Where Are German Recon Photos?

stephen · 2 November 2001, 04:39 AM

I've tracked down the surviving British WWI recon photos in London and now I think I've found the American ones...

Where are the surviving German recon photos from WWI today? Any and all details are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Soderbaum · 2 November 2001, 05:30 AM

Hi Stephen

There are "some" boxes with aerial photos in Freiburg regarding German Marine Air units...
However I dont knew if they yet are open for the public....probably not.

Also the Archive in Munich has a lots of aerial photos but probably only taken by the Bavarian units...

I dont knew if any of the German Army Air units photos has survived....if so they are probably still locked down in Freiburg.... >

8)
Gunnar

Vigilant · 2 November 2001, 11:07 AM

Or else Bomber Command got to them in the Second Big Show.

Vig. :

Cigogne · 2 November 2001, 12:15 PM

Many of them were sadly destroyed, however there are some from Bavarian units that survived and are in the Kriegsarchiv in Munich. There was an article on this from Dr. Fuchs that appeared in the Summer 2000 issue of Over The Front. It gives listing of their holdings. Give it a try. Also, many examples exist in private Fliegeralben of former flier/observers. The glass plates were probably stored somewhere the crews got copies to put in their albums.

3 November 2001, 05:22 AM

In Freiburg i found 4 boxes full of aereal pictures of the II and I. Marine Feld Flieger abteilungen. However most are from 1917 , some 1918.

They show the frontlines between the coast and Diksmuide.

next week I go back to freiburg to do some research.
If you want copies of some portions of the front i can order some.

Beware the price. I think 10 DM maybe 20 I forgot.

The Belgian aereal picures are kept in Brussels.

It would be nice if we could swap information with regards to the actual archive numbers

Alain van geeteruyen.

Frank_Olynyk · 3 November 2001, 09:51 AM

The papers of Hermann Göring are held at the Army Archives at Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, Pennsylvania (two exits east of Breezewood on the Pennsylvania Turnpike; about 1.5 hours west of Philadelphia). Among this material is a set of about 25 recce photographs taken by Göring when he was serving as an observer in 1915. These do not reproduce well as Xerox copies (I tried), and I rather doubt that the staff there can prepare photographic copies, so it would probably be necessary to go in person, with your own copying equipment. I do not have a contact there, but I am sure they can be located on the Internet.

Frank.

FinnN · 4 November 2001, 01:14 AM

Sadly the upheaval of two defeats meant that most of the photographs taken were either scattered or destroyed, especially after the second world war. Although they aren't terribly rare because of this and I own a few, I can't help feeling a little sad they aren't held together for research like the British ones for example.

Anyway, my new website (which is still a while away from completion) has a number of zoomable aerial photos on it - most of them German. Here's a couple to wet your appetite:

http://www.warillustrated.co.uk/aerials.asp?ResID=41

http://www.warillustrated.co.uk/aerials.asp?ResID=28

The first time you try to access one of these pages it will trigger a plugin download, after which it will start downloading the images - you'll gradually see it getting sharper and sharper. Left click to zoom in, right click to zoom out and drag to pan.

Have fun
Finn