Germany, Heer. A Private Wartime Photo Album from the Spring 1940 Campaign

(Heer Fotoalbum). A private wartime photo album from the estate of a Heer soldier, constructed of a card stock binding with a faux leather exterior liner, the spine perforated with four holes reinforced with metal grommets through which is loop a drawstring which maintains the album’s structural integrity, the cover bearing a silvered droptail-style Luftwaffe eagle and inscription of “ERINNERUNGEN” (“MEMORIES”), the interior content consisting of 24 off-white paper stock pages separated by partially-intact wax paper liners to protect the images, the latter consisting of 136 black-and-white photos, opening with a group image of Heer NCOs and NCO candidates, transitioning to further images of Heer soldiers (some recognizable from the opening) in the west during the “Phoney War” of the winter and spring of 1939/1940, with images of troops on field exercises in heavy snow and a small number of family photos (including the owner’s family and his dachshunds), transitioning into images of the owner and his unit advancing into the Netherlands, with images of towns under occupation (some demonstrating battle damage), followed by scenes of barracks life and tourist images of France (Lille) and Belgium (Antwerp), concluduing with depictions of the owner on occupation duty in France (with further tourist images of Paris captured by the owner), most accompanied by brief handwritten captions, measuring 27.5 cm (w) x 19 cm (h), demonstrating minor material fatigue throughout, including the loss of a small numbers of images, as well as deliberate removal of the cover’s swastika for continued display in postwar Germany, an interesting account of a Heer soldier’s life during the invasion of France and the Low Countries as originally compiled by the owner, in better than very fine condition.