[BATTLE OF BRITAIN]: SPERRLE HUGO (1885-1953) German military aviator of World War I and a ...

[BATTLE OF BRITAIN]: SPERRLE HUGO (1885-1953) German military aviator of World War I and a Generalfeldmarschall in the Luftwaffe during World War II. Sperrle was one of the main commanders involved in Operation Eagle Attack, the codename of a military operation by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe to destroy the British Royal Air Force, which led to the Battle of Britain. A World War II date A.L.S., Sperrle, two pages, large 4to, n.p. (Starnberg), 14th February 1945, to General Alfred Jacobi, in German. Sperrle writes a social letter, having just celebrated his 60th birthday (on the 7th February), thanking Jacobi for their greetings, remarking on the lovely solitude he experiences ('I see and hear no one except for comrades who seek me out from time to time.....the days pass with much reading and walking'), and also stating that the Fuhrer had sent him 'an extraorinarily lovely letter' with a gift, and that his adjutant had also written to tell him that a reproduction will follow 'which couldn't be finished in time because of the attacks on Berlin'. Accompanied by the original envelope hand addressed by Sperrle. VG

Alfred Jacobi (1884-1972) German Generalleutnant der Infanterie, Fortress Commanant of Stettin in 1945.

Adolf Hitler reputedly gifted Sperrle 100,000 Reichsmarks on his 60th birthday and from time to time during the war also presented him with artwork which may have been looted from occupied territories.

On 1st May 1945, just a few months after writing the present letter, Sperrle was arrested by the British Army and became a prisoner of war.