Feldgrau Author: Marc Rikmenspoel

[pimberg]

That's great to hear Marc. Very much looking forward to the book when it is published. Have a great 2011.

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

Good news, I have now signed a contract with Helion for this book. We don't have a title yet, but it will likely be something that includes the words Wiking, Nordland and Nederland, which will make it clear that the contents will be about those units, rather than just about the Germanic volunteers themselves.

The reality is that any study of the various foreign volunteer units will include plenty of Reichsdeutsche individuals. And, honestly, I believe a book that implicitly covers Wiking and the related units will sell better, and be of more overall interest, than one that is only about individual Germanic volunteers. I know a few people would like to see the latter, but I hope they'll enjoy that sort of photo mixed in with, say, photos of Jürgen Wagner as commander of Germania and Nederland.

[John P. Moore]

That is indeed good news Marc and I know that we can expect a high-quality product from Helion. Any estimate on when this book would be published? Now that the scope of the book is clear are there any changes to your needs from other possible contributors?

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

I'm driving to College Park, Maryland, on Sunday, to access the US National Archives on Monday through Wednesday next week. I bought a new scanner, so I'll be ready to scan hundreds of photos for this latest book and future projects. Once my work there is done, I'll have a much better idea of my remaining needs. I'll share those after my trip.

Charles Trang has told me that on his visits to the NARA, he has encountered various known authors doing research. Will I meet any next week? If anyone will be there, please let me know, otherwise I'll also report, after, on any I've met.

I hope to be done assembling the book by June or July, for publication a year afterward. But "hope" is all I can offer at this point. I'll certainly post updates from time to time. Thanks to all who have already helped, or already offered!

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

I had to postpone my trip by one day, but I'm typing this now in College Park, and Tuesday morning I'll be at the NARA. I don't know yet whether I'll stay over till Thursday, but doing so is certainly a possibility. Meanwhile, I'm so excited to begin that I can hardly stand it!

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

I had a good day today. I knew this would be a day of learning my way around, and so it was. One very good thing was that I put in a request for the Help Lady to pull the Ribbentrop Collection of Waffen-SS Kriegsberichter contact sheets, knowing that the next records pull wasn't scheduled for another two hours. However, 15 minutes later, she wheeled them up to me on a cart. Whoever had them earlier had just finished using them, and so now they were mine to scan!

I had to take a look through what they encompassed. Sadly, they end at about late May, 1944. Several guys I wanted to see weren't there (Werner Stille and Henri Reinsberg, for example), and several others lacked their late-war images (Werner Mielke, Hermann Gronert, and Alois Jarolim). I did scan everything I wanted from Bruno Wisniewski and most of what I wanted from Jarolim. I'll continue with Jarolim Wednesday morning, and move on to some great Legion Nederland and Brigade Langemarck material.

The Help Lady showed me a translation they had done of a document they found. It is from late 1944, and gives the fate of a number of the Bildbericheters. I learned that Wisniewski and Helmut Moebius were both KIA at Narva during March 1944! Winiewski's last contact strip is dated March 1, and he died just six days later. Moebius died twenty days later, on the 26th.

I've incorporated that information into my ever-growing Bildberichter list, and have offered a copy to the NARA. It may help future researchers who access the material.

[John P. Moore]

Marc - Thanks for posting those observations. I am envious of you being able to spend a week at NARA together with the accompanying excitement of research and the prospect of surprising documents or photos.

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

Thanks John, but it's not a week, just three days. All I'm doing is frantically scanning photos out of contact sheets. I'll have to come back in the future and really spend a week getting more of them! There's all sorts of good material never or rarely seen so far, such as Prinz Eugen division photos.

Yesterday, I scanned numerous new-to-me Dutch and Norwegian Legion photos. Today, I'll be finishing up odds and ends, and then driving home. I've scanned 386 photos so far, and should end up with a total of 500 or more. But I still need Waffen-SS War Reporter photos from June 1944 onward. So if anyone can help, please do so, and I'll be happy to share scans with you!

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

I've built up a really nice collection of photos for my project, and have begun writing captions. I'm still covering Reg. Germania before the war, but should reach Poland and the Western Campaign this weekend. This is all set-up for the main action, but I think it gives a fuller picture (so to speak) this way.

Helion and I have a working title for the project, "Sunwheels and Siegrunen : Wiking, Nordland, Nederland and the Germanic Waffen-SS in Photos." I came up with it, and they like it, but it is certainly subject to change. What do folks here think of it?

[Charles Trang]

Excellent title ! It says it all.

[dgc47]

I received Waffen SS Encyclopedia as a birthday gift and have to say that it is a brilliant book. Marc is to be congratulated and I look forward to adding his other works to my collection. I applaud this site for allowing me the opportunity to thank the author. Thanks

[raingun]

Finally，Mr Marc Rikmensopel's excellent photo book"Sunwheels and Siegrunen: Wiking, Nordland, Nederland and the Germanic Waffen-SS in Photographs Volume 1 " will publish November 19, 2014

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[dgc47]

Finally，Mr Marc Rikmensopel's excellent photo book"Sunwheels and Siegrunen: Wiking, Nordland, Nederland and the Germanic Waffen-SS in Photographs Volume 1 " will publish November 19, 2014

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Just ordered Sunwheels and Siegrunen vol 1, can't wait for it to arrive.

[Charles Trang]

Great work by Marc, as usual !

[lwd]

Congratulations. I hope it goes smoothly and does well.