Greetings.
Military optics, specifically those manufactured in Germany during the First and Second World Wars, hold a special fascination for collectors and historians alike. Famed manufacturing giants such as Zeiss, Hensoldt, and Goerz, among many others created a level of craftsmanship, quality, and pinpoint precision, that even today cause one's jaw to drop in awe when viewing a distant objective with the unparalleled clarity of these devices. It was this level of precision (still debated all over various military history related internet forums) that caused a focused heightening of the Allies' engineering and production level of effort to catch up to the perceived better quality that the Wehrmacht possessed.
I am now attempting (foolishly) to put together what I consider to be a much-needed reference to German military optics. There just is so very little available both on the internet, and in printed form. It just seemed to me with all the "tank-freak" sites and forums that feature endless soliloquies on engine speeds, turret rotation time, armour penetration, and cannon size, no one ever gets into the details of the optics - - the true eyes and soul of the system. After all, it is the optics (and related hardware) that ties the man and his intentions to the machine, is it not?
Why do we lack reference information on these optics? Well - many of the German handbooks and manuals - namely, the "Heeres Druckvorschriften" and "Merkblatt" series to name only two - simply did not include the kind of detail that we desire today. Nor did these series follow any logically consistent format (the U.S. manuals of the day also suffered similar shortcomings). For example, for all the numerous manuals describing the proper loading of equipment for transport on the backs of camels or the proper concentration of chemicals for photographic developers, there was frightfully little in comparison on the type of optics that were used for a particular sort of weapon, where it was located on the weapon, how it worked in conjunction, what it looked like, and what you saw when you put your eye up to it - and what you were supposed to do with that image. Secondly, documentation material for optics (not to mention many of the optics themselves) were destroyed after the First World War, along with the fact that many of the manufacturers preferred to not publish documentation at all even during that war. During World War Two, Allied intelligence organizations began collecting information on their foe's optical advances. Then at the end of the second war, as the Third Reich fell, many of the engineering labs and factories not already destroyed by bombing, were ransacked by conquering Allied and Soviet forces - Western and Soviet intelligence operatives, now rivals, began scouring and locking away any and all evidence of nazi technology and weapons-related optics for examination to be used against each other if necessary in the newly dawning Cold War. Suddenly, German military optics became top-secret information.
So now we must act as archeologists, piecing together what we can, and hope to come across the odd manual, handbook, or instruction that points to the right answer. I also have relied on the good graces and generosity of militaria collectors and dealers who have provided me photographs of their stock in trade and in some instance, even a photograph of the internal reticle, crosshair, or optical scales - which to me is the ultimate "holy grail" of any optic device of the Third Reich. I have also been blessed to have received crucial help from a number of museum curators who share in the same passion to discover these treasures of military history. Necessity truly was the mother of invention. To wit, I will provide the names (or assumed names) of those who have provided me the photographs to offer proper credit. I will also provide the literary reference where applicable. I will also provide the names of any website, when possible, from where I received the information - my intent is never to knowingly steal. If one owns credit on a photograph, please inform me and I will heartily modify the content to reflect the ownership.
I will organize these items by type and family to the best of my ability. It will be constantly updated and added to. I may switch things around without warning, to accompany proper classification, or to correct my own ineptness and ignorance, of which I am in no short supply. And yes, I plan to write a book someday.
So to maintain at least some sanity - I will focus on a particular "family" per month. For the month of September, all postings will be on the the Scherenfernrohrs, etc.
That said, let us begin. I show you now what I have dredged to date. The journey continues...
Next: The Scherenfernrohrs - Part I: Background
