Original German WWII Gebirgsjäger 1940 French Campaign Photo Album with 73 Original Photographs - Armor, Engineers, Aircraft, Vehicles & Battlefield Scenes
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Original Item: Only One Available. This is an unusually content-rich German WWII Gebirgsjäger photo album from the 1940 campaign in France, containing a total of 73 original period black-and-white photographs. The album follows German mountain troops through the 1940 campaign and includes personnel, field and marching scenes, engineers, pack animals, artillery, vehicles, captured French armor, damaged towns and bridges, battlefield remains, graves, road signs, and aircraft. Due to the wartime nature of the material, some images may contain mildly sensitive content.
The album itself features a dark green textured cover with its original cord binding and black photograph pages, each separated by protective tissue leaves printed with an attractive spiderweb pattern. The album measures approximately 24 cm x 17 cm (9 1/2" x 6 3/4"). The photographs retain their original white borders, and several are notably sharp, carefully framed, and well composed, suggesting that the photographer took considerable care in documenting the people, places, and events encountered during the campaign.
The album remains in very good overall condition for its age. The textured green covers show relatively light wear, with the original cord binding and metal eyelets still intact. The 73 photographs are well preserved and range from very good to excellent in image quality. Minor toning and variations in contrast or clarity appear consistent with period photographic processing and printing rather than later storage-related deterioration.
The photographs provide good evidence for a Gebirgsjäger connection, although the exact unit cannot be established from the material shown. One particularly clear image depicts a German soldier wearing the distinctive Edelweiss cloth badge on his upper right sleeve, an insignia associated with German Army mountain troops. Other photographs show columns of heavily laden horses and pack animals. While animal transport was widely used throughout the German Army and is not by itself proof of a mountain-troop unit, pack animals were especially important to Gebirgsjäger formations operating where wheeled transport was impractical.
Also of considerable interest are photographs of French road signs identifying locations including GERCY, MARLE, BUIRÉ, HIRSON, LE CHAUDRON, and VERVINS, all in or around the Aisne region. These locations are noteworthy because they broadly correspond with the documented movements of the 1. Gebirgs-Division during the May 1940 campaign, when elements of the division advanced through Luxembourg and Belgium, crossed the Meuse, and continued through the Rocroi-Hirson-Vervins sector before moving toward the Oise-Aisne Canal.
This geographic overlap is certainly suggestive, but it should not be treated as a definitive unit identification. No clearly visible divisional markings, captions, or other direct evidence presently confirm that the album belonged specifically to the 1. Gebirgs-Division. At most, the road signs and photographic content make that formation a plausible possibility within the broader identification of the album as relating to German mountain troops during the 1940 French Campaign.
One of the outstanding photographs in the album shows the massive French Char B1 bis BOURRASQUE, its name still plainly visible on the turret. This can be identified as B1 bis No. 257 BOURRASQUE, assigned to the 1st Company of the French 15e Bataillon de Chars de Combat, part of the 2e Division Cuirassée. BOURRASQUE had participated in the fighting around Montcornet on May 16, 1940. On May 17 it continued south toward Pargny while seeking fuel, encountered advancing German forces near Mortiers, and was ultimately brought to a halt after expending its ammunition and fuel. Its crew surrendered and the tank fell into German hands. On the same album page are two additional captured or abandoned French light tanks which appear to belong to the Hotchkiss H35/H39 family, with German soldiers standing on and around them.
Other photographs provide a broad ground-level view of the campaign. One shows personnel and loaded pack animals crossing a damaged area while soldiers appear to be repairing or improving the route. Another depicts a horse-drawn artillery piece being moved along a road, while additional scenes show a tractor and wagon, pack trains in wooded terrain, and other examples of mixed motorized and animal-drawn transport.
The album also includes more somber battlefield material, including temporary field graves marked by simple wooden crosses, several apparently topped with steel helmets, as well as photographs of abandoned battlefield equipment and ordnance.
French towns and infrastructure appear throughout the collection. One striking image shows a badly damaged masonry bridge spanning a river or canal, with damaged buildings along the waterfront, while another shows German troops and vehicles moving through a French town.
The album also includes numerous personnel photographs, with individual portraits and informal scenes of soldiers resting, observing the countryside, and gathering during pauses in the advance. Civilian scenes are represented as well. Along with photographs of aircraft, vehicles, engineers, artillery, and battlefield subjects, the 73 images provide a broad visual record of the 1940 campaign, apparently from the perspective of a German mountain-troop formation.
As a complete album, this is a particularly substantial photographic record of the 1940 campaign. It offers a rare opportunity to observe, firsthand, the experiences of a soldier living through one of the defining events of the Second World War, captured in raw and authentic period photographs. The images document military movements and equipment, but also the quieter moments between engagements, the condition of towns and roads, the reliance on animal transport, and the immediate aftermath of combat.
- This product is available for international shipping. Shipping not available to: Australia, France, or Germany
- Not eligible for payment with Paypal or Amazon
- Due to legal restrictions this item cannot be shipped to Australia, France or Germany. This is not a comprehensive list and other countries may be added in the future.
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