Deutsche Soldaten: The Uniforms, Equipment and Personal Effects of the German 1935-1945

authoritative, encyclopedic reference to WWII German militaria

DEUTSCHE SOLDATEN - Uniforms, Equipment & Personal Items of the German Soldier 1939-45 by Augustin Saiz. Casemate, Drexel Hill, PA 19026; casemate@casematepublishing.com. 2008. $55.00 hardcover, 8-1/2" x 12", ISBN 978-1-932033-96-0. color/black-and-white photographs, bibliography.

The personal items were ones issued by the Germany Army to its soldiers for their personal use, not articles brought by troops from home for example. Forks and spoons, soap, razors, cameras, eyeglasses, pens, and sewing kits were among the domestic sorts of items. But rifles, pistols, gas masks, uniforms (including such accouterments as gloves and socks), helmets, maps, and binoculars were military items considered as personal because they were meant for individual soldiers (as opposed to trucks or tanks for instance). The work brings all of such individual items together.

Saiz's book which is both a historical record and collecting guidebook for these World War II personal items is nothing short of encyclopedic. Nearly all of the items are from his personal collection gathered over 40 years. Historians, researchers, collectors, etc., will find the innumerable color photographs helpful and often decisive in identifying such varied articles as German Army equipment or memorabilia in the first place. With so many of the items imitating or resembling normal domestic or consumer articles, identification of many of them as military items can be tricky. Saiz's expert notes are helpful as well; and often handy or decisive especially in dating certain items. For example, one canteen is "a late model [for] mountain troops and medical personnel [whose] differences from the previous model [pictured in an adjacent photograph] are notable...Production ceased in 1944." Similarly, ammunition clips are dated 1943 and 1944, and so on. The photographs of documents are particularly helpful in identification of these given their German wording. Saiz does not go so far as to translate, but one is at least able to recognize what kind a document one would have.

Going through the pages of articles categorized by type--belts and buckles, decorations, food, and tobacco are others--the militaria collector or historian will be able to visualize the German soldier making use of the diverse articles. One gets a more refined idea of camp life as well as combat.

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