captured Admiral Dönitz (as Führer).
And many other things yet to be revealed by the government!
Ref; https://www.30au.co.uk
An amazing historic collection of information, including. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beau-B%C3%A9te-assigned-Flemings-intelligence/dp/B08R7XYHXW

Photos in the gallery of;
Fleming in his wartime office, Room 39 of the Admiralty, Whitehall.

Admiral Otto Ciliax
Generaladmiral Oskar Kummetz
Fregattenkapitän Ernst Dominik

All the above Kriegsmarine officers are wearing the High Seas Fleet Badge.  read more

Code: 25708

Incredibly Important WW2 War Souvenir, A Most Fine And Scarce Polish Third Reich Occupation Semi Auto Pistol, 9mm Radom vis 35. AKA The German WW2 Classified ‘P35’. In Superb Condition With Almost All Fine Blue & Waffen Amt Stamps

Deactivated to UK specification, complete with certificate, fully functional cocking, firing, etc..
Excellent plus condition, with numerous Third Reich Nazi inspection waffen amt stamps and excellent production low three figure serial number, with letter prefix. In our opinion, likely the very best condition historical example available on the worldwide deact market today.
A ‘Grade I’ RADOM VIS Mod. 35 Pat. Nr. 15567 "P.35(p)". There were several grades of quality, and finish, this one is the early premier grade, with the designation “P35” stamp which wasn’t on other grades.
Technical term for 1st Grade was; Finish:Hochglanz-Finish; brüniert { Deluxe gloss blue-finish, polished}
Griffschalen:schwarze Bakelitgriffschalen mit Fischhaut. With black Bakelite monogrammed grips, with VIS, & FB, later were brown or chequered wood.

The pistol was highly valued by the Germans, and most were issued it to German paratroopers, {the Falschirmjager} and the Waffen SS Polizei military police and Feldengendarmerie division.

Arising from the ashes of the old Austro-Hungarian, German, and Russian Empires in 1918 – countries that had wiped Poland off the map in 1795 – modern Poland was born immediately into war, having to fight the Bolshevik Reds to the east and remnant German Freikorps to the west well into 1921. With its military armed via a curious mix of surplus weapons – including Mauser, Mosin, and Steyr rifles for instance – and its larger neighbors only growing stronger, the Poles sought to form a domestic arms concern, Panstwowa Wytwornia Broni (PWB = roughly, State Weapons Plant) in 1922.

Originally designed as a Polish officer’s sidearm, the Vis pistol was manufactured from 1936 in Fabryka Broni (Weapons Factory), hence the initials “FB” on the left grip, located in the city of Radom. After the invasion of Poland by the Third Reich within four days of the occupation of Poland they took control of the Radom arms factory.

The manufacturing process at the German occupied Radom factory was just one of the three stages in the pistol’s production. As before the war, some small parts, including the rear sight, extractor, grip safety, decocking lever and magazine, were made at Fabryka Karabinów (Rifle Factory) in Warsaw and then shipped to Radom. At the Radom factory, slides and frames were made, and the pistols were fitted together. Knowing that the bulk of the work would have to be performed by local Polish workers, whom they did not trust, the Germans moved the barrel production and final acceptance to the parent Steyr factory in Austria.

If this move was to prevent the pistols from getting into the hands of the Polish resistance, it failed. The Polish resistance, historically respected as one of the best and effective resistance groups of the war in Europe and the East, quickly established a network among the employees that began smuggling pistols out of the factory. The initial supply of barrels for the underground came from parts pilfered by patriotic workers before the Germans established security in the conquered plant in 1939. When these ran out, an underground shop was established in Warsaw for the purpose of making the barrels. As one resistance report states, there were 200 barrels produced in a six-month period between 1943 and 1944, which gives an idea about the rate at which the pistols were smuggled. One participant describes in detail how the smuggling operation worked: “When we were directed by factory management to go on a supply run ... to fetch steel, oxygen, or other materials, my partner would meander around the truck, getting it ready for the road, and I would go to the steel warehouse to see my friend ... . The friend had a job at the warehouse, while other resistance members who worked at the weapon assembly division would bring the Vis pistols to the warehouse and conceal them on the shelves where the steel was. I would go up to the shelves and stuff two, three, and sometimes even four pistols under my waist, then head for the car garage and conceal them in the truck cab. I would put them under the seat, under the gas tank, or inside the spare wheel compartment by attaching them to the tire with chicken wire. Then we’d get on the road. At the gate, the security guard would check the truck bed and look around, but the pistols were always well concealed.”
For a time, the Germans were completely unaware of the smuggling operation, until one day in September 1942, when a six-person commando of resistance fighters was traveling by rail to execute a Nazi collaborator. The commando was armed with the smuggled Vis pistols. Once on the train, they were surrounded by the Gestapo, and a shootout followed. Four of the fighters escaped, killing one of the Gestapo guards and wounding two more, but one fighter was killed, and worse, another captured.

During the shootout, two cloned Radom pistols fell into German hands, one with its serial number removed and one with the number still intact. The removal procedure was not performed adequately either, and the forensic experts in Berlin were able to reveal the number on the first pistol anyway. Both were traced to police units in occupied Poland, which still had them. The Vis production line was closed at the Radom factory, and additional parts with duplicate serial numbers were revealed. As a result of the usually brutal investigation that followed, in October 1942, 50 people were hanged in a series of public executions—some at the train station where the shootout happened, and some at the factory grounds where the pistols were made. The discovered breach also had an immediate effect on production procedures. Beginning with the “J” alphabet prefix series, the frame and slide received two additional control stamps, which presumably made it more difficult to counterfeit.

It is well known occupied Eastern Europe had some of the bravest anti-Nazi citizens amongst its population ever recorded during the war, and without doubt suffered the most under the viscious and harshest of German occupation regimes. And in many respects it tragically continued after the wars end in 1945. Britain, being joined by France just two days after the invasion declaring war against the Reich, spent the whole of the war, following the declaration, supporting the resistance by supplying arms and supplies and vital intelligence as best as it could, and completely alone for around two years, after France’s fall, and America not joining the war till late 1941. Tragically, after six years of help, once Stalin took over the occupation of Poland after Germany withdrew, we were in no position to assist Poland any longer, especially alone. And the rest is history.

Not suitable to export. Small slice of the bakelite moulded outer grip plate lacking from underneath below the screw.  read more

Code: 25718

A Most Interesting Collection Of Original German Third Reich Luftwaffe And Kriegsmarine Combat Badges And Combat Awards Collected During WW2 By A British Bomb Disposal Officer. Untouched since 1945, & Stored As Is For 80 Years

A “Kriegsabzeichen für Hilfskreuzer” (Auxiliary Cruiser War Badge).

Bomb disposal sections of special engineering units in wartime Europe {so called Fleming’s “Red Indians” } were a vital part of clandestine warfare, and all parts of the units combat service were then trained in recognising enemy mines, booby traps, handling of explosives, demolitions, counter-demolitions, bomb disposal, and combined with recognition of enemy uniforms and equipment for intelligence gathering. Reporting all elements of their findings back to CoCO, and by them to the Admiralty. Fleming referred to such brave men as his ‘Red Indians’. see Casino Royale for reference.

All the badges, clasps and buckles are offered for sale separately. A “Kriegsabzeichen für Hilfskreuzer” (Auxiliary Cruiser War Badge). Although a relatively innocuous title the German Auxiliary Cruisers were also known as Hitler's Secret Pirate Fleet: The Deadliest Ships of World War II, a formidable secret weapon of maritime warfare in WW2. These few merchant ships, were called 'commerce raiders', that concealed incredible hidden firepower that could easily sink and destroy allied warships that came too close while the German vessel was pretending to be a harmless fishing or merchant vessel etc. in distress. Within their first year of operation seven such merchant commerce raiders sunk 80 allied ships.

At first the Kriegsmarine had no plans to use commerce raiders, despite their use in the First World War and interwar thought about their use. Armed merchant cruisers of the type used by the British were too big, too hard to disguise and keep supplied with fuel. Ordinary merchant ships were a better prospect, especially those with a long range and were easier to alter to look like neutral and Allied ships to deceive their targets and Allied warships. Planning began soon after the declarations of war and by the end of September a first wave of six ships had been identified.

Each ship would need a crew of 284 men, six 150 mm guns, four 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, four torpedo tubes, provision for 400 mines and two seaplanes aircraft. The ships needed to be at sea for a year, cruising for 40,000 nmi (74,000 km; 46,000 mi). The first raider was to sail in November 1939 but it took until 31 March 1940 before the first raider sailed and July before all of the first wave had departed. By March 1941 the seven raiders in action had sunk or taken 80 ships of 494,291 gross register tons (GRT).

The British navy had the very same secret combat vessels called Q-Ships during WW1
The WWII German naval campaign against Allied shipping was not waged only with naval vessels. Eleven merchant ships were also specially equipped by the German Navy with a variety of anti-ship weapons. These armed ships, disguised as peaceful merchant vessels, patrolled shipping lanes. To recognize the bravery of the crews of these vessels, the German Navy commander Grossadmiral Erich Raeder introduced a special award, “Kriegsabzeichen für Hilfskreuzer” (Auxiliary Cruiser War Badge), on April 24, 1941. The badge was designed by Ernst Peekhaus and featured a Viking ship sailing on a northern hemisphere, surrounded by a wreath, and surmounted by a German national eagle and swastika emblem. They were made in silver, Tombak, and zinc. The entire badge was gilt with the exception of the globe, which had a gray finish. The globe could be integral to the badge, or could be a separate piece, affixed with a single rivet. The badge was awarded to the crews of ships that completed successful long-range voyages. It could also be awarded for exceptional leadership on a voyage and was automatically awarded to any sailors wounded in action on such a vessel. Because there were not many of these disguised merchant vessels, the Auxiliary Cruiser Badge was made in very limited numbers, likely, not more than 2,500, and likely most of those ended up at the bottom of the seas and oceans with their drowned owners still within their sunken vessels.

Pinguin was once of the most infamous of the small fleet of German auxiliary cruisers (Hilfskreuzer) which served as a commerce raider in the Second World War. The Pinguin was known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 33, and designated HSK 5. The most successful commerce raider of the war, she was known to the British Royal Navy as Raider F. The name Pinguin means penguin in German.

At first the Kriegsmarine had no plans to use commerce raiders, despite their use in the First World War and interwar thought about their use. Armed merchant cruisers of the type used by the British were too big, too hard to disguise and keep supplied with fuel. Ordinary merchant ships were a better prospect, especially those with a long range and were easier to alter to look like neutral and Allied ships to deceive their targets and Allied warships. Planning began soon after the declarations of war and by the end of September a first wave of six ships had been identified.

Each ship would need a crew of 284 men, six 150 mm guns, four 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, four torpedo tubes, provision for 400 mines and two seaplanes aircraft. The ships needed to be at sea for a year, cruising for 40,000 nmi (74,000 km; 46,000 mi). The first raider was to sail in November 1939 but it took until 31 March 1940 before the first raider sailed and July before all of the first wave had departed. By March 1941 the seven raiders in action had sunk or taken 80 ships of 494,291 gross register tons (GRT).

See for ref; Duffy, James P. (2005). Hitler's Secret Pirate Fleet: The Deadliest Ships of World War II.

AUXILIARY CRUISER BADGE BY C.E. JUNCKER
An Auxiliary Cruiser Badge (Kriegsabzeichen für Hilfskreuzer) constructed of gilded and silvered tombak, the obverse consisting of an oval oak leaf wreath, surmounted by a Kriegsmarine eagle clutching a mobile swastika, around a central depiction of a Viking longship sailing over the Northern Hemisphere. This badge is the second to be offered from the collection. The reverse includes a block-style hinge banjo pin with a classic flat wire catch soldered directly to the badge, unmarked but attributed to C.E. Juncker. It has no damage or repairs in very good condition.

A highly desired pieces! all uncleaned unpolished, kept just as is, untouched and unmolested for the past 80 years

The brain child of naval commander Ian Fleming & Lord Louis Mountbatten, 30 {30AU} Commando, this wartime unit was a secret well kept for over 50 years after the war by the Official Secrets Act, some remains classified, see Reading. At the time, officially, they didn’t exist. The members of this unit were forbidden to discuss or document their activities, a pledge that many of the men kept even many years after the war was over, or even for their entire lives!
Due to the fact these men operated in very small groups on ‘need-to-know’ basis it is very difficult to get clear picture of everything they were doing.
Fleming’s/NID30AU secretary Miss Margaret Priestley (a history professor from Leeds University) played a vital role in the running and administration of 30AU and became his inspiration for Miss Petty Pettaval - the original character name that became Miss Moneypenny.
As revealed here for the first time!(6) (see Beau Bête)
Miss Preistley transferred over to NID30AU during the winter of 1943-44 from DNR - (Department of Naval Research) where she worked as a civilian, although there were obvious links between DNR and NID30AU as intelligence on enemy targets was collected for Fleming’s ‘Black List’.

Also Known as:
Fleming himself referred to the men of the unit as behaving like 'Red Indians'. (A reference he also used when referring to his character, James Bond, four times in his first novel Casino Royale. Which effectively makes this unit the ‘literary James Bond’s wartime unit’.)
Formerly:- (NID30 Command Office at Admiralty),
Special Engineering Unit.
'RED' Marines.
Latterly:- 30 Assault Unit,
 30 Advanced Unit, 30AU
 and incorrectly as 30th Assault Unit.
The number '30' was used for no better reason than it was NID/Miss Priestley’s Office Door number at the Admiralty. (Fleming’s Office was No. 39) 'Assault Unit' was 'overt' cover for the fact that they were intelligence gathering.
Date Founded: 30 September 1942
Date Disbanded: 26 March 1946
Date Reformed: February 2010 - 30 Cdo IXG
Mission When Founded:
The collection of technical intelligence and personnel from enemy headquarters and installations. Ahead of allied advances and before enemy could destroy it, to ‘Attain by Surprise’.

30 Commando consisted of Royal Marine, Army and Royal Navy elements that were organised into three Sections: No. 33, No. 34 and No.36 respectively. Initially code-named the Special Engineering Unit, the unit reported to the Chief of Combined Operations, though the Admiralty retained ultimate control of No.36 Section. No.35 Section was left vacant for the RAF to utilise but they never raised a troop to participate in 30 Cdo. Although they did supply intelligence officers and specific targets to pursue after D-Day for ‘Operation Crossbow’.
Unit members were given general commando skills and weapons training, and were then trained in recognising enemy mines, booby traps, handling of explosives, demolitions, counter-demolitions, recognition of enemy uniforms and equipment. Parachute training, small boat handling, recognition of enemy documents, search techniques including lock picking and safecracking, prisoner handling, photography and escape techniques were also taught.
A significant number of the initial recruits were formerly policemen. Although at least one ‘expert’ was recruited straight from prison, thought by the police to be the best safe-breaker in England at the time.
30 Cdo’s operational tactic was to move ahead of advancing Allied forces, or to undertake covert missions into enemy territory by land, sea or air, to capture intelligence, in the form of equipment, documents, codes or enemy personnel. 30 Cdo often worked closely with the Intelligence Corps' Field Security sections. More often than not each team consisted of two special operations Jeeps (As used by the SAS and 30AU) manned by one Naval Commander in possession of a ‘Black Book’ which listed targets from Ian Fleming’s famous ‘Black List’. The Naval Commander was the only man in each team who knew where and what the targets actually were. This Naval Commander was usually accompanied by at least one weapons expert or scientist who he relied on to evaluate the information or equipment they encountered. There were also usually at least six Royal Marines and one RM Officer whose main job was to do any fighting required and to keep the Naval Commander and any experts alive and out of trouble. (For details Reading section.)
The individual Sections served in all the Mediterranean and NW European operational theatres, usually operating independently, gathering information from captured facilities. The unit served in North Africa, the Greek Islands, Norway, Pantelleria, Sicily, Italy, and Corsica, 1942-1943 as 30 Commando.
s the Allies broke through 30AU split into many ‘Field Teams’ and these were responsible for capturing many and varied targets throughout Germany.
Team 2 under Curtis captured Prof. Helmut Walter, designer of the Me163 Rocket Plane and Midget Submarines at Kiel. (Kept by the British!).
Team 5 under USN Lambie captured Prof. Herbert Wagner (10) (Handed to US Agents) designer of the guided flying bomb Hs293, already used to sink HMS Egret and to kill over 1000 troops on HMT Rohna. He went on to work for the US Navy. He did not surrender in Bavaria with Dornberger and the von Braun brothers as the Allied military would have us believe. (2) (see Reading section).
The capture of Prof. Magnus von Braun (Martin) V2 fuel chemist. (Handed to US Agents). He did not surrender in Bavaria as the Allied military want us to believe. (see Reading for details)
The capture of the designer of the Nazi V2 (who went on to the NASA Saturn V), Prof. von Braun and his brother. (Some men were convinced they were some of the scientists they caught!) Did they surrender in Bavaria as the Allied military want us to believe or was that staged afterwards? (see Beau Bête for details and FREE preview PDF, in Reading)
Team 55 under Glanville captured the entire Nazi Naval records collection at ‘Tambach Castle’. (1)
Team 4 under Job(e) captured the Bremen dockyards with type 21 & 25 submarines and destroyers. Then took the surrender of Bremerhaven and captured Naval HQ SS Europa and Z29 Destroyer. (1)(All handed over to US Agents).
Team 2 Postlethwaite captures the Torpedo testing facility at Ekenförde. (1)
Another team captured Admiral Dönitz (as Führer).
And many other things yet to be revealed by the government!
Ref; https://www.30au.co.uk
An amazing historic collection of information, including. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beau-B%C3%A9te-assigned-Flemings-intelligence/dp/B08R7XYHXW  read more

Code: 25705

Original 1930’s Third Reich Portrait of Rudolf Jordan Hitler's Personally Appointed Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg & Magdeburg-Anhalt and Former General of the SA, Gruppenfuhrer der SA. Likely Commissioned & Paid For By Adolf Hitler Personally

Most rare surviving example of the official portrait of one of Hitler’s personally appointed district political leaders known as a Gauleiter, as almost all of around 450 original, 1930’s German portraits of Hitler’s inner circle and high command are now in the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington. Each portrait could have cost up to 12,000 Reichmarks each, a most considerable sum in 1939. Approximately 114 men held the highly esteemed position of Gauleiter. Many shared a common background. Most of them, particularly during the early years, were drawn from the cadre of "old fighters" that had helped Hitler forge the Party during the Kampfzeit (Time of Struggle). The rank and power of these men was shared equally and was only four below Hitler himself. Their power was thus highly significant within the echelons of the Third Reich.

Many of these portraits were either commissioned, or acquired by Hitler personally, and they are all part of the record of Hitler and his elite commanders rise to power, in order to satisfy his determination to conquer the world and subjugate and destroy all who resisted.

No dictator can effectively govern a nation on his own. This was certainly the case with Adolf Hitler who had little time for or interest in the day-to-day regional administration of the Nazi Party.

For that purpose, he appointed his most loyal, charismatic and brutal subordinates: the ‘Little Hitlers’, officially known as Gauleiters.

Firstly, after the NSDAP gained power over Germany the Nazi Party adopted a new framework, which divided Germany into regions called Gaue. Each Gaue had its own leader, a Gauleiter. Each Gaue was then divided into subsections, called Kreise. Each Kreise then had its own leader, called a Kreisleiter. Each Kreise was then divided into even smaller sections, each with its own leader, and so on. Each of these sections were responsible to the section above them, with Hitler at the very top of the party with ultimate authority.

As almost all these oil portraits of Germany’s ‘Little Hitler’s’ were removed from Germany in 1945/6 and transported to America, it is estimated that just a very few, perhaps as few as between five or ten remained in Europe and in private hands. This is one of those tiny few. An incredibly rare example of the original, historical, visual record of the power structure organised by Hitler himself. Which makes this an incredibly rare original artifact that is an historically important representation of likely the most important and radical political events of the past thousand years. From those three decades of the 20th century that has changed the very structure of the world for all time.

The US high command in 1945/6 realised just how important it was to keep and save as many such portraits of his gauleiters as possible, as a permanent record and reminder for the future, of the monumental fight and sacrifices in order to subdue the axis powers from their schemes of world domination, during the two most significant decades of the past 300 years..

This is original portrait, in oil on canvas, of Gauleiter Rudolf Jordan (21 June 1902 - 27 October 1988). He was a Nazi Gauleiter in Halle-Merseburg and Magdeburg-Anhalt during Hitler’s socialist Third Reich. One of the notorious and prominent high command of Hitler’s Third Reich. An original Nazi oil portrait from the 1930's. Most similar in the new Aryan style of the Nazi portrait painter Fritz Erler, and his painting of 'Minister and Gauleiter Adolf Wagner', 1936. It was exhibited in the GDK, the Great German Art Exhibition, in 1939, in room 23. It was bought there by Hitler for 12.000 RM. In fact he bought two paintings by Fritz Erler: Portrait des Staatsministers und Gauleiters Adolf Wagner and Portrait des Reichsministers Fricke.

They are now in the possession of the US Army Military Center of History. Possibly this portrait was also in that exhibition with the two other Gauleiter Wagner and Frick. Erlers similar style portrait of Hitler, also painted in his SA uniform, in 1931, is currently valued for sale at 725,000 Euros. Around 450 portraits depicting Hitler and other Nazi-officials and symbols are currently stored in the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington

From 19 January 1931, Jordan was appointed Nazi Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg, and then began rising within the Party ranks, acting as member of the Prussian Landtag between April 1932 and October 1933 and being appointed to the Prussian State Council and made an SA Gruppenfuhrer. In the same year began the publication of the Mitteldeutsche Tageszeitung newspaper, led by Jordan. In March 1933 came his appointment as Plenipotentiary for the Province of Saxony in the Reichsrat and in November 1933 his election as a member of the Reichstag. On 20 April 1937, Adolf Hitler personally appointed him Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) in Braunschweig and Anhalt and NSDAP Gauleiter of Magdeburg-Anhalt. Jordan was succeeded as Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg by Joachim Albrecht Eggeling.

In the same year came Jordan's promotion to SA-Obergruppenfuhrer. In 1939, Jordan became Chief of the Anhalt Provincial Government and Reichsverteidigungskommissar (Reich Defence Commissar, or RVK) in Defence District XI. On 18 April 1944 came Jordan's last leap up the career ladder when he was appointed High President (Oberpresident) of the Province of MagdeburgIn the war's dying days, Jordan managed to go underground with his family under a false name. He was nonetheless arrested by the British on 30 May 1945, and in July of the next year, the Western Allies handed him over to the Soviets. Late in 1950 after four years in custody in the Soviet occupation zone Jordan was sentenced to 25 years in a labour camp in the Soviet Union. Only Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's visit to Moscow managed to persuade the Soviets to reconsider Jordan's sentence, and then he was released on 13 October 1955. In the years to come, Jordan earned a living as a sales representative, and worked as an administrator for an aircraft manufacturing firm. He died in Munich. The Gardelegen massacre was the cold-blooded murder of inmates that had been evacuated from the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp and some of its sub-camps on April 3rd, 4th and 5th. Around 4,000 prisoners had been bound for the Bergen-Belsen, Sachsenhausen or Neuengamme concentration camps, but when the railroad tracks were bombed by American planes, they had been re-routed to Gardelegen, which was the site of a Cavalry Training School and a Parachutist Training School. The trains were forced to stop before reaching the town of Gardelegen and some of the escaped prisoners had terrorized the nearby villages, raping, looting and killing civilians.

The man who is considered to be the main instigator of the Gardelegen massacre is 34-year-old Gerhard Thiele , who was the Nazi party district leader of Gardelegen. On April 6, 1945, Thiele called a meeting of his staff and other officials at which he issued an order, which had been given to him a few days before by Gauleiter Rudolf Jordan , that any prisoners who were caught looting or who tried to escape should be shot on the spot. In 1932, Nazi Gauleiter Rudolf Jordan claimed that SS Security Chief Reinhard Heydrich was not a pure "Aryan". Within the Nazi organisation such innuendo could be damning, even for the head of the Reich's counterintelligence service. Gregor Strasser passed the allegations on to Achim Gercke who investigated Heydrich's genealogy. Gercke reported that Heydrich was "... of German origin and free from any coloured and Jewish blood". He insisted that the rumours were baseless. Even with this report, Heydrich privately engaged SD member Ernst Hoffman to further investigate and deny the rumours. The last two pictures in the gallery of Jordan with Hitler and his Gaulieters at his 50th birthday examining his convertible Volkwagen Beetle, and the Erler painting of Gauleiter Wagner, bought by Hitler. 2 foot x 3 foot unframed. Water stain at the rear of the canvas. Surviving original portraits of Third Reich leaders are now very rare for at the end of the war thousands of paintings, portraits of Nazi-leaders, paintings containing a swastika or depicting military/war sceneries were destroyed. With knives, fires and hammers, they smashed countless sculptures and burned thousands of paintings. However around 8,722 artworks were shipped to military deposits in the U.S. From 1933 to 1949 Germany experienced two massive art purges. Both the National Socialist government and OMGUS (the U.S. Military Government in Germany) were highly concerned with controlling what people saw and how they saw it. The Nazis eliminated what they called Degenerate art, erasing the pictorial traces of turmoil and heterogeneity that they associated with modern art. The Western Allies in turn eradicated Nazi art. Whatever one considers about the actions of all of the entire third reich, art is art, and every piece is a representation of a portion of history, good or bad. One thing we learned very well from the tragic 1930s and 1940s is that classifying art as non-art and forbidding books or art for political reasons is a dead-end street. No matter how much one dislikes or despises the infamous despots and dictators of history, such as Hitler, Caligula, Pol Pot & Stalin, and no matter how much their depictions were used as propaganda, a painting or sculpture of them cannot be re-classified as 'non art'. This painting depicts a member of Hitler’s notorious inner circle, that for a brief period of world history very nearly placed the entire world in subjugation to the will of Germany and it’s ally Japan. It is the embodiment of why the preservation of such art can remind the thousands of its observers, for generations to come, that those people such as Rudolf Jordan, who were just ordinary looking nondescript individuals, that if left unchecked would have condemned the entire world to a nightmarish dystopia, of slavery, starvation and misery. And thanks to great leaders such as Winston Churchill, who had the talent and skill to embolden a solitary nation, racked by trepidation, facing the free world’s greatest foe alone, they were utterly routed and deposed by the near defeated and subdued great democracies. Part of the theory of Hannah Ahrend Johanna "Hannah" Arendt, 14 October 1906 - 4 December 1975 was a German-born Jewish American political theorist. Though often described as a philosopher, she rejected that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular" and instead described herself as a political theorist because her work centres on the fact that "men, not Man, live on the earth and inhabit the world." This portrait would nicely improve with some cosmetic restoration and cleaning.  read more

Code: 20504

An, FN Model 1910, Fabrique Nationale D'Armes DeGuerre, .32 ACP, Semi Auto Pocket Pistol The Same Auto Pistol as Used to Assassinate Archduke Ferdinand That Caused WW1, & By Luftwaffe Officers in WW2. Famously Used By James Bond {Sean Connery} in Dr No.

A very good, original, Browning FN semi auto, pocket or concealed holster pistol, with monogrammed black grip plates, good and clear maker stamps Fabrique Nationale D'Armes De Guerre Herstal-Belgique, And deact proofs and fully cocking, firing, sliding action
The FN Model 1910, also known as the Browning model 1910, was a departure for Browning. Before, his designs were produced by both FN in Europe and Colt Firearms in the United States. Since Colt did not want to produce it, Browning chose to patent and produce this design in Europe only. Introduced in 1910, this pistol used a novel operating spring location surrounding the barrel. This location became the standard and copied in such future weapons as the Walther PPK and Russian Makarov.

It incorporated the standard Browning striker-firing mechanism and a grip safety along with a magazine safety and an external safety lever (known as the "triple safety") in a compact package. Offered in both .380 ACP (6-round magazine) and .32 ACP (7-round magazine) calibres, it remained in production until 1983. It is possible to switch calibres by changing only the barrel. However, FN never offered packages containing a single pistol with both calibre barrels.

An FN M1910, serial number 19074, was the handgun used by Gavrilo Princip aka 'the Black Hand' to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, the act that precipitated the First World War.

Paul Doumer, President of France, was assassinated by Russian emigre Paul Gorguloff on 6 May 1932 with a Model 1910 in .32 ACP. The pistol is now in the Musée des Collections Historiques de la Préfecture de Police.

A Model 1910 was also allegedly used to assassinate Huey Long, governor of Louisiana, on 5 September 1935. Physician Carl Weiss, the alleged assassin, bought the FN M1910 now on display Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge, in Europe for $25 in 1930.

Hannie Schaft ‘The Girl With The Red Hair” a famous Dutch heroine and assassin for the resistance, used a model M1910, with M1922 extended barrel, during her German and Dutch Nazi assassinations as part of the Dutch communist resistance against Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

This type of semi auto was as much favoured by Luftwaffe Officers in WW2 as the Walther PPK. Made in the Browning, Frabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre factory in occupied Belgium, one of the great prize assets of the Third Reich, thanks to Hitler's invasion of Belgium at the beginning of WW2.
,Admiral, Lord Jellicoe, 1st Sea Lord of His Majesty's Royal Navy, carried such a pistol, which is now an exhibit in the National Maritime Museum. A barrel extended version of the 1910 model Browning

James Bond (Sean Connery) uses an FN Model 1910 in Dr No, with a suppressor added, to kill Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson).

Hannie Schaft wanted to work with weapons when she joined the Dutch Resistance in early WW2. She was responsible for sabotaging and assassinating various targets. She carried out attacks on Germans, Dutch Nazis, collaborators and traitors. She learned to speak German fluently and became involved with German soldiers. Before facing her targets, Schaft put on makeup — including lipstick and mascara — and styled her hair. In one of the few direct quotations that have been attributed to Schaft, she explained to Truus Oversteegen: “I’ll die clean and beautiful.”

Schaft did not, however, accept every assignment. When asked to kidnap the children of a Nazi official she refused. If the plan had failed, the children would have to be killed, and Schaft felt that was too similar to the Nazis' acts of terror. When seen at the location of a particular assassination, Schaft was identified as "the girl with the red hair". Her involvement led "the girl with the red hair" to be placed on the Nazis' most-wanted list. She was eventually betrayed by accident and was executed before the wars end.

Deactivated to UK old specification, stamped accordingly, cocking and firing actionable, fully operational, but non functional since its official deactivation. Thus, no licence required to own and collect, not suitable to export.  read more

Code: 25693

A Very Good Deactivated Smith & Wesson .38 Cal. 6 Shot Double Action Revolver 5" Barrel Superb Tight Action With Much Original Mirror Blue Finish Remaining

The Smith & Wesson Model 10, previously known as the Smith & Wesson .38 Hand Ejector Model of 1899, the Smith & Wesson Military & Police or the Smith & Wesson Victory Model, is a K-frame revolver. In production since 1899, the Model 10 is a six-shot, .38 Special, double-action revolver with fixed sights. Over its production run it has been available with barrel lengths of 2 in (51 mm), 3 in (76 mm), 4 in (100 mm), 5 in (130 mm), and 6 in (150 mm). Barrels of 2.5 inches (64 mm) are also known to have been made for special contracts.

In 1899, the United States Army and Navy placed orders with Smith & Wesson for two to three thousand Model 1899 Hand Ejector revolvers chambered for the M1892 .38 Long Colt U.S. Service Cartridge. With this order, the Hand Ejector Model became known as the .38 Military and Police model.5 That same year, in response to reports from military sources serving in the Philippines on the relative ineffectiveness of the new cartridge, Smith & Wesson began offering the Military & Police in a new chambering, .38 S&W Special

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) supplied thousands of these .38 5" barrel model revolvers to resistance forces.

They have been used in more movies than we are able to list here, but two exceptional examples would be our old customer, the late and much lamented 'Chuck' Heston, in 55 Days in Peking in which he starred with David Niven and Ava Gardner, and by Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. Photographs of both actors with their .38 DA S&W we show in the gallery {for illustrative purposes only}

We show a WW2 photograph of a Milice officer with his S&W pattern revolver, note his German wound badge worn upon his left uniform breast pocket
The Milice française (French Militia), generally called la Milice, was a political paramilitary organization created on 30 January 1943 by the Vichy régime (with German aid) to help fight against the French Resistance during World War II. The Milice's formal head was Vichy France's Prime Minister Pierre Laval (in office 1942 to 1944), although its chief of operations and de facto leader was Secretary General Joseph Darnand. The Milice participated in summary executions and assassinations, helping to round up Jews and résistants in France for deportation. It was the successor to Darnand's Service d'ordre légionnaire (SOL) militia (founded in 1941). The Milice was the Vichy régime's most extreme manifestation of fascism. Ultimately, Darnand envisaged the Milice as a fascist single-party political movement for the French State

Deactivated with certificate but fully actionable. Not suitable to export.  read more

Code: 25698