Account by Heinrich Weiss of 1940 Western Campaigns

[Jim Oxley]

This is probably a silly question...... but cannot the Weiss family members tell you who they sold his work to?

[Larry Hickey]

Jim,

Logical and reasonable question. Unfortunately, I'm not in touch with them, nor do I know how to do so. I've asked several people who've know about this material this same question, and no one seems to have contact info. Like Brian Cull, some who knew Heinrich would have been interested in obtaining some of this material, but it "disappeared" before anyone even knew that it might potentially be available.

Regards,

[Brian]

Hi Larry

I do have Heinrich's widow's address but I don't think she will be able to help. She did not respond to my request for information on his work - and she doesn't read or write English.

I believe Peter Cornwall is in possession of part of the manuscript.

Cheers
Brian

[Larry Hickey]

Brian,

Thanks for your comments. I'm not optimisic that the widow will be able to help much--and I'm not fluent in German. Off board, I've now received the names and addresses of two female family members, one of whom is probably the widow, although I'm not sure which one she is.

I'm aware of Peter's holdings on this in detail, and he has always been most helpful. I'm still hoping that there is a Belgian air-war manuscript, and perhaps an overall one on all or part of the French Campaign, that may have been shared with some of the primary researchers in those areas, similar to what I was able to acquire in Holland on the Dutch Campaign. Maybe these don't exist, but I'm still looking. Maybe what you and Peter have is the majority or even all of what does exist of the manuscript. I just don't know to what state of completeness Heinrich had brought his research at the time of his death. Do you know the answer to this? Are there separate, complete, or relatively complete manuscripts in existence on the Belgian and French parts of the Western Campaign, similar to what he produced on Holland? And then there is still the question of the vast research archive behind the manuscripts.

From off board communications it appears that the Battle of Britain material was nowhere near a complete manuscript on the subject, although Heinrich had acquired a lot of data in a rough form.

I want to thank everyone who has responded to my requests for information on this, both on and off board. Your info is much appreciated.

Regards

[Brian]

Hi Larry

When compiling Twelve Days in May, I would send Heinrich my draft chapters and he would add/amend - so I didn't have actual access to his work. As far as I recall, he tentatively referred to his m/s as an account of the 'Coastal War', whatever that may imply. Whether it was in-depth or not, I cannot answer. I was at the time being specific to Hurricane operations. I know it ran to at least 700 typed pages but not necessarily in narrative format but rather a series of reports pertaining to each day. Very impressive research but in need of a writer's touch!

One who met him on occasion is Jack (John) Foreman but he seems reticent to respond to enquiries these days, even from me, one who has know him for many years!

Not sure this helps.
Cheers
Brian

[Larry Hickey]

Brian,

This definitely helps me understand the form that his research had taken. I've seen his day to day format in the Dutch Campaign history, so I presume that he expanded this to the entire Western Campaign.

I've sent you a private message.

Thanks

[Peter T]

Hello Larry,

I visited Heinrich several times. We spent hours discussing. His main interest was the operations against ships; as Brian wrote ‘Coastal war’. During the meetings, we exchanged information and Heinrich helped me with the queries I had. To do so he had to fall back on his documentation. One day his wife was not at home and the whole room has full with binders and books. I do not think there was a real manuscript on the Belgian or French campaign, like the one we all know on the Dutch part. I never saw one, and I think Heinrich would have shown it to me, as I could copy everything I needed. Heinrich mainly used two thick binders with day-by-day missions and losses. Some parts were far more detailed (like Dunkerque = raids against ships) and included info on allied fighters etc. Other part contained only info from German sources.

Peter