Legion

1936 · 142062 — Spain & northern Europe: 1936-41. Auf-zum! so ging es tagtäglich" "Off we go! That's how it went every day" An exceptional and unusually complete archive documenting the career of Leutnant Konrad Ellermann a decorated airman who served with the Condor Legion in Spain and later in flying-boat operations on the Eismeer Front. Centred on two meticulously compiled photograph albums and augmented by scarce supporting documents it offers a rare coherent visual record of theatres where comprehensive personal archives seldom survive. The first album charts his Condor Legion service beginning with 43 tourist views of Spain and 25 informal images of squadron life followed by sequences showing Heinkel 59 flying boats in preparation and in flight with aerial views of enemy positions and bomb damage. Ellermann dedicates a page to comrades killed in March 1938 almost certainly the crew of the HE 59 downed near Cambrils and records their funerals and repatriation. Additional images include Condor Legion fighters He 51 He 112 Bf 109 long-range raids from Portbou to Oropesa and bombed railway lines. A section headed "Einiges von den Taten!" depicts two merchant vessels sunk by his unit - the British SS Jean Weems and the Danish SS Edith - alongside further action shots. The album closes with off-duty scenes and high-quality aerial photographs of Pollença Tangier and Portbou. The second album covers northern service. It opens with trials of the Dornier Do 26 flying boat in late 1938 with fine airborne views images of the second prototype and photographs of Dornier staff at work. Other aircraft represented include the Blohm & Voss Ha 139 the Latécoère 521 and the Dornier Do 18. Around 20 aerial views of Norway follow including encounters with He 111s and Ellermann's aircraft moored in Rombaken fjord culminating in a medal ceremony featuring Oberleutnant Karl Otto Max Barth. A final section documents his posting with Flussklärungsfliegerstaffel 1/125 in Finland with portraits of his Heinkel HD 114 scenes in Helsinki and Turku maintenance shots and a concluding portrait of Ellermann. Born in Geisingen in 1915 Ellermann began as a funkmeister before becoming an observer in 1938. He received the Iron Cross First and Second Class the Narvikschild the Frontflugspange für Kampfflieger in gold and silver the Luftwaffe Honour Cup and the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold. His service included AS-88 in Spain 1937-38 Sonderstaffel Tr. O 1939-41 Küstenflieger-Staffel 1/406 in Norway 1942-43 and Seeaufklärungsgruppe 131 1943-45. His surviving logbook records 484 flights between October 1937 and March 1944 378 of them operational including 62 Condor Legion sorties on ships and towns such as Barcelona Sagunto and Alicante. Later missions encompassed reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols over the North Sea and Norwegian coast one section countersigned by Captain Martin Harlinghausen later the Luftwaffe's leading ship-killer of the Second World War. 4 items. Album 1: 245 x 320 mm original pale red and white rough-weave cloth punch holes at spine golden brown fastening cord bookseller's ticket of Otto Memmert Kiel; 222 original photographs on 24 black card leaves mainly deckle-edged snapshot images most 60 x 90 mm some larger up to 110 x 170 mm manuscript "title page" in coloured chalks with crossed Spanish and Nazi flags. Album 2: 250 x 330 mm original dark red faux leather punch holes to spine white coated-wire fastening tape bookseller's ticket of Bohrer & Co Kiel; 171 original photographs 50 x 60 mm to 240 x 180 mm on 24 tan card leaves glassine guards; manuscript "title page" with illustration of Nazi eagle above legend; 2 divisional pages first with watercolour drawing of unit insignia ram's skull above title; second with watercolour drawing of unit insignia penguin wearing clogs and flying over sea above title. Soldbuch: 28 pp 145 x 100 mm original blue card printed wrappers Ellerman's photograph mounted on inside front cover punch holes with metal eyelets to front cover. Log book: 100 x 155 mm pp. 114. Original marbled sides green cloth spine paper label on front cover. Album 1 in very good condition; Album 2 with a little wear to binding shallow indentations to covers leaf loose; Soldbuch: general signs of handling paper sometime taped around spine; Log book with some loss of marbled paper from front cover a little finger soiling. A well-preserved group. Sebastian Cox & Peter Gray eds Air Power History: Turning Points from Kitty Hawk to Kosovo 2002. hardcover