Even the mark from the crease left by the bullet hole lines up perfectly:
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There's even the glue residue and a small tear where the rear surface of the paper strip is still attached to the page:Comment
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There is now absolutely NO doubt in my mind that this bullet hole was caused by 'the' bullet (or one of the bullets) that ended Christmann's life in that Normandy hedgerow on 20.June 1944...
A truly sobering piece of Normandy Invasion history.
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I always wonder how a soldbuch can stay that clean and in good condition after a bullet got through the Soldbuch and the man got hit.
Very interesting Soldbuch Rob!
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Originally posted by dennisb View Post
Dennis, maybe you can't see from the scans posted by Daniele, but I can assure you that the Soldbuch displays quiet a bit of wear; the cover is wrinkled, worn and definitely stained with blood. The Soldbuch sat with Christmann in the pouring rain for about 3 days, and you can see where the water not only caused many of the hand written entries throughout the book to bleed out onto facing pages, but the water also led to much of the blood soaking into the cover, and along the edges of the pages, too. The wear around the bullet hole - from the front cover, through the pages and through the rear cover - is unquestionably very, very old.
I've taken some pictures both in direct sunlight and in low-level light to illustrate this.
The Soldbuch is very worn (see the wear and blood staining on the fabric spine material) and I'd hardly use the words "clean" and "in good condition" to describe it!
See for yourself.....
RobLast edited by Rob Johnson; 11-08-2009, 12:37 PM.Comment
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This is really an outstanding piece, too bad no interview was made with the US veteran before he died.
I think it is obvious the bullet hole was not there while the German soldier was alive, as I doubt the Germans would tolerate a soldier walking around with a damaged soldbuch. 99% chance the hole was made by one of the bullets that killed the German, and 1% it was made for fun by a US soldier...
It is possible for someone to be shot but bleed very little externaly, paticularly if the bullet hole is "high". For example in this case the bullet could have come in the Germans chest and gone out the back, and the man could have fallen onto his back. Most of the blood would have drained out of the hole on his back.
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