Any war/history buffs or germans here?

[popinfresh]

So I recently went to a yard sale and picked up a bag of little books and diaries dating from 1912 to 1936. I can't read german at all anymore but bought these as motivation to pick it up again.

What I've found interesting is each little book has something to do with the military, ranging from regiments and order, to what seems like different codes (that booklet includes morse code for certain words as well), to different artillery weapons, and the anatomy of horses. What I don't understand is that almost every one of them has either "Schweizerische Armee" or the white cross printed at the top, yet all the text is German and either about German equipment, or the German army.

From my understanding Switzerland remained neutral during WWII, and only had a very small number of Nazi regime supporting volunteers who faught for Germany.

Anyone care to give a history lesson or might have any idea where these came from? The old lady I bought them off said they were from her great uncle who was a German fighting in WWII and that's all she knows as he never spoke about the war before he passed away.

EDIT: Also, can anyone tell me what "eidgenossische" means? It's printed at the top of only one of the books, followed by "armee"... May have found it, Federal Army?

[Chunk-O-Funk]

This seems relevant to your interest

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidgen%...ische_Sammlung

[popinfresh]

Originally Posted by Chunk-O-Funk

This seems relevant to your interest

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidgen%...ische_Sammlung

Ahh, yeah I found that before searching through google. I'm beginning to think that maybe they're written in Swiss German as some of the words don't translate well, but then again I'm using free online translators which are never perfect anyway.

Maybe I'll start with the hand written journals/diaries and see if anything makes sense..

[RedCoatMonster]

It isn't surprising books in this era of German History are filled with these sorts of things, the influence of Prussian rule set the tone for the perception of a strong work ethic and regiment within Germany from the outside world. I might ask my advisor about this tomorrow if I see him(Im a history major and his main focus is German History). Sounds like a really cool find.

[popinfresh]

Originally Posted by RedCoatMonster

It isn't surprising books in this era of German History are filled with these sorts of things, the influence of Prussian rule set the tone for the perception of a strong work ethic and regiment within Germany from the outside world. I might ask my advisor about this tomorrow if I see him(Im a history major and his main focus is German History). Sounds like a really cool find.

That's awesome, and thanks heaps if you do.

I think i'll start trying to figure out what the journals/diaries say and see if that gets me anywhere first.

[Jimmy Bones]

Pics or no historic awesomeness.

Here in Honolulu, we get all sorts of Pacific Fleet WWII history, but no real Atlantic/European stuff. I'm more interested in the fight against the Nazis myself, because I have ancestry in both the Axis and Allied sides.

[MaHei]

Originally Posted by popinfresh

So I recently went to a yard sale and picked up a bag of little books and diaries dating from 1912 to 1936. I can't read german at all anymore but bought these as motivation to pick it up again.

What I've found interesting is each little book has something to do with the military, ranging from regiments and order, to what seems like different codes (that booklet includes morse code for certain words as well), to different artillery weapons, and the anatomy of horses. What I don't understand is that almost every one of them has either "Schweizerische Armee" or the white cross printed at the top, yet all the text is German and either about German equipment, or the German army.

From my understanding Switzerland remained neutral during WWII, and only had a very small number of Nazi regime supporting volunteers who faught for Germany.

Anyone care to give a history lesson or might have any idea where these came from? The old lady I bought them off said they were from her great uncle who was a German fighting in WWII and that's all she knows as he never spoke about the war before he passed away.

EDIT: Also, can anyone tell me what "eidgenossische" means? It's printed at the top of only one of the books, followed by "armee"... May have found it, Federal Army?

Hard to say what you have without seeing the booklets. They are Swiss for sure. The word "Eidgenössische" is hard to translate but yes, "federal" comes closest.

Are you sure the booklets document German equipment (Now that would be interesting!) and not Swiss equipment? Swiss-German is the most spoken language in Switzerland.

Also, if the diaries go from 1912-1936 there is hardly any relation to the history of WWII. You should be looking at WWI and the period between the wars.

Interesting project, keep us up to date with your findings. Let me know if I can be of any help. I am Swiss and teach history at high-school and college level.

[popinfresh]

Originally Posted by MaHei

Hard to say what you have without seeing the booklets. They are Swiss for sure. The word "Eidgenössische" is hard to translate but yes, "federal" comes closest.

Are you sure the booklets document German equipment (Now that would be interesting!) and not Swiss equipment? Swiss-German is the most spoken language in Switzerland.

Also, if the diaries go from 1912-1936 there is hardly any relation to the history of WWII. You should be looking at WWI and the period between the wars.

Interesting project, keep us up to date with your findings. Let me know if I can be of any help. I am Swiss and teach history at high-school and college level.

Yep, the WWII mention was wrong, I had it in my head because the lady I bought them off said he faught in WWII, but it's very possible he was involved in WWI and the time between as well them I suppose.

I'll throw up some pictures tomorrow (don't even know what I'm doing up at this stupid hour!). One of the booklets refers to a piece of German artillery/light field gun that from what I can find was used in WWII but is dated earlier (1928). On the front cover it says "Artillerie-Reglement III" then below "7,5cm Feldkanonen". Another has "Feldhaubitzen", which from what I've found was a light field Howitzer? and is dated 1919, yet looks the same as the other.

[Tsal]

My guess would be that the person in question had something to do with the Swiss federal army and third artillery regiment of it. Perhaps he trained with the regiment as a Swiss-German between the wars, and later was tempted to join the German army during the WWII? Artillery was usually pulled by horses that day, so sounds like he might have been an artillery NCO, either in the gun crew or in the maintenance section.

[MaHei]

It seems less likely that it would be a documenation of German weaponry. Probably just instruction-manuals for Swiss arms produced in Germany. Germany has always manufactured arms for the Swiss Army.

About the gentleman's involvement, dunno. You could write a historical novel about him.

[Tsal]

I happened to stumble upon this picture, it's a re-enactment of Finnish artillery troops during the WWII. The horses pull a 76mm Russian field cannon, designed in 1902, which has the range of 10 km and saw action during the WWII, ie. 40 years later. Even the old artillery pieces were useful, since the basic function and ammunition remained the same. The more modern designs of that time added mostly some ease of use and mobility. Horses were a preferred method of moving stuff back then, since there was a countless amount of workhorses working on farms, and they didn't need much maintenance or gasoline.

[McHaven]

If you scan some up, I can print it out and do some translations for you. We have both a German military historian here, and a great German professr, both of which I've taken classes from, so it won't be a problem.

[KPAX]

Yeah, it's amazing to see the military evolution from the beginning of the war in 1939 to the end in 1945. In the Polish invasion of 1939, most German artillery (and other) transport was by horse and infantry was on foot. Five years later, everything was mechanized - particularly the US army.

Originally Posted by Tsal

I happened to stumble upon this picture, it's a re-enactment of Finnish artillery troops during the WWII. The horses pull a 76mm Russian field cannon, designed in 1902, which has the range of 10 km and saw action during the WWII, ie. 40 years later. Even the old artillery pieces were useful, since the basic function and ammunition remained the same. The more modern designs of that time added mostly some ease of use and mobility. Horses were a preferred method of moving stuff back then, since there was a countless amount of workhorses working on farms, and they didn't need much maintenance or gasoline.