Luftwaffe ash tray

**kwc271** · 10-31-2016, 01:52 AM

Hello all,
I have a ash tray that I was told was a bring back after the war. I have never seen anything like it and was wondering if someone can tell me about it.

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 10-31-2016 01:52 AM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Martin Bull** · 10-31-2016, 08:52 AM

Germany was very keen on this sort of thing - anything marked 'Erinnerung' roughly translates as 'souvenir of..' or 'memento of...'.

Hildesheim was ( and still is ) a small airfield in Northern Germany which hosted a flying club between the wars as well as some Lufthansa commercial flights. Gliders were built there in WWII and it was taken over as a Luftwaffe flying school. Although not an 'operational' base it was bombed by the Allies late in the war.

The ashtray is a nice piece and a typical thing for Allied soldiers to 'liberate' - it would have been given to students by the Head of the school.

**HistoryMan** · 10-31-2016, 09:35 AM

I thought it was an FJ base during the war although I may be wrong ?

The only reason I say so is that a mate of mine was based there in the 80's with the RA, he has a funny tale of there being a monument to the FJ's outside the NAAFI or close by and the drunken squaddie's would often piss on it on the way out at night !

Cheers

**Martin Bull** · 10-31-2016, 09:43 AM

Not a permanent FJ base - but it's almost more interesting.....

Apparently, prior to the Eben-Emael attack, an area close to Hildesheim was found which was similar in profile to the Belgian fort so the Fallschirmjager based their ( then top-secret) Eben-Emael training at the airfield, hence the memorial. This may ( but I'm guessing ) also tie in with the airfields' glider connection....