This is the ORIGINAL baton presented on July 19, 1940 by Adolf Hitler on the occasion of his promotion of General Field Marshal von Bock following his successful blitzkrieg on France, Belgium, and The Netherlands. He was sent to Russia to spearhead the Operation Barbarossa campaign against Moscow. Following the failure of the German army to emerge victorious, Hitler reassigned von Bock to replace General Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau, who had died of a heart attack. Following the failure of Operation Braunschweig -- the second phase of the German attack of Russia -- Hitler relieved von Bock of his command in July, 1942 and retired him indefinitely. Following Hitler's suicide, he offered his services to Grand Admiral Doenitz, GFM von Bock was killed in an air attack on May 4th, 1945, the highest ranking military commander to be killed in action.
There are a number of close-up images shown of the baton, listed below:
Views of the eight sides of the baton -- 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 4 -- 5 -- 6 -- 7 -- 8
Close up detail of the top cap of the baton -- 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 4
Close up detail of the bottom cap of the baton -- 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 4
Close up detail of the eagle and cross on the shaft.
The baton measures 19-3/4 inches long (500mm). Each end cap measures 60mm across the flats and 65mm point to point. There are 20 gold Wehrmacht eagles and 20 Iron Crosses on the red velvet covering the shaft. The top cap has the Wehrmacht eagle, the bottom cap has the Iron Cross. The lettering is gilt on silver collars, as shown.
The condition is outstanding throughout.
Price on Request. Serious inquiries only.
Contact email is snyderstr@aol.com
For comparison purposes only, we have several images of the original GFM von Weichs baton and a well-made museum copy of the GFM Rommel baton.
Comparison will reveal the significant differences in the design of the end cap eagles of the copy and the originals. There are other differences in the level of detail and quality of workmanship apparent as well. Please note, these images are for comparison purposes only, and neither of the batons shown in the images below is available here.
Museum copy of the Rommel baton: end cap eagle -- end cap Iron Cross -- name detail -- overall view.
von Weichs original baton: end cap eagle -- end cap Iron Cross -- name detail -- date detail -- overall view.
Hermann Goering original baton (at the USMA museum at West Point) end view -- USMA post card front -- rear.