Revealed: The Luftwaffe-issued watch German navigator
tried to hide in his PANTS after being captured in the aftermath of D-Day
Timepiece is one of four 'liberated' by officer who
interrogated POWs
POWs often tried to conceal valuable items on
themselves when caught
One airman stuffed watch in underpants, hoping captors
would not look
Four watches being sold at Dorset auction with total
estimate of £8,000
By MARK
DUELL
PUBLISHED:
13:28, 7 April 2014 | UPDATED: 13:33, 7 April 2014
A rare
navigator’s watch recovered by a Royal Air Force officer from the underpants of
a captured German who had tried to hide it is up for auction.
The
timepiece is one of four ‘liberated’ by the officer whose job it was to
interrogate German prisoners of war, who often tried to conceal valuable items
about their person when first caught.
One airman
stuffed his watch in his underpants, hoping his captors would not look there -
but the unnamed British officer performed a thorough search and soon recovered
the item.
Two of the watches are made by German watchmaker Glashutte
Up for
auction: Two of the four watches which were 'liberated' by the officer whose
job it was to interrogate German prisoners of war, who often tried to conceal
valuable items about their person when first caught
Valuable:
Two of the timepieces going under the hammer at auctioneers at Charterhouse in
Sherborne, Dorset, are Hanhart pilot’s
chronograph watches, made by the famous Swiss watchmaker Johann A. Hanhart
It went
along with three other Luftwaffe-issue timepieces he acquired during the Second
World War. The four watches are now being sold at an auction on May 8 with a
total pre-sale estimate of £8,000.
They belong
to the son of the late serviceman who inherited them. He said: ‘My father was
an RAF intelligence officer and his job was to interrogate German airmen who
had been captured.
‘He spoke
German and pressed the men for worthwhile information such as the equipment the
Luftwaffe were using.
'One
prisoner had his watch wrapped around something that wasn’t his wrist because
he was so desperate not to lose it'
RAF
officer's son
‘He had to
search them and one prisoner had his watch wrapped around something that wasn’t
his wrist because he was so desperate not to lose it.
‘My father
ended up having it and kept it as a souvenir or as part of the spoils of war.
When my father died over 20 years ago we had a clear out of his things and
acquired his four watches.’
Two of the
timepieces are Hanhart pilot’s chronograph watches, made by the famous Swiss
watchmaker Johann A. Hanhart. The other two are made by German watchmaker
Glashutte.
Historic
event: The officer arrived in France 11 days after the D-Day landings in 1944
and interviewed rounded-up German prisoners, which is when it is believed he
acquired the four Luftwaffe pilots' watches
Auctioneer
Richard Bromell said: ‘The vendor’s father, from Manchester, was of Dutch
origin and spoke fluent French, German, Dutch, and towards the end of the
Second World War Russian too.’
One fifth
of all farm labour in Britain in 1946 was being done by German POWs, who were
also working on roads and building sites.
A ban on
the Germans socialising with local populations near the UK camps was lifted
towards the end of the year, and many British people invited them in for a
family Christmas.
Some
250,000 German POWs had been repatriated by the end of 1947, but 24,000 chose
to stay in Britain.
One of
them, Hans Siegfried Vallentin, married a girl he met in Oswaldtwistle,
Lancashire, and they had five children and 11 grandchildren.
Perhaps the
most famous POW who settled in England after the war was Bert Trautmann , who became a legendary goalkeeper for Manchester City FC. He died last
July.
‘As an
officer in the RAF, and as a linguist, he is believed to have worked in MI19,
the division formed from MI9 as the enemy prisoner of war interrogation
department.
‘He arrived
in France 11 days after the D-Day landings and interviewed rounded up German
prisoners, which is when it is believed he “acquired” these four Luftwaffe
pilots’ watches.’
The vendor,
who is from the Somerset area, said: ‘If you wind them up they do start to tick
but they would need to be repaired as they haven’t been properly used for 70
years. These watches have been locked up in a drawer for many years.
'You can’t
go on hoarding things forever and I don’t have any romantic association with
them, so I think it is best to pass them on.’
Mr Bromell,
of auctioneers Charterhouse in Sherborne, Dorset, which is selling the watches,
said: ‘They are four high quality wristwatches used by German pilots and
navigators in the war.
‘They need
some work doing to them to get them going again. However, with all the watches
being quite similar the vendor isn’t sure which one was recovered from the
PoW’s underpants.’
The owner’s
father worked in Lloyds Bank before the war, and after it had ended he joined
the family business which supplied animal feeds.
The
Glashütte Chronograph
Size: 39mm
Date
Produced: 1940 – 1949
Forces
Supplied: The German
Luftwaffe
Manufacturers: Tutima Glashutte, Hanhart
UROFA
Caliber 59
UROFA
CALIBER 59, THE FLYBACK CHRONOGRAPH
An often
overlooked watch developed secretly in collaboration between the German
government and Hanhart/Tutima, this Flyback Chronograph is one of the most
historically important chronographs in all military history.
Used in
aerial combat during the war, the German pilots were the only military
combatants to have actual chronograph timing capabilities on their wrist, and
the Flyback mechanism was an important technical achievement (and the first of
it’s kind).
Tutima
Flieger ChronographThis piece has some serious tool watch specs: Antimagnetic
and waterproof case, shatterproof domed acrylic crystal, rotating bezel,
radioactive lume, and the famous Flyback chronograph mechanism, which allows
you to reset the chronograph while its running.
After the
war was over and Glashutte lay in ruin, Russian troops dismantled the
manufacture and moved all equipment and parts to Moscow as part of reparations.
Russian versions of this watch using the same Calibre 59 can be found from this
post-war period, and can be highly collectible as well.
https://www.60clicks.com/ww2-military-watch-guide/
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