Germany, Dak. A Superb British Photo Album Featuring German Losses & Insingia In North African Theatre

This album features simulated crocodile-texture exterior covers, marked "Photographs" in white text on the front cover, with nine thick panel-type pages, all of which are two-sided, housing 123 photographs, most of which have a gloss finish, with eight positions blank that once housed photos, with hand-inscribed sub-headings in black or blue ink, along with three newspaper clippings. There are seven original items pasted in place on the inside front cover, including: a Royal Air Force Air Gunner (AG) Wing, a German Afrika Korps Eagle, a Reich Labour Service Unit 15 Company 7 (RAD) Patch, a Mine Warning Pennant, an Italian Officer's Bullion Cap Badge, an unidentified red embroidered chevron, plus a photo of the El Alamein Club sign, inscribed "El Alamein Club / Presented by the people of EGYPT to the SAILORS, SOLDIERS and AIRMEN of the Forces of H.B.M. KING GEORGE VI and the UNITED NATIONS as a tangible expression of gratitude in defeating and routing the GERMAN-ITALIAN FORCES from EL ALAMEIN to CAPE BON. 1942-43".

The photos highlight airmen, by themselves and in groups, at work and play, in and out of uniform, in pith helmets or army helmets, some wearing German helmets, posing on a motorcycle and on a mule, sitting among cactii, sowing monkey nuts, showering, beside a beacon, and celebrating VE Day in 1945. The group shots include the Motor Transport Section, 280 Squadron Sunderlands at Aboukir and Suez (with the notation "Best Photos Confiscated" below), 107 Maintenance Unit, some at Shallvfa and Ballah in Egypt, the latter in front of an aircraft, posing with the tail section of a downed German aircraft with the notation "One less Shot Down Night Before 23.12.42" (December 23, 1942), on New Year's Day 1942 with the notation "What an Outlook - Jerry Not in Sight", and a home theatre photo taken in front of a barracks at Hereford, England. Also included is a few shots of a New Zealand Squadron at El Alamein Club, with the notation "they had a rough time", lying in sleeping bags and playing around.

One notation mentions that he met his friend on HMS Puritan on the Nile River, with a paddlewheeler pictured, that has the inscription "Anglo American Nile & Tourist Co. PURITAN" on its side. Also included are shots of soldiers with Egyptian citizens, by a canal, by the Nile River, beside a water wheel for irrigation. A relatively peaceful period enabled views of Fort Capuzzo, Garce Pass, a Marble Arch in Tunisia, a Minaret at Derna, a Libya boundary marker, Roman columns, city scenes in Bengasi that include a Cathedral, the city's Gateway, a cinema, the Navy House, various statues and under a sign inscribed "El Alamein" to be represented. There are a few photos of Prime Minister Winston Churchill visiting Egypt, wearing a pith helmet and reviewing the troops, along with the Air Officer Commanding RAF Middle East Command, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Arthur William Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder, GCB, with adjoining inserted photos of Soviet Union Leader Joseph Stalin and German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox). As part of "The Break Through", the photos illustrate fighting and combat action, landing in the water at North Africa, various aircraft, a battleship, desert views, with one of the headings entitled "Large Convoy moves up Hell Fire Pass after the Alamein Break Through".

The horrors of war are clearly defined in a number of photos. There are before and after views of destroyed buildings, an oil tanker that had been burning in Bengasi Harbour for a week, a burning RAF aircraft with the heading "One of Ours did not make it back". There are crashed German aircraft and burned out vehicles, discarded Italian "lorrys" (trucks) at Garcia, plus a reconditioned Fiat identified as "Our Runabout". Prominently featured are shots of captured German and Italian soldiers, surrendering, marching and forming two lines in front of a building upon the completion of their trek. One heading stands out above the others: "War is Horrible", illustrating the casualties of war, which include a skeleton on the beach at Sidi Darrans, a dead paratrooper beside his parachute, plus various British, German and Italian cemeteries with the heading "Both sides have to pay the price", each of the German graves marked with a large Iron Cross, the attending soldiers with rifle salutes and paying homage to their dead comrades at the gravesides.

The inside back cover has a paper pocket in place that houses two "created" colourized postcards, one of which features the vignetted images of a woman and an airman with the pyramids, the other with the vignetted image of an airman with a plane flying over the water, plus three sepia-toned postcards, each of which is marked "Copyright by Lehnert & Landrock Succ., Cairo" and entitled Cairo - The Excavated Sphinx, Cairo - Sphinx and Pyramids, and Cairo - The Pyramids of Giza during Nile Flood. The album measures 250 mm (w) x 200 mm (h) x 22 mm (d), the front cover having separated from the body of the album and is missing its spine cover, with some of the pages lightly soiled. Although some of the photos are loose, most remain in position within the album, most in pristine condition. Very fine.