Feldgrau Author: John P. Moore

[Jason Pipes]

Place holder for discussions specifically related to forum member John P. Moore and his various published works.

John is one of the leading experts on the topic of Officers of the SS and his research cdroms are widely regarded as some the best primary source material available to the WWII historical community. His works include the following.

Signal Officers of the Waffen-SS - Nachrichtenoffiziere der Waffen-SS (originally in hard copy and now greatly expanded in a 3rd edition on cdrom)

Fuhrerliste der Waffen-SS (a multiple cdrom set)

[John P. Moore]

Thank you Jason. I have to give credit to Mark Yerger for what I have accomplished. Many years ago Mark encouraged me to contact Waffen-SS veterans as part of my research and gave me some valuable pointers on getting started. At the time I was more interested in acquiring information for my personal use rather than writing a book. As a former US Army signal officer I set about contacting former Waffen-SS signal officers as I felt we had some common ground. Letters were followed by personal visits to former battalion commanders in Germany. I was repeatedly asked what the purpose of my research was and I could see that personal edification was not a good answer so that was where the idea for a book came up. In 1990 I met with two former Hauptsturmführers from the “Totenkopf” Divison, Paul Steineke and Peter Grams and Hauptsturmführer Fritz Schütter from “Das Reich” in Steineke’s house in Bielefeld over two days. We narrowed the focus of the planned book to an assortment of signal officers from various backgrounds where the individuality of the men would be examined along with brief unit histories from a signal perspective. They were not the stereotypical homogeneous group as many would believe. Over the next several years these veterans introduced me to their wartime comrades and I experienced an excellent level of cooperation along with plenty of personal anecdotes and previously unpublished photos. As many veterans began their military service in the signal branch and later converted to other specialties such as artillery, armor, cavalry and infantry my circle of acquaintances grew significantly. The large format book of over 450 pages resembling a college yearbook was finished in 1995 and presented at the annual reunion of the Waffen-SS signal veterans in Schlüsselfeld in September 1995. The book was well received and I will always treasure the five pages of handwritten comments from the veterans in my personal copy. During the meeting the former SS-Obersturmbannführer Eugen Schlotter, who had been a principal advisor during the project, presented me with his officer sword, Totenkopfring, Iron Cross I, walking stick from the Narwa bridgehead along with a bag of other memorabilia.

That book was self-published which gave me total control of the content. Over the years the content increased greatly and is now produced on two CDs. Unlike a book printed on paper the CDs are produced on demand and regularly updated, thus ensuring that the publication is always current.

John

[Jason Pipes]

The book was well received and I will always treasure the five pages of handwritten comments from the veterans in my personal copy. During the meeting the former SS-Obersturmbannführer Eugen Schlotter, who had been a principal advisor during the project, presented me with his officer sword, Totenkopfring, Iron Cross I, walking stick from the Narwa bridgehead along with a bag of other memorabilia.

Wow!! That is exactly why creating these new sub-threads on Feldgrau authors is so great. I had no idea the history behind Signal Officers of the Waffen-SS and the above background is stunning to say the least. What an honor that must have been.

[Tom Houlihan]

I have to throw in my zwei pfennigs worth about John.

I only have one of his CDs, although I need to get more for my Nord research. That's coming.

When I first asked John about it, I told him what I was trying to do, and which of his productions I needed. Not only was he helpful in directing me towards the one CD (I could only afford one at the time) that would help me, he also sent me a couple of extra files that he knew I would need.

Every time I have had a question for him, he has answered me timely and usually with more information than I had asked for.

His Führerliste is a very valuable collection of information for anyone that needs information about SS officers. Using that information, I put together a matrix for the 4 incarnations of Nord listing what officers were in what positions at different times (45 pages worth!). Now, based on how reports were submitted seventy years ago, and information I have received from Nord veterans, there may be some minor discrepancies in John's information. Not his fault, though!

Führerliste doesn't have much of a plot, but it's an extremely valuable reference. It's author is a good man, and a definite asset to this forum.

[pimberg]

I have found John's research invaluable. I am a very proud owner of his book on the Signal Officers and also his Führerliste CDs.

John's generousity in sharing information and always providing that bit more to whatever you ask him is second to none.

Furthermore whenever I note that John has posted something on the forum I always read it as a priority as I know it will be something very worth reading.

[pzrmeyer2]

During the meeting the former SS-Obersturmbannführer Eugen Schlotter, who had been a principal advisor during the project, presented me with his officer sword, Totenkopfring, Iron Cross I, walking stick from the Narwa bridgehead along with a bag of other memorabilia.

what an unbelievable honor. You must have been very humbled by such a gesture. Keep up the good work, John.

[Mark C Yerger]

Don't know anyone else who could have compiled the "Führerliste," its essential for what I'm doing.

Mark

[Scott Revell]

I will also throw in my 0.02 of a dollar.

John has assisted me in my reearch regarding Waffen-SS officers during the Battle of Arnhem. I have all of his CDs but what impressed me the most is that he takes an interest in what you research. For example, he contacted me out of the blue with a 4 page document regarding my area of research that he found whilst looking for information for someone else and he sent it to me.

He is very professional and helpful and will continue to get information from John regarding my research.

Scott

[John P. Moore]

Thank you everyone for the nice comments.


John

[John P. Moore]

As I mentioned at the beginning of this thread I was especially pleased by how a number of veterans had taken a copy of my “Signal Officers of the Waffen-SS/Nachrichtenoffiziere der Waffen-SS” book and filled up several pages with comments of their own. Here is an example from one page. The first comment is by SS-Sturmbannführer Herbert Schmeisser, who spent the entire war from 1941 -1945 with the SS-Panzer Nachrichten Abteilung 5 “Wiking”, first as a platoon leader and later as company commander and finally as battalion commander where he earned the DKiG. The next comment is from SS-Sturmbannführer Günter Bernau who ended the war as commander of I./SS-Panzer Artillerie Regiment 5 “Wiking” where he received both the DKiG and Ehrenblattspange. Bernau entered the SS-Nachrichtensturmbann in 1937, but was immediately transferred to the LSSAH after it was discovered that he was color blind and would have gotten his wires crossed. After graduating from officer school he was assigned as signal officer to an artillery unit and later became a distinguished artillery officer. After the war Bernau held a senior position in the Bundesnachrichtendienst, the German CIA. The third comments are from SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Gerd Solleder, another signal officer who became an artillery battery commander in “Wiking”. Solleder also received a DKiG. After the war Solleder was a major and S3 staff officer in the auxillary service to the US Army and later taught school for 20 years, retiring as a high school principal. The last comments are from Hans-Otto Wachter, an NCO in the 8.SS-Kavallerie Division “Florian Geyer”. Wachter has self-published dozens of books about the SS Cavalry. Schmeisser and Bernau both published books about the signal troop and artillery regiment of “Wiking".

John

[John P. Moore]

As Mark Yerger mentioned below in the Advice for Authors thread, there is usually not a lot of profit to be made from writing military history books. At best, you might be lucky enough to recover your research costs with some money left over for your next research project. However, there can be other rewards from writing that are not financial. One such example is where the former SS-Obersturmbannführer Eugen Schlotter presented me with his personal officer sword, Führerdegen, at the annual reunion of the Waffen-SS signal veterans in September 1995. Schlotter had successfully commanded signal battalions in the “Florian Geyer” and “Nordland” divisions along with the signal officer candidate school in Metz, thus making his positive recognition of my work even more meaningful. Below is a video capture showing Eugen Schlotter presenting me with his sword. This special gift has far greater value to me than any financial gain from selling books or CDs. I was also blessed that one of the other veterans filmed the entire ceremony on his camcorder and gave me a copy of the tape that he had taken the trouble of converting from PAL to NTSC format.

[John P. Moore]

Along with the sword I received a large certificate that had been prepared by Otto Schaser, a cavalry veteran of SS-Kavallerie Regiment 15. I got to meet him a week later when I attended the annual reunion of the SS-Kavallerie in Sonthofen as Eugen Schlotter's guest.

Schlotter-Schenkungs-Urkund.jpg (154.57 KiB) Viewed 10082 times

[Mark C Yerger]

I totally agree with John on the non financial rewards, those being the reasons I do what I do. Knowing the vets I have and having their support is a supreme accomplishment. I look around in my work area and the signed and dedicated photos the many commanders and award winners gave me continue motivating. Awards given to me by divisional associations are a degree of proof the efforts in this kind of work are both appreciated and worthwhile.

Mark

[Jason Pipes]

Very, very impressive John. Very moving indeed. Thank you for sharing what has to be a very personal experience as a result of writing that book.

I don't recall if it's been asked, do you have plans for additional books in the future on other topics?

[John P. Moore]

Thanks Mark & Jason. I don't have any definite plans at the moment to publish anything new, just improvements to what I already have available.

Along with his sword Eugen Schlotter also gave me his Totenkopfring with a date of 20.4.37.

John