This group of items we purchased from Jim Fleetwood son of Alvin H Fleetwood a Veteran of the US 71st Infantry Division..
As you can see Alvin ammased a large collection of mint Nazi Militaria including mint armbands, awards, unissued SS insignia from Dachau and of particular interest to myself was the SS insignia that Alvin in his capacity as a US Medic removed from the tunic of an SS wounded prisoner that he treated , these include a bloodstained Waffen SS rank patch ,a bloodstained Waffen SS Edelweiss sleeve patch and a Krim armshield.
Also from the same SS soldier is the large Skull ring pictured , this is a scarce Hollow Skull type showing good wear.. below is an extract from Alvin’s Postwar Memoirs ..Jim was an absolute pleasure to deal with and he understood how much his father’s service and Artifacts mean to us.
So you can get a clearer perspective of time, my 71» Infantry Division arrived in Doudeville, France near LeHavre, February 7, 1945, where we established a staging area. Joining the 7th Army, we went into combat March 12. Moving fast, On March 30, we joined General Patton’s 31 Army In a period of only 92 days of tough, savage and constant fighting we advanced 1,060 miles, captured over 80,000 prisoners of war and reached the eastern-most point reached by American Ground Forces in the European Theater.
On that day my Regiment was fighting to cross the Isar River NE
of Dachau. I first visited Dachau on July 2, receiving first-hand information.
When the 45th Division task force arrived, the main gate was locked so they scaled the brick wall surrounding the Camp. Unable to see the confinement center, they took on the SS Troops manning the guard towers along with vicious guard dogs. The battle was brief. The number of barracks and other buildings hid the confimement area which occupied only a small portion of the total camp area. Great confusion resulted from capturing about 50
German troops, machine gun squads and several hundred German prisoners.
Contact Chris or Fraser and we will be happy to give you a fair payment for your WW2 German souvenirs.
