Valence airfield

[Larry deZeng]

Thanks, Byron. Very interesting. In 1982 I bought a Micro Design Model 935 microfilm reader for about $400 and used it daily until about 2000. Before that I used an old classroom filmstrip projector that my father modified for 35mm microfilm so I could project the frames onto a wall and read them. Very cumbersome and slow-going, to says the least.

I have been working on the Bodenorganisation units since 1984 and have shoe boxes full of 4" x 6" index cards with notes on each unit, about 14,000 of them in all. It is probably the most complete and detailed collection in existence. I had hoped to convert them to digital format in my computer, but I am too old now to complete the job. Unfortunately, because the Luftwaffe destroyed some 96% of its archived records, a complete history for each and every unit of the Bodenorganisation is impossible, but I do have at least a few entries for most and many entries for some.

Norbert Kannapin, of course, is a "hero" to all of us who are interested in and work with the organizational structure and development of the Luftwaffe, 1939-45, and you are very lucky to have his help with information from his collections. Yes, there is no published material on this subject aside from Kannapin's 3-Band Dt. Feldpost book.

Larry

[byron-]

Larry,

i think, we faced the same hardships with these microfilms. I paid about the same amount like you for an old used german pre-war film reader.
14.000 cards with different units is an enormous number, you took obviously every thing you found regarding the "Lw.", i focused only on the greek teritory, "Heer" and "Kriegsmarine" included.
In the year 1943 the Germans had over 350.000 men in Greece, enough to make a lifetime research.

Byron