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for Infantry officers album (Latvia, Lithuania and Russia)
Infantry officers album (Latvia, Lithuania and Russia)
Creator
Unknown
Date1941
Medium3 albums containing 1,026 photographs
Credit LineAnonymous gift, 2020
Object number2021/211
ProvenanceThird of three albums by an officer - possibly Lt. Magnus Füchsel - of the 218. Inf.Div / Inf.Rgt 323. Photographs - which are in loose chronological order - document the division's advance into the Baltic states and Russia: Vilnus and Riga street scenes, rasputitsa mud, Cholm (today Kholm) airfield and the so-called Cholm Express railway, Borodino (site of Napoleon's 1812 pyrrhic victory), the construction of winter quarters at Langwasser, burning Russian villages, peasants and a field of Soviet dead. Vehicles photographed include trucks, half-tracks, motorbikes, horse-drawn carriages and an amphibious Volkswagen in the Lovat River.
Of particular interest are detailed photographs of Gruchowka train station and the construction of a 'Moorbahn', a wholly wooden railway built through forests and across the moors. As well as the laying of its tracks and building of its bridges, the album also details the construction of a vehicle garage and related support buildings. Informal portraits record the visits of high-ranking officers including Victor Lang (Commander 218th Infantry Division).
Füchsel appears to have been the unit's unofficial photographer, offering reprints of his snapshots to his fellow officers. Ephemera includes details of their indiividual print orders.
LocationNot currently on display
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