Description:

MILITARY ENGRAVINGS TAKEN FROM THE REICHS CHANCELLERY
Good pair of engravings, each 3 1/4" x 5", both depicting chaotic and well-executed scenes of German troops in battle, likely during World War I. The first depicts a group of soldiers charging with rifles and grenades at the ready, across a barbed wire-strewn no-man''s land. The second depicts a wagon drawn by four horses careening across a battlefield over a number of slain soldiers, with artillery shells bursting all around. Both pieces are signed "Arendt" in pencil, and both are matted and framed. The verso of one frame bears a vintage facsimile of testimony by a naval officer named Millard F. Billings, who was attached to the U.S. Group Control Council for Germany. The Council entered Berlin on August 2, 1945, among the first Americans to arrive. The testimony reads, in part: "... In the Chancellery building everything that had not been looted by the Russians had been destroyed by fire, bullets, or bayonets. The walls were covered with graffiti. On the top floor, the fifth, in the front of the building, was a large room, [which] apparently had served as an office where gifts sent to the Fuhrer had been received, acknowledged, and stored. The shelves were now empty and the roof was opened to the sky. Rubble littered the floor, perhaps a foot deep. As I walked over this litter, my foot struck something buried in it. I dug down in the rubble and found a large portfolio which contained these etchings. Buried nearby was another ... with more etchings. After some difficulty with the Russian guard, I got them to my waiting jeep, and when I returned to the U.S. I brought them with me." Both bear slight toning, else very good to fine.

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February 19, 2017 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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