GERMAN WWII POLAND, DUNKIRK AND DIEPPE MAGNIFICENT ARMY PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM

German Army photograph albums are relatively easy to obtain, but the content makes the difference in terms of value and desirability. This album, standard, purchased fabric covered album containing 256 of the most magnificent images. The opening page is beautifully annotated and line-drawn with the description of the soldiers' march into Poland in September 1939. Photographs of the advance into Poland, the destruction of Polish towns and military installations. Polish prisoners, dead animals, and a picture of Polish Jewish people. Virtually every image in the whole album is annotated below in white pencil extremely neatly. German vehicles on makeshift bridges crossing rivers. Shot down a Polish aircraft. Pictures within the City of Lodz. German soldiers at rest on the march. Destruction of a Polish armoured train. Many good images of vehicles. German soldiers burying their dead. Images internally in Warsaw, destroyed buildings, and aircraft. The quality of the images themselves is tremendous. A German victory parade in front of Adolf Hitler in Warsaw. A further hand-drawn map of the next campaign the soldier was involved in was the invasion of France. Pictures of Bastogne, Louvain and Namur with destroyed buildings. Brussels images. Again, every image is annotated. A close-up of German vehicles with officers and men. At this point, we come across 18 images of the destruction on the beaches of Dunkirk. We have seen images before of Dunkirk, but they all seem to be taken by propaganda photographers and sold in the canteens. These are all individual shots taken by this individual soldier; he must have been one of the very first troops into Dunkirk after the evacuation. Wrecked ships on the seashore, damaged British and French vehicles and tanks, and sunken ships. Images then of Antwerp, then onto Calais, shot down British aircraft, a French graveyard. Then onto Boulogne, again excellent images, close-ups of men and officers. The beach of Boulogne. Images of French Colonial troops being taken away to prisoner of war camps. German First World War memorials.  Amazing shots of destroyed German Maginot Line installations. The interior of the City of Lille. Then onto Paris, standard tourist shots, Palais of Versailles. Another huge Maginot Line complex, with photographs taken both outside of the damage and inside. The album then goes into activities during the occupation, post-French capitulation. Vehicles are being moved on trains. Images of Rouen. By 1942, he must have been sent back to France; the next set of images, 12 in total, are the most amazing pictures of the Canadian failed invasion of Dieppe. Again, as before with Dunkirk, we have seen standard canteen shots, but these are personal photographs taken by this soldier. A destroyed British tank on the promenade and two horrific photographs of Canadian bodies lying together by the roadside. Images of debris and wrecked vehicles on the beach itself. The album comes to an end with mainly tourist shots of attractive French towns, including of course, Paris. German soldiers outside the opera in Paris, and a wonderful shot from the top of the Eiffel Tower down along the Champs-Élysées. We have never had a Polish and French campaign album before of such an incredible magnitude.

Ref; 96047