The gates of hell were opened and we accepted the invitation to enter" 26/880 Lance Sgt, Edward Dyke. 26th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers , ( 3rd Tyneside Irish )
1st July 1916
Thought shall be the harder , heart the keener,
Courage the greater as our strength faileth.
Here lies our leader ,in the dust of his greatness.
Who leaves him now , be damned forever.
We who are old now shall not leave this Battle,
But lie at his feet , in the dust with our leader
House Carles at the Battle of Hastings
As I wrote my favorite items are personally signed and dedicated photos as well as inscribed books I got as gifts from Waffen-SS KC holders, staff officers, etc. Like this period document for being a puzzle if unaware.
The document that was to have been sent to the surviving family of Untersturmführer Wolfgang Dietrich, who was killed in January 1943 serving as a Zugführer with the 8.Kompanie (II.Bataillon) of SS-Polizei-Infanterie-Regiment 3. He had joined the Polizei Division after attending the 7th Wartime Cadet Class at Junkerschule Bad Tolz and was commissioned on June 21, 1942. In the case of an officer who was killed, the element commander normally signed this type of document. But by the time this example was created the Division was in Greece and contained two regiments with the third numbered unit having since been deleted as a divisional component, the regimental commander when Dietrich was killed having since left the Polizei Division. With the traditional command level status for such an item, Standartenführer Helmut Dörner signed instead (a Swords to the KC holder). At that time (August 5, 1944) his command was the SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 8 and is seen on the ink stamp above the date. However, the regimental title used to indicate Dietrich's unit when he was killed was no longer officially used at that time, having been formally changed from SS-Polizei-Schützen-Regiment 3 to SS-Polizei-Infanterie-Regiment 3 on October 15, 1942. At the time of his death, the recently rebuilt II./SS-Polizei-Infanterie-Regiment 3 was detached from the Polizei Division and being used as a primary element of Kampfgruppe "Fegelein." Dörner signed with his SS rank despite also having equivalent Schutzpolizei rank, officers apparently deciding by personal preference for any signature required paperwork with only one branch normally being used. As with all Waffen-SS units, the ever changing complexity of titles, term changes, uniform regulations, and other Berlin issued directives were not always perfectly adhered to or known, thus adding to the complexity of researching these formations and individuals. Similarly, many blank award certificates and forms were pre-signed by commanders for future use, by which time a posting or rank could change.
Thanks Mark some interesting points which explain some of the complexities of SS Document collecting / signatures on documents etc !!
The gates of hell were opened and we accepted the invitation to enter" 26/880 Lance Sgt, Edward Dyke. 26th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers , ( 3rd Tyneside Irish )
1st July 1916
Thought shall be the harder , heart the keener,
Courage the greater as our strength faileth.
Here lies our leader ,in the dust of his greatness.
Who leaves him now , be damned forever.
We who are old now shall not leave this Battle,
But lie at his feet , in the dust with our leader
House Carles at the Battle of Hastings
Scans in frame look yellow but some details can be seen in the Dörner signed document. At least for Waffen-SS, such documents for fallen officers were signed by regimental commander, NCO by battalion commander, and company commander for enlisted. The other one, for an NCO with partial hand done data, is signed by Polizei Division Honor Clasp holder Günther Ortmann.
Nice item being shown. As a buckle collector I like my Bunch of SS buckles. But I really think this early SS pennant is my favorite SS item
mabye a nice fake?
Some lower level material (and lower cost) can be interesting. This Verleihungsliste most would buy for the Gille signature. I thought interesting as among the list are a later General, the liaison officer from Finland, and a German Cross in Silver holder (there were only 70).
Here are my only SS items as these are way over my budget! Two LAH shoulderboards and a LAH stick pin... I don't know about the originality of the stick pin though... Some said it is a fantasy item!
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