As you know, I have been “hunting” new material for this web site – some of it coming from the Bundesarchiv/Militärarchiv in Freiburg, and also from reviewing some of the items left behind by my grandfather that have not received much attention in the past two decades.
From the Militärarchiv, I am expecting a delivery in the next few days – main item here is the Kriegstagebuch der 6. Armee, the 6th Army’s War Diary.
From the stack of items left behind by my grandfather, I have received a set of original maps that he must have had with him during the War against Belgium and France. Among them are
- Karte von Belgien 1:100.000 Sheet Nr. I – Brügge
- Karte von Belgien 1:100.000 Sheet Nr. V -Brüssel
- Karte von Belgien 1:100.000 Sheet Nr. IV – Tournai
- Zusammendruck 1:300.000 Dover – Laon
- Zusammendruck 1:300.000 Paris – West – Moulins
- Carte de France et des Frontiers 1:200.000 – Sheet 4 – Lille
- Carte de France et des Frontiers 1:200.000 – Sheet 9 – Amiens
- Carte de France et des Frontiers 1:200.000 – Sheet 10 – Mézières
- Carte de France et des Frontiers 1:200.000 – Sheet 17 – Châlons
- Franz. Einheitsblatt 1:80.000 St. Omer
- Franz. Einheitsblatt 1:80.000 Calais-Boulogne
- Frankreich 1:25.000 Cap Gris Nez Nr. 7-8
All maps are in a reasonably good condition, some more, some less – given that they are 75 years old and have been “in the field”, they are just fine.
But the maps are more than “just maps” – which would be good enough. They also are – at least partially – a personal account.
Some of them have Route Markers on them – if compared to the diaries, I am sure they show the movements of the unit.
One has markers on them – not exactly sure at the moment, what these are but maybe I will find out at some point.
Finally, some of the more detailed ones show the unit’s firing positions – which also is something very interesting.
All of this material needs to be reviewed and prepared – I am still not done with my other project but some time soon, I have another visit to Freiburg coming up and I will continue reworking some of the already existing posts and then extending this website further.