12 ST DAY OF THE MARCH 1943 WEHRMACHT

On Memorial Day, 21st March 1943, the "Day of the Wehrmacht" stamp set was released. The collection includes 12 so-called semi-postal stamps, which, besides the regular price, had a surcharge (a donation) for a "good purpose"

This Memorial Day replaced the Volkstrauertag, the German national day of mourning introduced during the Weimar Republic which commemorated the fallen soldiers of the First World War.

The National Socialist Party, however, changed the originally quiet nature of this day of remembrance and placed the focus on honoring the soldiers. Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels speculated on the propagandistic effect of this day, which sponsors have been the Wehrmacht and the NSDAP (German National Socialist Party). The central aim of the now overly romanticized Memorial Day was to increase the population's willingness to make sacrifices.

Light flak artillery

Stuka junkers JU 87

Paratroopers

Type VII U-boat

Waffen - SS machine gunners

Intelligence corps

E-Boat S14-17

Pioneers

Assaulting infantry

Motorcyclists

Artillery

Panzer IV