Nurses / Blitzmädel and other female volunteers

[Vikki]

Agreed - "Mun.Anst." = Munitions Anstalt, commonly abbreviated as MUNA. A Luftwaffe Munitionsanstalt would be a LuftMUNA. I believe the "Hpt." to equal Haupt- ; therefore, the abbreviation probably stands for Luftwaffe Haupt Munitionsanstalt - Luftwaffe Main Ammunition Site (normally an area where ammunition was both manufactured and stored).

Geoff Walden

Geoff,

Thanks for the information! Another piece in the puzzle of that tag, and a much more plausible explanation. Do you think from that inscription it would have been a personnel tag (an Erkennungsmarke), or a "dog tag" that was reused for some other labelling purpose, as Siegfried suggested?

~FV

[Vikki]

BTW and for those interested, the photograph in question can found at:

Michaelis, Prof. Dr. Herbert et al. Der 2. Weltkrieg – Bilder Daten Dokumente. Gesamtherstellung Mohndruck Reinhard Mohn OHG, Gütersloh. Pg. 516.

[A work I highly recommend. A welcome addition to anyone’s (relevant) library, even if you don’t read German; the amount of pictorial coverage, the detailed charts and maps make this a valuable reference tool and resource all it’s own.]

Karl

Karl,

I don't know the book. Does the author give a caption for the picture?

The piece of equipment I think maybe you're referring to (and which I've seen photos of Luftwaffe Helferinnen using) is more usually associated with infantrymen. They do look like periscopes, or telescopes, but held horizontally. Müller's German Flak in World War II calls it a "1m R36 Range Finder." From the location of the enemy on it, the distance siter called the distance to the gun's aimer.

(This is beginning to sound like "Seven Blind Men Describing an Elephant"....!)


~FV

[Karl]

I don't know the book.

You should get it. See my short recommendation above.

Does the author give a caption for the picture?

Yes, he does.

‘Luftwaffenhelferinnen an Punktgeräten.’

I don’t know what that is.

Müller's German Flak in World War II calls it a "1m R36 Range Finder." From the location of the enemy on it, the distance siter called the distance to the gun's aimer.

Mmm. Why are there so many in a small area?

(This is beginning to sound like "Seven Blind Men Describing an Elephant"....!)

Yea right.

[kstdk]

Hello all

Just a link i stumbled over:

http://www.angelfire.com/sk3/geruniform/Luft_women.html

A little info on the subject.

Regards
Kurt
kstdk.

[Vikki]

Does the author give a caption for the picture?

Yes, he does.

‘Luftwaffenhelferinnen an Punktgeräten.’

I don’t know what that is.

I couldn't come up with a literal translation that made sense, so I asked Mark ("nondescript handle"). He very kindly provided this translation: “Luftwaffe Helferinnen at (or with) spot (or point) devices.”

However, that's about as clear as it gets. As Mark pointed out, and I agree, the usual term for an optical range finder is Entfernungsmesser. Why the author chose to use the term Punktgerät is a mystery, unless perhaps he/she thought it would be a more understandable (less technical) term. Still (assuming the two blind people are talking about the same piece of apparatus!), I would take "point or spot devices" to have the same meaning.

To confuse the issue even more....you are talking about tube-like devices held up to the face horizontally, aren't you? I also have photos of Helferinnen using devices that look like an surveyor's transit (a box on a tripod that they look down into---also used in a military sense in artillery siting).

Müller's German Flak in World War II calls it a "1m R36 Range Finder." From the location of the enemy on it, the distance siter called the distance to the gun's aimer.

Mmm. Why are there so many in a small area?

Again, without having seen the photo, I'd suggest that the picture was taken of the Helferinnen while they were assembled for training? Very many technical pictures, and published ones of Helferinnen with equipment, were taken during training exercises or posed.

~FV

[nondescript handle]

Code: Select all

Müller's German Flak in World War II calls it a "1m R36 Range Finder."

Just to be the third blind person:

I'm not familiar with the 1m R34 range finder, but the "1m" indicates a distance between the optics of one meter in the German terminology. That would rule out the use of that device for directing anti-aircraft artillery against high flying bombers, i.e. in a "home defence" role. For directing fire against that type of target one needs an optical range finder with a base distance of at least three meters.

The range finders of heavy anti aircraft artillery (88mm, 105mm and 128mm) batteries had a base of four meters and were incorperated in the Kommandogerät (fire control unit) 34 and 40. These fire control units were big devices mounted on trailers and neighter hand held nor on a tripod.

Regards
Mark

[Vikki]

Hi Mark!

As usual, your information is golden! It makes sense from an artillery siting/range of the gun perspective. And it gives me something else to go on, when I see pictures of Helfs using range-finding equipment, as to what type of gun's battery they might have been in.

I've seen those types of heavy-mounted range-finding equpment, but can't recall whether I've ever seen female personnel working them. Now I'll be checking photos, including some of my own, to see.

~FV

[Heimatschuss]

Hello,

Luftwaffe had a great need for these special ladies. I have some interesting photos of ‘Luftwaffenhelferinnen an Punktgeräten und Luftlagekarten’. Regarding the former, they seem to be massed on elevated platforms, each armed with periscope type devices.
Karl

(This is beginning to sound like "Seven Blind Men Describing an Elephant"....!)

for the ladies with the light pointers take a look here http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... &start=252





Best regards
Torsten

[ace068]

Hello Axis-Forum!
My Grandma was a Blitzmädchen during WWII and served at several airbases in Chezchoslovakia, Poland, Romania and other countries as a Luftwaffenhelferin. She wrote - after she told me her stories over and over again, when I was a kid - her whole WWII-memories down. And I'm glad she did!
It is written in German, some chapters are listed online and the whole 100-pages-book is also available free for download on her homepage http://members.aon.at/blitzmaedchen (I made for my grandma ...
I could'nt and even can't imagine how hard it was for a young girl in war - she lost the love of her live (he was am pilot on a me-109) and many comrades, stranded as a war-refugee in Salzburg and could not return to her parents in Beuthen, which was in Poland after the War ...
But read the book for the whole story of my grandma - there are also some pictures in it (for the non-german-speking-community-members

[Maurice Laarman]

A new book in German language has appeared:

http://www.kreiszeitung.de/nachrichten/ ... 79602.html

Kind regards,

Maurice

[kathy]

Thank you, Ace, for the link. It's about time you found your way here.

Kath

[aquarya]

Thanks for doing the book, ace068, and posting it. It's always great to have female voices from the war, and this just happens to be an area I'm researching right now. In gratitude, Heather

[tigre]

Hello to all ; they also paid the price........................

Military service and destiny!

Source: http://www.guntherprienmilitaria.com.mx ... guerra.php

Cheers. Raúl M .