A very nice early (rarely found 1927 issue)  Issued to Heinrich Suhre, from Hannover, born in 1.08.1909 and joined the NSDAP in August/October of 1930. The booklet was issued on the 24th of August 1931 in Munich and features a stamped Adolf Hitler Signature.  Suhre paid his NSDAP membership from 1931 till 1940 the booklet displays each corresponding payment to the Nazi Party.  —- According to page 22 of the booklet the entry states that from January of 1931 till the 1st of May 1932 – Suhre was the rank of Zellenleiter for Hannover – South.  The original political rank of Zellenwart was used to supervise local Nazi political leaders during a time when the Nazi Party was attempting to gain power in the Weimar Republic. After the establishment of Nazi Germany in 1933, the political position of Zellenleiter became a type of political strongman and was usually the highest Nazi official that the general population would have direct dealings with on a day-to-day basis. Uniform of a Zellenleiter below:     Suhre was also a member of the Sturm Abteilung :  SA Standarte 13 Hannover .  Interestingly, this Standarte in Hannover is covered online in the article about where they used to meet and was known as a local for clashes with Communists and Workers: KREUZSTRASSE: SA STURMLOKAL – A TAVERN WHERE THE SA MET “Situated at Kreuzkirchhof, the “Zur Kreuzklappe” restaurant, which opened in 1887, enjoys a very dubious reputation in the 1920s and, it being on the fringe of the local red light district, is frequented by criminals and prostitutes. Even before 1933, the tavern was renamed “Restaurant Alt-Hannover” and becomes the notorious meeting place for SA-Sturm 3/13. The owner advertised himself as a PG (a “Parteigenosse”, i.e. a party comrade) and SA man. Within the Hanoverian workers’ movement, they still use the tavern’s old name but with just a slight change: “Haken-Kreuzklappe” [Hakenkreuz = swastika]. According to the social democratic newspaper ” Volkswillen”, it is the “worst dive in Hanover”. At the beginning of 1932, the newspaper repeatedly alleges that Nazis are organising “regular police patrols” against political opponents from his pub. The same happens on Ascension Day in 1932 in neighbouring Calenberg Neustadt: an SA-Sturm stationed at the “Duvestübchen” [a pub] on Duvestrasse engages in a street battle with left-wing workers in front of the pub and surrounding streets. Three of them are wounded, some seriously, by gunfire. When the police arrive, the handguns have vanished.”     Included in this booklet is a loose but very rare document issued by Hannover SA Standarte 13 – Hand signed signed by Standartenführer August Ihle (seen below in the middle of the Picture). The document allows Scharführer Suhre to wear the “Ärmelstreifen für altgediente SA-Männer” which is a 4mm armband only worn by long serving SA Men – this document is quite rare.    What happened to Suhre?  He joined the Wehrmacht in 1941, married and was later captured by US Troops.  According to the Genealogy research his grave is located in Hannover, Stöckener Friedhof. He died in February 2008 at 98 years old.  Comments: An interesting booklet, usually these are quite boring in terms of history, the average party member did not serve as a Zellenleiter this makes this one quite interesting, along with the SA service in Hannover paints a picture of the political chaos of the time.

Soldbuch issued to Paul Löffler (Second edition), displays him in the front cover in the Waffen SS Panzer Wrap with Totenkopf Skull with the rank of SS Unterscharführer.  The Soldbuch was issued in December of 1943 with the Werkstatt Kompanie, of SS Panzer Regiment 3.  He had served in the unit since this date and  Issued:  11.1944 – Winter shoes and a winter vest  98K Rifle & Luger Pistol P08 as well as a Erma MP in June of 1944.  Führergeschenk – type of moral boosting parcel, with often meat, smokes and other goodies.  Security Stamps:  Three security stamps all signed by SS Officers.  Awards: 30.1.1943 – War Merit Cross with Swords Second Class  30.1.1945 – War Merit Cross with Swords First Class Wounded on the 17.2.1945 – arrived at SS Feldlazarett 504 with a code 14 (STD) he just had a 10 day leave prior according to his leave – Sonderurlaub –  realised on the 31.3.1945 and back to the unit.  The Wehrpass Issued in tübingen in 1940, according to the entries, Löffler joined the SS Panzer Ersatz Abteilung in August of 1942 in Weimar – Buchenwald. He was sent in September to the end of the war with SS Panzer Regiment 3 – Wekstatt Kompanie  Löffler was trained on the MG34, K98 and MP. He did a training how to be a tank mechanic in Friedrichshafen.  His Battle Calendar displays he was in France from November 1942 till early 1943 on the Atlantic Coast with the Totenkopf Division.    Divisional History: In February 1943 the division was moved back to the Eastern Front as part of Erich von Manstein’s Army Group South. The division, as a part of SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser’s II SS Panzer Corps, took part in the Third Battle of Kharkov, blunting the Soviet offensive. During this campaign, Theodor Eicke was killed when his spotter aircraft was shot down. Hermann Priess succeeded Eicke as commander. The SS Panzer Corps, including the division, was then shifted north to take part in Operation Citadel, the offensive aimed at reducing the Kursk salient. It was during February 1943 that the 3rd SS Panzer Regiment received a company of Tiger I heavy tanks. The attack was launched on 5 July 1943 with the II SS Panzer Corps attacking the southern flank of the salient as the spearhead for Generaloberst Hermann Hoth’s 4th Panzer Army. The division covered the advance on the left flank of the II SS Panzer Corps, with the SS Division Leibstandarte forming the spearhead. With the advance slower than had been planned, Hausser ordered his II SS Panzer Corps to split in two, with the Totenkopf crossing the Psel River northwards and then continuing on towards the town of Prokhorovka. In the early morning of 9 July, 6th SS Motorised Regiment Theodor Eicke attacked northwards, crossing the Psel and attempted to seize the strategic Hill 226.6, but failed to do so until the afternoon. This meant that the northern advance slowed and the majority of the division was still south of the Psel, where elements of 5th SS Motorised Regiment 5 Thule continued to advance towards Prokhorovka and cover the flank of the Leibstandarte. By 11 July, elements of the division crossed the Psel and secured Kliuchi. In the afternoon of 12 July, near the village of Andreyevka on the south bank of the Psel, the Soviet forces launched a major counterattack against Regiment Thule and the division’s battalion of assault guns during the Battle of Prokhorovka. Elements of the division engaged lead units of the 5th Guards Tank Army, halting the Soviet advance and inflicting severe damage to the Soviet forces, but at the cost of the majority of the division’s remaining operational tanks. While the II SS Panzer Corps had halted the Soviet counteroffensive, it had exhausted itself. Citadel was called off on 14 July. Along with the SS Division Das Reich, the division was reassigned to General Karl-Adolf Hollidt’s reformed 6th Army in southern Ukraine. The 6th Army was tasked with eliminating the Soviet bridgehead over the Mius River. The division was involved in heavy fighting over the next several weeks. During the July–August battles for Hill 213 and the town of Stepanovka, the division suffered heavy losses, and over the course of the campaign on the Mius-Front, it suffered more casualties than it had during Operation Citadel. By the time the Soviet bridgehead was eliminated, the division had lost 1,500 troops; the Panzer regiment was reduced to 20 tanks. The division was then moved north, back to Kharkov. Along with Das Reich, Totenkopf took part in the battles to halt Operation Rumyantsev and to prevent the Soviet capture of the city. The city was abandoned on 23 August due to the threats on the German flanks. In October 1943, the division was reformed as a Panzer division. The Panzer battalion was officially upgraded to a regiment, and the two motorised regiments were given the titles “Theodor Eicke” and “Totenkopf”. The division, along with other Axis formations, continued its retreat towards the Romanian border. By November, the division was engaged in fighting against Red Army’s attacks over the vital town of Krivoi Rog to the west of the Dniepr. Warsaw In January 1944, Totenkopf was still engaged in heavy defensive fighting east of the Dniepr near Krivoi Rog. In February 1944, Totenkopf took part in the relief attempt of German troops encircled in the Korsun Pocket. In the second week of March, after a fierce battle near Kirovograd, the Totenkopf fell back behind the Bug River. Totenkopf took up new defensive positions. After two weeks of heavy fighting, again alongside the Panzer-Grenadier-Division Grossdeutschland, the Axis forces were retreated to the Dniestr on the Romanian border near Iaşi. In the first week of April, the division received replacements and new equipment, including Panther tanks. In the second week of April, Totenkopf took part in fighting against a heavy Soviet Army attacks towards Second Battle of Târgu Frumos. By 7 May, the front had quietened…

Nice original WW1 800 Silver Goblet  Named to Lt Deetjen  Of the: I. Pomm Feld Artillerie Regiment Nr 2  They fought in Winter of 1917 with the 3rd Division on the Daugaupils Front.  Silver cup was found in a sandy bunker near Riga by a metal detector. 

Original Red Army Soviet ID Booklet with picture and medals.  Medals: Military Merit and Victory over Germany Medal  These are extremely hard to find with an original picture inside.  Belonged to: Klimov Ivan Grigorievich who was a rifleman guard in various near frontline airbases. He is also mentioned in the Russian Archive website.  Nice little set to complete a display.