Need some advice from military historians

**JAD_333** · 20 Jun 10, 19:16

Originally Posted by Tarek Morgen

http://ia301506.us.archive.org/2/ite...taryForces.pdf

this should be the correct one

I saw that, though it looked to me as it was burned out. Travesty...why did he not simply put something over it like a sticker if he wanted to hide it?

The good news is that they've been declassified, a concern Lukins had.

Edit: What you've found is that the content is available on line to scholars, in which case I have decided to offer the whole lot for sale to collectors, or almost the whole lot. If Shek's contact at West Point see something in particular they want, I'd either give it to them or copy it for them. Now the question is, where to offer it.

**dave lukins** · 21 Jun 10, 16:14

^ See if you can find a site that specialises on military documents or contact an auction house who may give advice on how, any where to sell the items. You may also get advice on whether to sell them as a whole or in job lots.

**JAD_333** · 21 Jun 10, 16:37

Dave:

I've started looking around and have sent out emails to collector agents. It will be interesting to see what the reaction is. I've sold stuff through an auction house in Washington before with good success. I'll be contacting them too.

Thanks for your advice.

**JAD_333** · 10 Jul 10, 07:00

Well, I found a buyer and the deal is done. It turns out that most of the content is already archived for researchers. That left collectors of WWII memorabilia. The buyer is a dealer (Warrelics.com) , so I ended up with about 30-40% of market value, better I think than me trying to sell all 70 items individually. Thanks to all who gave me advice.

**Blue** · 10 Jul 10, 08:38

I just found this thread JAD..I would have said haul it to Las Vegas and pawn it off on the Pawn Stars(history channel) guys. Then go gamble your ass off and turn it into a fortune!

)

)

Seriously though, that was an awesomely cool find! Bet you spent hours thumbing through stuff. I know I would have.

**JAD_333** · 10 Jul 10, 18:09

Snipes:

What got me most was opening a box that hadn't been touched for 60 some years and finding all this stuff in perfect condition that an Army intel officer had cleared out of his desk when the war ended. He obviously wanted to keep them as mementos, maybe even write a book using them as references. Who knows.

It almost got dumped. We had a 30 yard dumpster parked by the house. I was overseeing the men to make sure nothing of value got tossed. The box was on a pile of stuff the owner said to throw out. One of the guys asked me about it I glanced inside and saw all these manuals. I was about to say,"dump it", but being a sucker for old stuff I told them to put in in my truck. Later that evening, I unpacked and it, and like you imagined was bowled over by all the neat stuff.

The really interesting thing was how the intel stuff on the German army changes over time. The early stuff depicts a powerful, well-oiled, well-run, well-equipped army exhibiting tactical brilliance. The later stuff depicts
growing weaknesses and vulnerabilities--declining quality of infantry recruits, scarcities of weapons, ammo and aircraft, and, in general, a growing tactical impotence.

Anyway I am not a technical wonk and wasn't about to read it all. The only book I kept was Berlin Diary by Wm Shirer published in 1941 before the invasion of Russia and the attack on Pearl Harbor. I highly recommend it.

It's an American correspondent's view of the Nazis and the early stages of the war from the German side. His genuine amazement at the speed of the German defeat of the British expeditionary and French forces in 1939-40 grabs you. People back then reacted in awe to the new German tactics of high-speed ground mobility and air power. They half-expected a reprise of WWI. In short they missed the lesson of how Poland fell in weeks.

He is seeing it from the German side and you can sense his ah-ah moment as he discovers why it works so well and why the French and British lines collapsed so quickly. Lines? The German's no longer thought in terms of long front lines. They fought from the roads. They had mobile artillery. The allies didn't. Speed was key. It so intimidated the allies, who expected to fight on a broad front. Consequently they missed chances to stop the German advance. Great reading. A whole hell of a lot better than second-hand descriptions penned 50 year later.

Shirer left Germany in Dec 1940, went to Geneva, picked up his wife and 2 year old kid and set out for Lisbon to get passage to the US, the only legitimate way out of Europe at that time. I guess I am so enthralled by his book because I was a baby at the time living in unoccupied France and also left with my parents via Lisbon.

**Parihaka** · 10 Jul 10, 18:12

Great story Jad

**JAD_333** · 10 Jul 10, 18:19

Originally Posted by Parihaka

Great story Jad

Thanks, pari. Cracker barrel stuff, as we say here. It's been fun.

**Blue** · 12 Jul 10, 04:33

Originally Posted by JAD_333

I guess I am so enthralled by his book because I was a baby at the time living in unoccupied France and also left with my parents via Lisbon.

Another story in itself. We're listening whenever you feel like telling it.

**Bigfella** · 18 Jul 10, 11:19

Originally Posted by JAD_333

It almost got dumped. We had a 30 yard dumpster parked by the house. I was overseeing the men to make sure nothing of value got tossed. The box was on a pile of stuff the owner said to throw out. One of the guys asked me about it I glanced inside and saw all these manuals. I was about to say,"dump it", but being a sucker for old stuff I told them to put in in my truck. Later that evening, I unpacked and it, and like you imagined was bowled over by all the neat stuff.

JAD,

Great save. As someone who has spent a good deal of time leafing through historical documents I thank you. This sort of stuff is priceless - it is our collective memory & may be irreplaceable. Too much of it ends up in the dumpster or shredder. Even thouhg it appears much of this had been saved elsewhere, I'm still glad this lot didn't.

My cousin had a similar story, though not of a military nature. he was good friends with an old man in his mother's apartment building who had spent a lifetime as a photographer all over the world. He photographed some of the most famous celebrities of the late C20th. At home he had collections of many of his prints & negatives. When he died my cousin talked to the family & discovered that they had little or no interest in the photographs & negatives. They gave him a day to take what he wanted. he grabbed as much as he could, but there was much more he couldn't take. He plans to publish one day, but still regrets what he couldn't save.