Original Items: One-of-a-kind Set. Hasso Eccard Freiherr von Manteuffel (14 January 1897 – 24 September 1978) was a German baron born to the Prussian noble von Manteuffel family and was a general during World War II who commanded the 5th Panzer Army. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds of NSDAP Germany. This is the 4th Grade of the award, given to only 27 people in total during WWII.

After the war, he was elected to the Bundestag (West German legislature) and was the defense-policy spokesman of the Free Democratic Party. A proponent of West German rearmament, he was responsible for coining the new name for the post-World War II West German armed forces, the Bundeswehr.

As a figure of great importance in West Germany during the post war period, he had numerous close friends, associates, and acquaintances around the world, many of whom kept correspondence as mementos, until they themselves were ready to move these items into the collectors market. One of the people who became very well acquainted with von Manteuffel was Mr. John D. Spangler, and we have previously had items from his collection.

This is a lovely 7 3/8" x 11 3/8" signed letter written from von Manteuffel to Spangler, which is a LUFTPOSTLEICHTBRIEF AEROGRAMM (Airmail Light Letter Aerogram), basically a small self contained letter to use to send short correspondence. The letter is typed, and dated Jan. 18th 1973, with the stamps bearing a cancel roundel on the same date. The letter is written in English, and is a response to a letter Spangler sent to him regarding his recent illness and recovery. 

Of note is that von Manteuffel  wrote the following in the letter:

I read with great interest of your wounding in the Korea war. - You are right: we didn't fought for H**ler or the N**i's, but we both were fighting the communism!

This type of statement is definitely typical of von Manteuffel's attitude towards his service during the war. Anti-Communist propaganda had definitely been part of what helped the NSDAP come to power, and seems to be for many a way of rationalizing serving in the military at the time. The letter closes with notes for Spangler to contact him should he go to Germany, so that they could arrange a meeting.

A lovely bit of post war correspondence from a highly ranked German General, ready to research and display!