Description
Unser Alpenkorps – Number 12, December 1940
Scanned pages: 16 | Instant PDF download
Historical German Wehrmacht newsletter of the XVIII Army Corps (Alpenkorps), digitized.
Cover
A snow-laden Alpine forest beneath mountain peaks, captioned “Kriegsweihnachten 1940”. Photo: Meerkämper-Mauritius. No war correspondent credited.
Main Articles
“Perspektiven zum neuen Europa”
A political essay on Franco-German collaboration after Hitler’s meeting with Pétain, the Axis “new Europe” and Britain’s position following Greece’s entry into the war.
Author: Walter Lammert, Hannover. Photo: Weltbild.
“Wehrmacht-Luftwaffe als Waffengefährte der Gebirgsjäger bei der Narvik-Aktion”
A mountain soldier’s account of Luftwaffe support at Narvik, including transport landings on a frozen lake, paratroop drops, supply drops and bombing of English warships.
Author: Gefr. R. Hochmeyer. Photos: PK-Böttger; Obstlt. Hagemann; PK-Böttger-Pressebildzentrale; PK-Giele.
“Tiroler Gebirgstruppen am Nordkap”
An extract from an Innsbruck soldier’s letter to his parents describing a sea trip from Hammerfest to the North Cape under the midnight sun.
No author named. Photo: PK-Pelz-Pressebildzentrale (winter equipment for troops in the North).
“Das sind Soldaten!”
A humorous account of comradeship and a ski patrol in northern Norway in May 1940, including an improvised pole-vault across a flooded stream.
Author: Gefr. Fritz Huber. Photos: Obstlt. Hagemann; PK-Lange-Scherl-Bilderdienst.
“Unaufhaltsam voran!”
A report (subtitled “Beseitigung einer Baumsperre und Überwindung eines tiefen Sprengtrichters”) on troops clearing a tree barricade and filling a demolition crater on the road from Andlau to Hohwald in the Vosges.
No author credited. Photos: Lt. O. Dollnar; Hptm. Max Mangold.
“Drei unauslöschliche Erinnerungen”
Three brief recollections of wounded soldiers’ courage from the First World War.
Author: Generalmajor a. D. Dr. Oswald v. Escher.
“Bei uns – bei den „Radlern“”
An account of a bicycle company’s four-day, 450-kilometre ride from Bludenz via Bregenz, Sonthofen and Reutte to Innsbruck.
No author credited. Photo: PK-Schröter-Scherl-Bilderdienst.
“Die Kriegsbewährung der Edelweiß-SA”
A review (subtitled “Zehntausende in den SA-Wehrmannschaften”) of the wartime role of SA-Gruppe Alpenland in pre-military training and its members serving at the front.
Author: SA-Obersturmführer Hugo Koch.
“SA-Gruppenschule Alpenland”
A description of the SA group school at Schloss Würting near Offenhausen, which trains leaders for the SA-Wehrmannschaften.
Author: SA-Sturmbannführer Ernst Bößner, Erzieher an der Gruppenschule. Photos (2): Stenzel.
“Mit dem Fernsprechkabel auf den Untersberg”
A report (subtitled “Salzburger Pimpfenführer in den Fußstapfen unserer Wehrmacht”) on a Hitler Youth leaders’ course at Grödig ending with a field-telephone exercise up the Untersberg.
Author: Oberstammführer Hans Stöger. Photos (3): Bildstelle der HJ.
Pilot named: Major Mölders (cited as a role model for German youth).
“Rund um die Gulaschkanone”
A humorous piece on army field kitchens, mess-time rituals and soldiers’ food slang.
Author: Leutnant Frießner. Photo: Archiv XVIII. A.K.
“Feldpostbriefe an Kindergruppen der NS-Frauenschaft”
A selection of thank-you letters from soldiers to children’s groups who sent them Christmas parcels.
Letters by Hans Herbert Schneider, Erich Schreren and Gefr. Franz Unterberger.
Artists Mentioned
- No illustrators or artists are credited for artwork in this issue.
War Correspondents (Kriegsberichter) Named
- PK-Böttger – photographer (Pressebildzentrale), “Wehrmacht-Luftwaffe als Waffengefährte der Gebirgsjäger bei der Narvik-Aktion”.
- PK-Giele – photographer, “Wehrmacht-Luftwaffe als Waffengefährte der Gebirgsjäger bei der Narvik-Aktion”.
- PK-Pelz – photographer (Pressebildzentrale), “Tiroler Gebirgstruppen am Nordkap”.
- PK-Lange – photographer (Scherl-Bilderdienst), “Das sind Soldaten!”.
- PK-Schröter – photographer (Scherl-Bilderdienst), “Bei uns – bei den „Radlern“”.