Your Letters

Let us know what you think of your favourite militaria magazine or ask other readers a question

Your comments on what you’ve been reading and doing. This time we’re discussing the feature on Das Reich from the last issue, some new idea suggestions and a reader's Australian medals.

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Post: Letters Page, The Armourer, Warners Group Publications, West Street, Bourne, Lincs. PE10 9PH Email: armourer@warnersgroup.co.uk

DAS REICH

Thanks again for another great issue of your mag (May). On page 54 the German aircraft that is attacking the Russian one is an Me/ Bf 110 G4 nightfighter, being used in daylight, such was the desperate state of the Luftwaffe at this time. The use of the aircraft in this role would have been okay when taking on an aircraft like the Russian but it would have been at a disadvantage if caught by a modern singleengined fighter.

The article on Das Reich was interesting in that one of the reasons for its brutal reputation was its commanding officer’s attitude to the enemy, especially on the Eastern Front where being SS was often a death sentence when caught. Brigadeführer Lammerding was a nasty, strict disciplinarian who was hated by many of his men and some superior officers. My father told me that one of his friends who served in the 53rd Welsh Division in Normandy actually heard from a Das Reich PoW that there was a plot to kill Lammerding by his own men, so hated was he.

P Jones, Llangollen, Wales

Ed says: Great inside information, thank you for that. It’s no real surprise that various Waffen-SS division carried out war crimes when then men in them were subjected to virulent propaganda regarding their enemies, all throughout training.

NEW IDEAS

As a person who is interested in military history and as a consequence an avid reader of your wonderful magazine, may I kindly submit an idea for a future article. I am sure it will be of interest to your readership and I am also sure it is a subject that has not been explored before. My idea came about after reading your article about the sunken U-Boats after WWII and then reading a book about the real von Trapp family, of The Sound of Music fame. I was intrigued about their father, Captain Georg von Trapp, who was a naval hero in WWI and, in fact, quite a successful U-Boat ace. At just age 18 he was decorated by the then Austro-Hungarian Emperor and he served fighting the Boxer Rebellion in China. His story, from a military viewpoint, has been overshadowed by the well-known story of his second wife Maria, his children, and singing folk songs etc. Would it be possible for your very professional historians to research more into the

Captain’s naval career and also any background to the old AustroHungarian Empire forces? One question to answer is why a landlocked country like Austria would have a navy in the first place?

As a bonus any militaria from the period, for example, uniforms, medals and weapons would,

I am sure, be very collectable. Apparently, again, the Captain married his first wife, Agatha Whitehead, the English daughter of the chap who invented the torpedo and his wealth comes from his wife’s family and the invention. After the Anschluss he was offered a position in the Kriegsmarine but declined due to not wanting to serve under Hitler and the Nazis. It was one of the reasons he left Austria for America. John Douglas, Felling,

Tyne & Wear

Ed says: Some interesting ideas there John, I will look into commissioning something for later in the year.

AUSTRALIAN MEDALS

The article on Australian and New Zealn service medals prompted me to write. My collecting and show/fair days are over, however, it’s good to be able to buy The Armourer at the local paper shop. Enclosed are some notes about relative’s medals. Some of it may be of use, I hope so. I almost lost my dad’s and uncle’s medals by leaving them in the safe keeping of an organisation.

Dave Parkin, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia

Ed says: Interesting stuff Dave, unfortunately we don’t have the space to print any of the documentation you sent but I can squeeze in photos of Bob Parkin, VDC Driver at Galore, NSW in 1942, and Ray Parkin and his wife Thelma, at Sydney in 1939. We’ve run them through our restoration process.