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.

This is a lovely matted and framed set of a reprinted 7" x 5" period photograph and a 4 3/8" x 2 3/4" post war calling card of Hasso von Manteuffel, the latter of which bears his autograph over his name. We have compared the signature to other examples we have had, and it is a match. The period photo shows von Manteuffel looking at what we assume is a map or something similar with some officers, and the one on the right is wearing a "panzer wrap" tunic with a Panzer Assault badge, and also has a fantastic crusher cap on his head. We unfortunately do not know the names of any of the soldiers in the photo, but this is definitely a possible avenue of research.

A great piece of German WWII Armored memorabilia, ready to research and display!