Extremely Rare Third Reich Vehicle Pennant of Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg Reichsminister of War & Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces

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Extremely Rare Third Reich Vehicle Pennant of Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg Reichsminister of War & Commander..

Catalogue Auction Information

Fine Militaria Auction (11) 04/02/20 10:00 AM Closed
Starts Ending 04/02/20 10:00 AM GMT

Lot 545Extremely Rare Third Reich Vehicle Pennant of Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg Reichsminister of War & Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces

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Lot closed - Winning bid:£5,000 (1 bid)

Estimate: £5,000 - £8,000

Description

Extremely Rare Third Reich Vehicle Pennant of Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg Reichsminister of War & Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces
Extremely Rare Third Reich Vehicle Pennant of Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg Reichsminister of War & Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces, superb quality original vehicle pennant which is all finely chained stitched, large central swastika in the battle flag design, with the corners having armed forces down winged eagles and Iron Crosses. All the detail is chain stitched in white thread, adding to the visual effect of the piece. The double sided pennant is housed on its original vehicle fixing pole. This flag is the 2nd model flag for this position, introduced in 1935. Full details of this flag and pictures of it in service can be seen in the reference work “Uniforms & Traditions of the German Army 1939-1945” by Angolia and Schlicht. This is a unique chance to own something belonging to a very important figure in the creation of the German Wehrmacht.
General Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg was born on 2nd September 1878 in Stargard, Pomerania, Prussia. He was born into a noble Baltic German family. Joined the army in 1897 and he entered the Prussian Military Academy in 1904. He entered the General Staff in 1908. During WW1 as a staff officer on the Western Front, he was awarded the famous Pour le Merite, better known as the Blue Max. In 1920, Blomberg was appointed chief of staff of the Döberitz Brigade, and in 1921 was made chief of staff of the Stuttgart Army Area. In 1925, Blomberg was made chief of army training by General Hans von Seeckt. By 1927, Blomberg was a major-general and chief of the Troop Office, which was the thinly disguised German General Staff forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles.
During the time of the Weimar Republic, von Blomberg visited the Soviet Union and was very impressed with the emerging Red Army, this convinced him that a totalitarian dictatorship was the way forward for the Military. Blomberg fell out with his senior commanders and was sent to command the German forces in East Prussia, which was a very small command. It was during this time that he made preparations for the event that Germany would go to war with Poland. Blomberg struck up good relations with the Nazi Sturmabteilung (S.A) in East Prussia, this would allow him a certain amount of fighting men. Blomberg could see the emergence of the Nazi party in Germany and was a great supporter, believing they were the way forward to bring back Germany as a major nation in the newly forming world order. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Blomberg was appointed as Minister of Defence, as a result he became one of Adolf Hitler’s most devoted followers. One of his first jobs in his new role was to remove a large number of the armed forces top brass, all of which were people who supported people he fell out with during the earlier years. Von Blomberg fell out with the leader of the SA Ernst Rohm, as Rohm wanted to make the SA take over as the main military force of the Third Reich, something that Blomberg disagreed with strongly.
In 1935, the Ministry of Defence was renamed the Ministry of War; Blomberg also took the title of commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In 1936, the loyal Blomberg was the first Generalfeldmarschall appointed by Hitler. He was also the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, the Wehrmacht, although Hitler was the Supreme Commander of the military due to his dictatorial position as the Führer of Germany. Blomberg was opposed to Germany getting heavily involved in the conflict in Spain during the Civil War. As a result this alienated him from the other prominent military leaders in Nazi Germany, mostly Hermann Goring and Heinrich Himmler. The two of them conspired to get him out of power. Adolf Hitler made it clear that he wanted to go to war in Eastern Europe, something which Blomberg did not disagree with, but just wanted to wait until Germany was in a better position, military wise.
Hermann Goring and Heinrich Himmler found an opportunity to strike against Blomberg in January 1938, when the general, then 59, married his second wife, Erna Gruhn. Blomberg had been a widower since the death of his first wife Charlotte in 1932. Gruhn was a 25 year-old typist and secretary, but the Berlin police had a long criminal file on her and her mother, a former prostitute. Among the reports was information that in 1932, Erna Gruhn had posed for pornographic photos. This was reported to the Berlin police chief, Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorf, who went to Wilhelm Keitel with the file on the new Mrs. Blomberg. Helldorff said he was uncertain about what to do. Keitel in his turn, seeing a chance to destroy Blomberg's career, told Helldorf to take the file to Göring, which he did. Göring, who had served as best man to Blomberg at the wedding, used the file to argue Blomberg was unfit to serve as a war minister. Göring then informed Hitler, who had been present at the wedding. Hitler ordered Blomberg to annul the marriage to avoid a scandal and to preserve the integrity of the army. The upcoming wedding of one of Blomberg's daughters, Dorothea, would have been threatened by scandal. She was engaged to Karl-Heinz Keitel, eldest son of Wilhelm Keitel. Blomberg refused to end his marriage but, when Göring threatened to make public the pasts of Erna Gruhn and her mother, Blomberg was forced to resign his posts to avoid this, which he did on 27 January 1938. His daughter was married in May the same year. As a consequence, Hitler took personal command of the military, he retained the title of Supreme Commander, abolished the Ministry of War and in its place, created the High Command of the Armed Forces (OKW) under his control, to be the supervisory body of the Wehrmacht. Keitel, who would be promoted to the rank of field marshal in 1940, and Blomberg's former right-hand man, would be appointed by Hitler as the Chief of the OKW of the Armed Forces. Keitel thus became the de facto Minister of War.
Generalfeldmarschall von Blomberg and his wife subsequently went on a honeymoon for a year to the island of Capri. Admiral Erich Raeder decided that Blomberg needed to commit suicide in order to atone for his marriage, and dispatched an officer to Italy, who followed the Blomberg’s around on their honeymoon, persistently and unsuccessfully trying to force Blomberg to commit suicide. Blomberg spent the war in obscurity, Blomberg was arrested by the Allies in 1945 and later he gave evidence at the Nuremberg war trials. Blomberg's health declined rapidly while he was in detention at Nuremberg, facing the contempt of his former colleagues and the intention of his young wife to abandon him. On 12 October 1945, he noted in his diary that he weighed slightly over 72 kilograms. He was diagnosed with colorectal cancer on 20 February 1946. Resigned to his fate and gripped by depression he spent the final weeks of his life refusing to eat. Blomberg died on 14 March 1946, his body buried without ceremony in an unmarked grave. Later on his remains were cremated and interred in his residence in Bad Wiessee. Categories: WW2 German Militaria
Estimate:
Shipping info
General delivery information available from the auctioneer
- C&T Auctioneers and Valuers Ltd offer an in house post and packing service for most auctions, except our specialist Toy Soldiers and Figures Auctions,which is conducted by Mailboxes Tunbridge Wells or Jentel Packing.
- We are not able to offer in house post and packing on invoice totals over £3,000 or very fragile, large or heavy items. These items will also need to be shipped by specialist shippers.
Please contact our office 01233 510050 for further information.
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For lots we are not able to offer in house shipping;

We can recommend the following companies for shipping, who will be happy to quote and pick up:

MailBoxes TunbridgeWells

t: 01892510155

Email:greg@mbetunbridgewells.co.uk

Jentel Packing

t: 01268 776777

Email: enquiries@jentelpacking.co.uk

Lots can be collected the next working day after the auction,if the sale is a multiple day auction, collection only available after the final day of the auction,or a exhibition/fair we are attending

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PLEASE READ OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE BIDDING THANK YOU.
Terms and conditions

Buyers Premium:    Winning bidders agree to pay the winning bid plus the buyers premium charged by the auction house, this is currently 20% + VAT (24% total). Buyers purchasing via an online live bidding platform, bid.candtauctions.co.uk will be charged by the auction house an additional 2% +VAT on the hammer price, the-saleroom.com will be charged an additional 4.95% + VAT on the hammer price.

If you are successful in an auction with an absentee, telephone or internet bid, you will be invoiced, normally within 48 hours of the auction taking place. This invoice will normally include a shipping quote (please note we do not offer in house packing for toy soldier sales) These invoices are sent via email and have an attachment. Once you have had this invoice we require full payment within 7 days, unless another arrangement has been made with the auction house. Items must be collected from C&T Auctioneers and Valuers within 7 days of payment being made, unless agreement is in place with C&T Auctioneers and Valuers.

Shipping

C&T Auctioneers and Valuers offer an in house postal service for this auction, unless stated. However if an item(s) are too large or need specialist shipping methods, this will be conducted by a third party firm.This also relates to lots of a certain value.

C&T Auctioneers and Valuers are not responsible for any damage caused when items are in transit with postal or courier firms. We are also not responsible for any package sent either by ourselves or any third party company which is lost in transit.

PLEASE READ OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS BELOW BEFORE BIDDING THANK YOU

Terms & Conditions

When participating in an auction conducted by C&T Auctioneers and Valuers you are bound by these conditions without exception. All public auctions held by C&T Auctioneers and Valuers are exempt from the Sale of Goods Act. Please make sure that you agree and understand these conditions.

BUYER

1:            C&T Auctioneers and Valuers at no point are the legal owners of the lots offered in our auctions. We act solely as an agent between the Vendor and the Buyer.

2:            The highest bidder of any lot will not become the legal owner of the lot until all associated fees have been paid to the Auction House, this includes any fees charged by the auction house.

3:            Winning bidders agree to pay the winning bid plus the buyers premium charged by the auction house, this is currently 20% + VAT (24% total). Buyers purchasing via a online live bidding platform will be charged an additional 4.95% + VAT on the hammer price.

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7:            Telephone bids will only be accepted for lots with a bottom pre sale estimate of £200 or more. Telephone bids will only be accepted for lots with a pre sale estimate of under £200 if you are bidding on multiple lots which equal over £100 or are known to the auction house and have an agreement in place. International bidders we will only accept telephone bids on lots with a pre sale estimate of £500 or more.

8:            Bids are accepted solely at the auctioneers discretion. The auctioneer has the legal right to re-open any lot in the auction, even if the hammer has come down. Any bids left via a third party, including a online bidding platform, are not classed as absentee bids and are taken as if a room bid. This may mean that the maximum bid you have left will fall on the bidder in the room, C&T Auctioneers and Valuers are not liable or responsible for any failure for your bid to be executed. C&T Auctioneers and Valuers are also not responsible for any error or problem with any bidding platform software used in the room or at the bidders location.

9:            Conditions stated of items are the opinion of the cataloguer for the auction house. It is advised that interested bidders should view items in person or ask for condition reports of any defects. Condition will not be accepted for a reason to return a lot.

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12:          Any statement made in the description of a lot is the opinion of the specialist cataloguer and will be either from evidence he or she has at the time of writing the description, this may also be information provided by the vendor of the lot. We advise all bidders to confirm this information before the auction takes place.

13:          If bidders and buyers who are not experts in the lots they are interested in, we would recommend that they seek independent advice on the lots and the value before bidding.

14:          All successful buyers in the auction room, must pay and collect their items on the day of the sale unless an agreement is in place with the auction house.

15:          If you are successful in an auction with an absentee, telephone or internet bid, you will be invoiced, normally within 48 hours of the auction taking place. This invoice will normally include a shipping quote. These invoices are sent via email and have an attachment. Once you have had this invoice we require full payment within 7 days, unless another arrangement has been made with the auction house. Items must be collected from C&T Auctioneers and Valuers within 7 days of payment being made, unless agreement is in place with C&T Auctioneers and Valuers.

16:          C&T Auctioneers and Valuers do offer an in house postal service for most items in our auctions, unless stated. However if an item(s) are too large or need specialist shipping methods, this will be conducted by a third party firm. Details of the firm we recommend will be passed onto buyers in this case. This also relates to lots of a certain value. PLEASE NOTE C&T AUCTIONEERS AND VALUERS ARE NOT A SHIPPING COMPANY, WE WOULD ASK ALL BUYERS TO BE PATIENT AND ITEMS ARE DEALT WITH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS.

17:          C&T Auctioneers and Valuers are not responsible for any damage caused when items are in transit with postal / courier firms. We are also not responsible for any package sent either by ourselves or any third party company which is lost in transit.

18:          C&T Auctioneers and Valuers declare the full value of any lot sent to international buyers. We are not responsible for any customs import charges of the country of destination. It is the buyers responsibility to make sure they can legally import the item into their country. We advise international buyers if they are not sure of any import issue, to obtain independent advice.

19:          C&T Auctioneers and Valuers accept the following methods of payment, Cash in UK pounds sterling up to £3,000, Personal Cheques (must clear before goods are dispatched), Debit cards, Credit cards (2% surcharge will be added if paying with a credit card from clients outside the EU only), Bank Transfers (Please note that if paying by this method the amount received after the deduction of any bank fees or currency conversion of payment to UK pound sterling must not be less than the sterling amount payable as set out on the invoice).

Credit card payments where the card holder is not present will only be accepted for transactions up to £500.

20:          If you purchase an item and you are not happy with the originality of an item you must contact the auction house within 7 days of receiving the lot(s), it is then solely up to the auctioneers discretion to issue a refund. Proof of error in description may be required, this is the responsibility of the purchaser to obtain this information and any fees associated with this are not refundable by C&T Auctioneers and Valuers. We will only accept information by a professional in the chosen field, we will not accept any information from a private individual or internet collector’s forum. Any payment fees or postage fees associated with any lot cannot be refunded.

21:          If originality of an item is accepted proven after the vendor has been paid for a lot, it is up to the vendor, if they are willing to issue a refund. C&T Auctioneers and Valuers are unable to offer a refund without having an agreement from the vendor. Refunds will only be issued to the purchaser of the item and not if the item has been given or sold to a third party.

23: Items purchased must be posted, collected and removed from our premises within two weeks following the sale. Thereafter a daily storage charge of £2 per lot + VAT at prevailing rate. Continued failure to collect or arrange shipping will result in the goods being sold without further notice and without reserve to recover the costs for storage unless agreement has been made in writing with us.

24: All items sold are sold as collectors items, recommended for display use only and we do not advise or take any responsibility if used for the purpose for which they were designed for.

25: Any lots with the following symbol ^, will indicate that a CITES license will be required before the lot can be shipped outside of the EU.

26. Sales to other EC member states

Sales made under the Auctioneers’ Scheme to other member states are treated in the same way as sales within the UK. The sales are liable to VAT in the UK.