Kriegsmarine Leitstand bunker manual

[simondodkins]

Kriegsmarine battery command bunker manual for sale. £650.00 firm.

This is a large and impressive red-covered Kriegsmarine manual for the apparatus and workings of a ‘Leitstand’ German navy coastal artillery command bunker. Published by the Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine in 1942, this manual is marked ‘Geheim’ (Secret) and is individually numbered 103. Each manual printed must be specifically numbered for a particular battery somewhere along the Atlantic Wall, perhaps even the Normandy sector. The German manual reference is M Dv. Nr. 466.

The manual has gotten wet at some stage, and the red colour has bled through the first few pages of the book at the front and the back. Perhaps a KM German officer, prior to surrendering or being captured, tried to dispose of the manual by throwing it into water? KM manuals were made with ink designed to dissolve in water so it is intriguing to imagine if this happened just before the manual was saved by an Allied soldier before the ink ran.....

What is interesting is that within the front cover are British Admiralty capture stamps, indicating that the manual became Admiralty property after the German coastal battery fell to the Allies.

The manual itself consists of a dozen or so pages of explanatory notes and 34 large impressive technical plates taking the form of large fold-out plans, diagrams and photos of the bunker and the incredibly rare range finding and plotting apparatus within a German coastal artillery command bunker. The use and function of each item is explained in detail. There is even a diagram of where each Matrosen stood in the command bunker when the apparatus was manned.

The technical details within the manual were of great help to the author of the recently published Batterie Lothringen book about the coastal artillery battery located at Noirmont Point, Jersey. Batterie Lothringen has the exact same command bunker as described in this manual.

The price reflects the rarity and interest in this book. I have not undertaken any research to attempt to identify which German battery this comes from - I’ll leave that to the winner.

I ship worldwide - ask for a quote.

Good luck!

P.s. I cannot seem to upload photos - file size is too big, so check out the EBay listing for photos:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3666491389