WW1 / WW2 / 20th Century

A Finest Leather Field Service, .455 Revolver Holster, For WW1 Officers

Excellent condition, WW1 service officer use, for the Webley.455 MK VI revolver. It has a full flap cover with retaining strap and brass stud fastener

The Webley Revolver (also known as the Webley Top-Break Revolver or Webley Self-Extracting Revolver) was, in various designations, a standard issue service revolver for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, and countries of the British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, from 1887 to 1970.

The Webley is a top-break revolver and breaking the revolver operates the extractor, which removes cartridges from the cylinder. The Webley Mk I service revolver was adopted in 1887 and the Mk IV rose to prominence during the Boer War of 1899–1902. The Mk VI was introduced in 1915, during wartime, and is the best-known model.

Firing large .455 Webley cartridges, Webley service revolvers are among the most powerful top-break revolvers produced.

The Webley RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) model was Webley's first double-action revolver, and adopted by the RIC in 1868, hence the name. It was a solid frame, gate-loaded revolver, chambered in .442 Webley. General George Armstrong Custer was known to have owned a pair, which he is believed to have used at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Shanghai Municipal Police received Webley Mk VI revolvers during the interwar period.  read more

Code: 25160

A Superb, WW1, British Officer's Field Service, Harrods 'Kit' Named 'A Welcome Present for Friends At the Front,'. Trench Warfare Pharmaceuticals Case for Morphine, Heroin & 7% Solution Cocaine From Harrods Department Store {Now Empty!}

Even high street stores, in the Victorian, Edwardian and George Vth era, were once involved in selling questionable products {by today's enlightened standards of course}. In London during 1916, Harrods sold a ‘kit’ named ‘A Welcome Present for Friends at the Front,’ which contained cocaine, morphine, syringes, and needles. These kits were marketed to officers for use in the trenches of WW1. This case is also personally monogrammed for the officer

We acquired this from the elderly grandson of a WW1 officer in the Guards Division, and it once contained his complete kit of drug paraphernalia, the syringe, heroin vials, cocaine etc. for his trench warfare 'downtime' during his service at the front.

A very stout hard leather case, Harrods marked, containing its original metal box that once contained his 'kit', aka ‘A Welcome Present for Friends at the Front,’ In superb condition for age especially considering when and where it was used, and for over three years in the awful conditions of the trenches in Flanders and France. It was also very functional as a 'back-up' sandwich tin, which would likely be a more sensible use for it. Swayne and Adeney {another contemporary store but in Piccadilly} made a version for 'sandwiches' but larger, with a double hinged tin {so one could remove the sandwhich} and often a small glass flask, likely for a tot of single malt whisky. Apparently the vendors grandfather told him several of his brother officers used to ask for home to send them a F/S sandwich tin, but only in order to fit their drug kit within it!

“Which is it today,“ I asked “morphine or cocaine ?“. So says Doctor Watson to Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of The Four. “It is cocaine,“ he said “a seven-per-cent solution. Would you care to try it ?“

Doctor Watson wisely declines the offer. Instead he tries to alert Holmes to the potential dangers involved in his drug taking. “Why should you, for a mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed ?“ But Sherlock Holmes finds cocaine, “…so transcendentally stimulating and clarifying to the mind that it’s secondary action is a matter of small moment.“

The attitude to drugs in the Victorian era was very different to our own. Morphine and cocaine were both available from various sources without a doctor’s prescription. Morphine was even given to children - albeit in a diluted form such as a linctus. The great psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud also wrote in praise of cocaine.

This all seems very strange to us. But before modern analgesics were developed people had to rely on drugs such as morphine and other opiates for pain relief and other medical uses.

Recreational drug taking was also not unknown. Sherlock Holmes’ drug use would certainly fall into this category. However, as he tells Doctor Watson; “Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants.“  read more

Code: 25156

A Most Scarce, Edwardian, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regt. Long Lee Enfield 1903 Bayonet, To Fit & Use With The Long Lee Enfield & The MK III SMLE Enfield

Edwardian period, maker marked by Chapman of Sheffield. Regimentally stamped, R.I, and dated 1903 and maker marked. Used from 1903 and right through WW1. Superb bright blade and russetted surface steel mounts, with steel mounted leather scabbard. The earliest WW1 Enfield Rifle Bayonet, made from the earlier 1888 bayonet pattern blade, and designed for the early Long Lee in 1903, with cleaning rod removed, yet also fitting it's pre war replacement the Short Magazine Lee Enfield. This pattern of rare bayonet was only made for four peacetime years from 1903 until 1907 when it was changed for the long blade 1907 SMLE pattern.
Made in relatively small numbers hence its rarity to survive today.

We bought the entire small collection from the widow of a 'Best of British Empire Rifles and Bayonets, Both British and German' collector, who acquired them over the past 40 years, and only ever kept the very best he could afford to keep. Act fast they are selling really fast, three rifles and eight bayonets and a cutlass have sold today alone. Top quality and condition,19th and 20th century scarce British and German collectables are always the most desirable of all.

A very brief history lesson of the 2nd Royal Irish during their first two months of WW1;
The men who served with the 2nd battalion during the first two months of the war partly because the events that unfolded between August and October 1914 are in themselves extraordinary. In a few short weeks there took place the first hostile contact between the British and the Germans at Mons, the crucial battle of Le Cateau, the long and hot retreat to the outskirts of Paris, the successes on the Marne and the stalling of the allies’ advance at the Aisne. Then, at the beginning of October 1914 the battalion was redeployed north and took part in the fighting around La Bassee. On the 20th of October at Le Pilly, they were surrounded and overwhelmed. All but 135 men and one officer were either killed, wounded and/or taken prisoner. This means that since they had disembarked in France on 14th August well over a thousand members of the battalion had become casualties. Such a casualty rate among the battalions of the First World War may not in itself be exceptional. However, what needs to be taken into account is the fact that many of those who proceeded to France with the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment had been serving together for years and in some cases decades. Some may have fought together in the Boer War or have had a shared experience of the hardship of years of service in India. They genuinely were comrades in arms, which must have made the destruction of this regular army battalion all the more affecting for those who survived. The first day of the Somme may well have produced equally shocking statistics. However, the close camaraderie of the regular army was by then a thing of the past and replaced by a weary acceptance of the brutalities of trench warfare and an understanding that too great an investment in those around you was best avoided. It is the poignancy of all those friendships and long-standing associations torn asunder in eight short weeks that makes this tale so compelling. ref; PATRICK63223 IWM

Ten battalions of the regiment saw service during the First World War (1914-18). They suffered over 3,200 killed in action and thousands more wounded in places such as Le-Pilly, Gullimont, Ginchy, Salonika, Mesopotamia and Palestine.

Members of the Royal Irish were also the first British Army troops to confront the Irish rebels during the Easter Rising of 1916.
The IWM 'Lives of WW1' is a remarkable website community to learn so much about the stories of the regiments and their gallant men in the Great War, heroes, one and all!  read more

Code: 25147

The Rarest Enfield 'Hook Quillon' 1907 Pattern Bayonet Issued in 1911

Probably for many collectors, especially Australian, it is the most desirable and rarest regulation bayonet ever made or issued. This is an original 1907 Pattern SMLE sword bayonet, but, most importantly, it is the early example, with its long hook quillon still intact. The adapted removed or shortened type outnumber the rare original hook quillon type, probably, by several tens of thousand to 1. This example was made in 1911, bearing it's original King Edwards Crown, with ER stamp and Enfield maker stamp. And as was standard issue to the WW1, ANZAC, Australian Light Horse. The hook quillon SMLE issue bayonet, is a the very pinnacle of Great War bayonet collecting. They were used predominantly by the Australian Infantry and Light Horse Brigade in WW1, and due to their use in Gallipoli and the dessert were never returned to the ordnance for regulatory quillon removal as was instructed. In over 45 years we have had barely a handful of these rarest full hook quillon bayonets in original condition and unaltered, but the regular type we have handled, by comparison, many many thousands in the same period of time. Australian Light horse were like mounted infantry in that they usually fought dismounted, using their horses as transport to the battlefield and as a means of swift disengagement when retreating or retiring. A famous exception to this rule though was the charge of the 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments at Beersheba on 31 October 1917. In 1918, some light horse regiments were equipped with sabres, enabling them to fight in a conventional cavalry role in the advance on Damascus. However, unlike mounted infantry, the light horse also performed certain cavalry roles, such as scouting and screening, while mounted.
The light horse were organised along cavalry rather than infantry lines. A light horse regiment, although technically equivalent to an infantry battalion in terms of command level, contained only 25 officers and 400 men as opposed to an infantry battalion that consisted of around 1,000 men. Around a quarter of this nominal strength (or one man in each section of 4) could be allotted to horse-holding duties when the regiment entered combat. A regiment was divided into three squadrons, designated "A", "B" and "C" (equivalent to a company), and a squadron divided into four troops (equivalent to but smaller than a platoon). Each troop was divided into about 10 four-man sections. When dismounting for combat, one man from each section would take the reins of the other three men's horses and lead them out of the firing line where he would remain until called upon. By the outbreak of World War I, there were 23 light horse regiments within Australia's part-time military force, consisting of 9,000 personnel. These were organised as follows:
1st Light Horse Brigade (Queensland): 1st (Central Queensland), 2nd (Queensland Mounted Infantry), 3rd (Darling Downs), 4th (Northern Rivers Lancers) and 27th (North Queensland) Light Horse Regiments
2nd Light Horse Brigade (New South Wales): 5th (New England) and 6th (Hunter River Lancers) Light Horse Regiments
3rd Light Horse Brigade (New South Wales): 7th (New South Wales Lancers), 9th (New South Wales Mounted Rifles), 11th (Australian Horse) and 28th (Illawarra) Light Horse Regiments
5th Light Horse Brigade (Victoria): 13th (Gippsland), 15th (Victorian Mounted Rifles), and 16th (Indi) Light Horse Regiments
7th Light Horse Brigade (Victoria): 17th (Campaspe), 19th (Yarrowee), and 20th (Corangamite) and 29th (Port Phillip Horse) Light Horse Regiments
8th Light Horse Brigade (South Australia): 22nd (South Australian Mounted Rifles), 23rd (Barossa), and 24th (Flinders) Light Horse Regiments
25th (Western Australian Mounted Infantry) Light Horse Regiment
26th (Tasmanian Mounted Infantry) Light Horse Regiment. The bayonet has excellent markings to the blade and it's scabbard leather but the any surviving regt markings on the steel hilt mounts are now fully obscured by age.  read more

Code: 19952

A Scarce Original WW2 British '37 Pattern Commando Officer's 9mm Browning Hi-power Holster, Ammunition Pouch & Waistbelt 1942/3 in Excellent Plus Condition

This 3 commando holster set was acquired with a German Luftwaffe officers PPK holster but sold seperately. After WW2 the officer kept his Browning and the Walther PPK as souvenirs, but surrendered his Browning and the Walther to the police in the 1960's. We acquired both holsters from his grandson

The 9mm automatic holster was easily identifiable by its level top edge almost all revolver holsters being angled upwards. With top hooks to connect underneath an ammunition pouch as an option. The neat ammunition pouch could accommodate two 12 round packets, a fabric strip went over the brace adaptor and a fabric loop fitted at the bottom accepted the top hook of a holster. dated 42/43.

No. 3 Commando was a battalion-sized Commando unit raised by the British Army during the Second World War. Formed in July 1940 from volunteers for special service, it was the first such unit to carry the title of "Commando". Shortly afterwards the unit was involved in a largely unsuccessful raid upon the German-occupied Channel Island of Guernsey.

In 1941 they were involved in successful raids on the Lofoten Islands and Vaagso, in Norway, before taking part in the costly Dieppe raid in August 1942, where the unit was tasked with knocking out a German coastal artillery battery on the eastern flank of the main landings, although due to a chance encounter in the Channel with a German convoy, a large majority of the unit failed to make it ashore.

In early 1943, the unit was sent to Gibraltar before moving to North Africa in April from where they were involved in the Allied invasion of Sicily and operations in Italy prior to being withdrawn to Britain to prepare for Operation Overlord. On D-Day they went ashore on 6 June 1944 as part of the 1st Special Service Brigade tasked with linking up with the 6th Airborne Division on the eastern flank of Sword before being withdrawn. Later they took part in the Allied counterattack during the Ardennes Offensive in early 1945 before taking part in the advance into Germany as part of Operation Plunder.

Following the end of the war, No. 3 Commando carried out occupation duties in Germany before it was disbanded on 4 January 1946.  read more

Code: 25143

Aircrew Europe Six Medal Group, With Africa Star and 1942-43 Bar, 13th Squadron Observer, Operation Jubilee, 19/8/1942, the Dieppe Raids, with His Observer Wing {x 2} Dog Tags, Cap Badge and Silver Plate & Enamel Observer Badge

Of Sgt F.H. Westbrook -(Observer-13 Sqn)-

Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942) was an Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France, during the Second World War. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, supported by a regiment of tanks, were put ashore from a naval force operating under protection of Royal Air Force (RAF) fighters.

The port was to be captured and held for a short period, to test the feasibility of a landing and to gather intelligence. German coastal defences, port structures and important buildings were to be demolished. The raid was intended to boost Allied morale, demonstrate the commitment of the United Kingdom to re-open the Western Front and support the Soviet Union, fighting on the Eastern Front.

Aerial and naval support was insufficient to enable the ground forces to achieve their objectives; the tanks were trapped on the beach and the infantry was largely prevented from entering the town by obstacles and German fire. After less than six hours, mounting casualties forced a retreat. The operation was a fiasco in which only one landing force achieved its objective and some intelligence was gathered (including electronic intelligence).

Within ten hours, 3,623 of the 6,086 men who landed had been killed, wounded or became prisoners of war. The Luftwaffe made a maximum effort against the landing as the RAF had expected, but the RAF lost 106 aircraft (at least 32 to anti-aircraft fire or accidents) against 48 German losses. The Royal Navy lost 33 landing craft and a destroyer.

Both sides learned important lessons regarding coastal assaults. The Allies learned lessons that influenced the success of the D-Day landings. Artificial harbours were declared crucial, tanks were adapted specifically for beaches, a new integrated tactical air force strengthened ground support, and capturing a major port at the outset was no longer seen as a priority. Churchill and Mountbatten both claimed that these lessons had outweighed the cost. The Germans also believed that Dieppe was a learning experience and made a considerable effort to improve the way they defended the occupied coastlines of Europe.

Fighter Command claimed to have inflicted many losses on the Luftwaffe for an RAF loss of 106 aircraft, 88 fighters (including 44 Spitfires), 10 reconnaissance aircraft and eight bombers; 14 other RAF aircraft were struck off charge from other causes such as accidents.79 Other sources suggest that up to 28 bombers were lost and that the figure for destroyed and damaged Spitfires was 70.80 The Luftwaffe suffered 48 aircraft losses, 28 bombers, half of them Dornier Do 217s from KG 2; JG 2 lost 14 Fw 190s and eight pilots killed, JG 26 lost six Fw 190s with their pilots.81 The RAF lost 91 aircraft shot down and 64 pilots; 47 killed and 17 taken prisoner, the RCAF lost 14 aircraft and nine pilots and 2 Group lost six bombers.57h Leigh-Mallory considered the losses "remarkably light in view of the number of Squadrons taking part and the intensity of the fighting" noting that the tactical reconnaissance suffered heaviest with about two casualties per squadron.83 The Luftwaffe in France was back to full strength within days of the raid. Copp wrote that Dieppe failed to inflict the knockout blow against the Luftwaffe that the RAF sought. Although the Allies continued to lose on average two aircraft for every one German aircraft destroyed for the rest of 1942, the output of fighters by the United States, Britain and Canada combined with better Allied pilot training, led to the Luftwaffe gradually losing the war of attrition in the skies above France. Copp concluded that: "The battle for air superiority was won on many fronts by continuous effort and August 19, 1942 was part of that achievement".57 The Forward Air Controller, Air Commodore Adrian Cole, was injured when Calpe was attacked and was awarded the DSO for gallantry.

Every single item from The Lanes Armoury is accompanied by our unique Certificate of Authenticity. Part of our continued dedication to maintain the standards forged by us over the past 100 years of our family’s trading, as Britain’s oldest established, and favourite, armoury and gallery  read more

Code: 24973

A Scarce German WW1 Ersatz Gew 98 Bayonet

One of the more collectable emergency production bayonets supposedly made in the last year of the war, however there is evidence that many were made from the early war period. EB10 type 4 scabbard

Excellent bright polish blade condition, much original green surface over paint present

Ersatz (substitute) bayonets were made in Germany during the early years of World War I, because there weren't enough regulation bayonets to equip the rapidly expanding army. Ersatz bayonets were manufactured in local workshops, resulting in hundreds of variations. I only have a small number of examples, however, these should aid in making a general identification. The German specification was for a 12-inch blade. In addition to newly-constructed bayonets, Ersatz Bayonets were also created by modifying captured bayonets of other countries.

12 " blade

Every single item from The Lanes Armoury is accompanied by our unique Certificate of Authenticity. Part of our continued dedication to maintain the standards forged by us over the past 100 years of our family’s trading, as Britain’s oldest established, and favourite, armoury and gallery  read more

Code: 24980

Gold Metal Watch Fob, With a Zeppelin Model Top Mount Representing The Hindenburg Zeppelin, Gifted by Kapitan Max Pruss, Kapitan of the Ill Fated Zeppelin Airship LZ.129 Hindenburg. & the Hindenburg Kapitan's Saucer

Apparently given by Kapitan Max Pruss, the last Kapitan of the Hindenburg, accompanied with his boxed, original, WW2 Luftwaffe pilot's Leitz goggles, and his personal, named ‘Hindenburg’ porcelain saucer, not to be confused with the LZ standard livery porcelain, to a visiting British RAF officer in the 1950's, while he was attempting to resurrect with the post-war German government, his new Zeppelin project, with his former Hindenburg Chief Engineer, Rudolf Sauter. The fob is very heavy quality, and weighs as it should if it was solid gold, however, it bears no gold hallmark, so we cannot sell it as solid gold, and we cannot thus assume it is solid gold, therefore we offer it as ‘gold coloured metal’. The fitted Zeppelin miniature model top mount is certainly gold plate as the plate is fractionally worn in places. He Sauter worked with Captain Max Pruss, the Hindenburg's former commander, during the post-war years to try and revive the Zeppelin airships. In the early 1950s, in fact, Sauter and Pruss drew up plans for a new Zeppelin and made the case to the West German government and the press that (in Sauter's words,) "The use of Zeppelins in air traffic is absolutely economical. The West German government is planning to spend 150 million marks on a new airline flown by airplanes. We would need only 50 million marks to build new Zeppelins." Sauter showed the new Zeppelin plans to Dr. Hugo Eckener, by then in his late 80s and retired. As Eckener later told a news reporter, "I told him that he had my blessing, but that I do not want to have anything to do with it. Today, a Zeppelin would not have a chance against an airplane.". More photos of the fob and saucer to follow tomorrow. One photo in the gallery Is of Kapitan Pruss, with a fellow Kapitan Von Schiller colleague making a time check while aboard the Hindenburg.

Kapitan Pruss commanded the Zeppelin airship, Hindenburg, during its tragic explosion and destruction in Lakehurst, America. Amazingly he survived but with severe burns.

The Hindenburg disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. The accident caused 35 fatalities (13 passengers and 22 crewmen) from the 97 people on board (36 passengers and 61 crewmen), and an additional fatality on the ground.

The disaster was the subject of newsreel coverage, photographs and Herbert Morrison's recorded radio eyewitness reports from the landing field, which were broadcast the next day.A variety of hypotheses have been put forward for both the cause of ignition and the initial fuel for the ensuing fire. The publicity shattered public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship and marked the abrupt end of the airship era.

We also have a souvenir German porcelain Hindenburg saucer from the captain’s personal porcelain set, said by Pruss to have been given to him by Hitler’s deputy, Herman Goring, however, if so, this must have been before the dramatic argument and falling out between Goring and Pruss at Frankfurt Airport in 1940.

Pruss was the commander of the airship during the Hindenburg disaster of 6 May 1937. This was his first time commanding a trip to Lakehurst. Pruss and several crew members rode the Hindenburg down to the ground as it burned, then ordered everybody out. He carried radio operator Willy Speck out of the wreckage, then looked for survivors until rescuers were forced to restrain him. Pruss, however, suffered extensive burns and had to be taken out by ambulance to Paul Kimball Hospital in Lakewood. The burns were so extensive that he was given last rites, but although his face was disfigured for the rest of his life, his condition improved over the next few months. Pruss was unable to testify at investigative committees, but officially he was not held responsible.

Pruss, along with other airship crewmen, maintained that the disaster was caused by sabotage, and dismissed the possibility that it was sparked by lightning or static electricity. Although Hugo Eckener did not rule out other causes, he criticized Pruss' decision to carry out the landing in poor weather conditions, expressing his belief that sharp turns ordered by Pruss during the landing approach may have caused gas to leak, which could have been ignited by static electricity. Pruss insisted that such turns were normal procedure, and that the stern heaviness experienced during the approach was normal due to rainwater being displaced at the tail.

Apparently Kapt. Pruss was exceptionally polite, and the exchange of gifts was most warmly given and received.  read more

Code: 24145

An Amazing Original Souvenir of Tank Warfare in WW2. A German 88mm Tiger Tank Shell, Superior Early War Brass Case Type, High Explosive, Ground Combat, Impact Fuze AZ23

Shell case in brass and dated Photo in the gallery of Hitler inspecting different forms of 88mm rounds. Rare German WW2 88mm Shell Used by the German 88 mm Cannon during WW2. A simply superb example, impact fuze AZ23 with a 1938 brass shell case. The world famous 88's were the bane of the Allies in WW2. The 88 millimetre cannon and the Tiger Tank 88 cannons fired these huge shells. Superb maker codes stamps etc. with full Waffenamt Nazi Eagle markings. To get an impression of the difference between the size and power of Allied shells against the German equivalent, in 1942 an Allied Tank Round was approximately the size of a small Coca Cola bottle, the German Tank Shell was the size of a small child!. The 88 performed well in its original role of an anti-aircraft gun, and it proved to be a superb anti-tank, and anti-soft skinned vehicle gun as well. Its success was due to its versatility: the standard anti-aircraft platform allowed gunners to depress the muzzle below the horizontal, unlike most of its contemporaries. During the initial stages of the war, as it was becoming increasingly clear that existing anti-tank weapons were unable to pierce the armour of heavier enemy tanks, gunners were more likely to put the weapon to use against enemy tanks, a situation that was aided by the prevalence of the 88 among German forces.

Similarly to the anti-aircraft role, as an anti-tank weapon the 88 was tactically arranged into batteries, usually four guns to each. The higher-level tactical unit was, most commonly, a mixed anti-aircraft battalion (Flak-Abteilung, gemischte). It totalled 12 such guns on average, supplanted by light cannons.

The German Condor Legion made extensive use of the 88 in the Spanish Civil War, where its usefulness as an anti-tank weapon and a general artillery piece exceeded its role as an anti-aircraft gun.The success of the 88 caused the Allies to take steps to defend against it in new tank designs. On July 18 and 19 1944 a Luftwaffe 8.8 cm anti-aircraft battery was re-purposed by then Major Hans von Luck to attack British tanks near Cagny taking part in Operation Goodwood. 20 tanks were killed by these guns within the first few seconds and at least 40 tanks were knocked out by 88's during the engagement.

Not suitable to export, for sale to over 18s only, safe inert and empty 37 inches high  read more

Code: 25132

Front Page of the Evening News Sept 6th 1938. 'Hitler's First Message', From the Nuremberg Rally

A most intriguing original historical souvenir of Hitler's National Socialist pre-war Germany in 1938 during his rise to power, and the start of his imminent move to all out total war, and the destruction of freedom throughout all Europe.

5-12 September 1938. Nuremberg. The last X Party Rally called ‘Reichsparteitag Großdeutschland’ (The Congress of Great Germany) once again praised the triumphs of the Third Reich, including the Annexation of Austria six months before. The grand opening was accompanied by Wagner’s ‘Meistersinger von Nürnberg’ opera to inspire Hitler himself and Goebbels with enthusiasm. This Party Congress was the last of that kind as the XI Rally, pre-planned as the “The Party Conference of Peace” for September 1939 was denied on the threshold of the invasion of Poland.

Nürnberg Rally, the massive Nazi Party rallies held in 1923, 1927, and 1929 and annually from 1933 through 1938 in Nürnberg (Nuremberg) in Bavaria. The rallies were primarily propaganda events, carefully staged to reinforce party enthusiasm and to showcase the power of National Socialism to the rest of Germany and the world.

The emotional power generated by the rallies has been preserved in films, most notably in Leni Riefenstahl’s classic Triumph des Willens (1935; Triumph of the Will), which presents a carefully orchestrated version of the 1934 rally.

The paper has discoloured areas and the left hand side is hand torn, but its interest in a historical context more that makes up for it. It would be ideal for framing  read more

Code: 25128