I got this flag from the estate of USAAF Flight Engineer who was shot down and imprisoned in Stalag 17B for the remainder of the war. There was a large POW document and photo lot, but unfortunately, all I got was the flag. I was fortunate enough, however, to have run into this guy once and talked with him.
It is a 150 x 250 Reichskrieg flag. Strips of material were torn off the fly end and given out to his buddies as souvenirs. For this reason, I felt the flag had more significance than maybe just something he traded a pack of cigarettes for.
I envisioned that it came from the POW camp itself. He did, after all, have his POW mugs shots, so he clearly had a chance to rummage around in the German barracks and take what he wanted. And it would make sense to hand pieces of the camp flag to your friends.
Stalag 17B was at Braunau Gneikendorf Near Krems, Austria, and the flag is marked "Bielitz O/Z" (Upper Silesia?). Also, it is Kriegsmarine marked. So does that shoot down any possible association between the flag and a Luft-Stalag in Austria? If so, where might he have gotten it?
The paperwork in the estate indicated that the prisoners were flown out (to England) so they weren't spelunking through Germany looking for souvenirs.
Anyway - any opinions welcomed.
It is a 150 x 250 Reichskrieg flag. Strips of material were torn off the fly end and given out to his buddies as souvenirs. For this reason, I felt the flag had more significance than maybe just something he traded a pack of cigarettes for.
I envisioned that it came from the POW camp itself. He did, after all, have his POW mugs shots, so he clearly had a chance to rummage around in the German barracks and take what he wanted. And it would make sense to hand pieces of the camp flag to your friends.
Stalag 17B was at Braunau Gneikendorf Near Krems, Austria, and the flag is marked "Bielitz O/Z" (Upper Silesia?). Also, it is Kriegsmarine marked. So does that shoot down any possible association between the flag and a Luft-Stalag in Austria? If so, where might he have gotten it?
The paperwork in the estate indicated that the prisoners were flown out (to England) so they weren't spelunking through Germany looking for souvenirs.
Anyway - any opinions welcomed.
IMO an original WW2 period RKF, used by the
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