Latest page update: December 2022 (added Fig. 26)

Previous page updates: 1 October 2018.

©2004-2022 F. Dörenberg, unless stated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be used without permission from the author.

 

Fig. 1: Teleprinter room sign

(painted above doorway in the U-boat command bunker in downtown La Rochelle/France)

Fig. 2: "Ein Feldfernschreiber in Betrieb" - A Feld-Hell teleprinter in operation

(according to handrwitten note on the back of the original photo: "Links ( = left) - Unteroffizier (= Corporal) Boem (?)", rest illegible)

Fig. 3: Hell-Feldfernschreiber in a Wehrmacht teleprinter office

(re-created in Germany with original equipment from collectors for the 2008 movie "Valkyrie" (Operation Walküre))

Fig. 4: Feld-Hell stations in a Wehrmacht radio room - desktop configuration (units removed from carrying case)

(source: © Fastner Collection/Sammlung; used with permission)

Fig. 5: Feld-Hell communication in a "Fernschreibstelle" teleprinter station

Fig. 6: old Feld-Hell model in operation

(source: © Y. Desniatik; used with permission)

Fig. 7A: Field exercise of Signal Corps Hitler Youth from Berlin (fall of 1939)

("Berliner Nachrichten-HJ, mit einem drahtlosen Siemens-Hell-Feldschreiber, bei einer Übung in Teupitz i/d Mark")

Fig. 7B: Field exercise of Signal Corps Hitler Youth from Berlin (fall of 1939)

(source: WW2 postcard "Nachrichtenübermittlung durch Feldfernschreiber")

Fig. 8: field teleprinter station with Feld-Hell

(source: eBay Oct-2012)

Fig. 9: party in a "Vermittlungsbunker", Hellschreiber on the table (Nov-1943)

(source: eBay Jan-2013)

Fig. 10: Nachrichtenabteilung (Signals Group) of the 389^th Infantry Division (Russia, 1942)

(photo by Ober-Gefreiter (Senior Lance-Corporal) Erich Peter; source: 389id.de; used with permission)

Fig. 11: Nachrichtenabteilung (Signals Group) of the 389^th Infantry Division (Russia, 1942)

(photo by Ober-Gefreiter (Senior Lance-Corporal) Erich Peter; source: 389id.de; used with permission)

Fig. 12: Wehrmacht soldier with Feld-Hell and FF33 field telephone - presumably in the Champagne region of France

(source: source: eBay 2014)

Fig. 13: Feldfernschreiber in Wehrmacht communications center in Paris (1940)

(source: screenshot of Die Deutsche Wochenschau Nr. 531, 6 November 1940 news-reel film, around 07min47sec)

Fig. 14: presumably Wehrmacht Signal Corps School in Narva/Estonia

(source: eBay 2014; right-to-left Feldfernschreiber, Lorenz T36 teleprinter, WT40 Fernschreiber Anschlußgerät, Lorenz teleprinter)

Fig. 15: "Polizei-Nachrichtenhelferinnen am Feldfernschreiber" [police communications assistants], Kiev/Ukraine (Dec-1942)

(source: Bundesarchiv image nr. 121-1491; photographer: Scherer)

Fig. 16: Feldfernschreiber in action - 15^th Army HQ in Tourcoing/France (on the Belgian border, just north of Lille)

(source: German archives, collection J.-L. Guesquières, Musée du 5 juin 1944)

Fig. 17: Feld-Hell in Fernschreibbunker (1943)

(source: unknown)

Fig. 18: Feldfernschreiber in mobile WW2 setup

(source: unknown)

Fig. 19: Feldfernschreiber in field operation somewhere in Lapland - with Feldfernsprecher 33 (FF33) field telephone on top

(source: ©Helge Fykse; used with permission)

Fig. 20: one of ca. 50-150 Feldfernschreiber operators of the womens' auxiliary services in Finland, 1941-1944

(source: courtesy T. Ekko, used with permission)

During WW2, the Royal Hungarian Army (RHA) used standard German Feld-Hell machines, probably with Hungarian legends/labels:

Fig. 21: field telephone exchange unit of the Hungarian army, with "Klappenschrank" switch board and German Feld-Hell machine

(source: ref. 2)

Fig. 22: Feld-Hell machine next to  with "Klappenschrank" switch board - operator chair is not standard-issue military...

(source: forum of Collezionisti & Radio Operatori Stationi Ex Militari - CROSEM)

The Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito, 1861-1946) also used Feld-Hell machines, with legends in Italian.

Fig. 23: Feld-Hell machine of a mobile Signals unit of the Italian Army, being powered with a car battery

(source: forum of Collezionisti & Radio Operatori Stationi Ex Militari - CROSEM)

Fig. 24: "Nachrichtenhelferin" telecom assistant, operating a Feld-Hell machine

(source: ref. 3)

Fig. 25: Five soldiers around a Feld-Hell machine, one operating an FF33 field telephone

(source: cryptomuseum.com)

REFERENCES

• Ref. 1: "Drahtnachrichtenverbindungen Richtfunkverbindungen 1939 - 1945", Teil 2 of "Der Weltkrieg", Band 2 of "Ln- Die Geschichte der Luftnachrichtentruppe", Karl Otto Hoffman, Kurt Vowinckel Verlag, 1973, 762 pp., ASIN: B002N0OROA. Also see Band 1: "Die Anfänge von 1935 - 1939", 1965, and Band 2, Teil 1 "Der Flugmelde- und Jägerleitdienst 1939 - 1945", 508 pp.
• Ref. 2: "Bilder von der ungarischen und finnischen Nachrichtentruppe", Pleger, p. 230 in "Deutsche Nachrichtentruppen (Die F-Flagge)" [Zeitschrift für die Nachrichtentruppe und Truppennachrichtenverbände des Heeres, der Luftwaffe und der Waffen-SS - Nachrichtenblatt der Nachrichtenkameradschaften des NS-Reichskriegerbundes], Vol. 17, Issue 7, July 1941
• Ref. 3: "Blitzmädchen - Die Geschichte der Helferinnen der deutschen Wehrmacht", Franz W. Seidel, Bernhard & Graefe Verlag (publ.), 1^st edition, 1966, 166 pp.; reprinted in 1989 by Wehr und Wissen (publ.)

External links last checked: April 2016

©2004-2018 F. Dörenberg, unless stated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be used without permission from the author.