Lot 325

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Description:

KRIEGSMARINE SAILOR''S PREWAR PHOTO ALBUM
Excellent prewar leather-bound photo album, 13" x 9 1/2", containing 133 b/w photographs, most 3" x 5" or smaller, assembled by Kriegsmarine sailor Matthias Linders, who inscribes his name in white ink inside the front cover. The photos presented in this album are each well-labeled throughout, and depict Linders'' naval service through the years 1935-1939. The album opens with Linders'' induction into the Kriegsmarine on July 11, 1935, and proceeds through several group photos of him with his fellow newly-accepted sailors, both in regular sailing uniform and in the "grays" of a shore detachment. Entering 1936, Linders adds several photographs depicting the North Sea archipelago of Heligoland; more interestingly he Kiel, adding several shots of the Type II U-boats widely used for training during this period, as well as the Type VII boats which would form the backbone of the U-boat fleet at the outset of World War II; Linders appears to have been assigned to the Type VIIA boat U-33. Many shots show these boats heavily iced over in winter conditions. Additional images shows these boats being loaded with torpedoes from a tender, underway in formation on the surface, crewmen performing exercises on deck, mock torpedo firings, and more. Beginning in the fall of 1938, Linders is reassigned to the three-masted barque HORST WESSEL, used by the Krigsmarine for sail training. Many of these images depict a cruise from Germany to the Canary Islands, and appear to have been officially photographed and reproduced for distribution to the crew, as they generally appear to be more professionally shot that Linders'' earlier additions. They depict the Barque''s crew hauling sail, painting the ship, and enjoying shore leave. Other views show the Wessel''s Sister ship GORCH FOCK, the Wessel caught in heavy seas, at anchor in various harbors, and under full sail. The album closes with a group image of the ship''s officer''s and crew. One page of the album is loose, with two photos missing from their mounts, else very good. The Horst Wessel would be captured by American forces at the end of the war and commissioned into the U.S. Coast Guard as the sail training ship USCGC EAGLE.

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December 19, 2017 10:00 AM EST
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $499 $20
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 + $10,000