German bank note signed by British troops

I suspect this may have been commonplace but I have never seen one before so any information woud be helpful. I found a German banknote (zwanzig millionen mark) inside an old book that I bought in a charity shop but I did not realise the note was there until some time later. It has signatures on the front and the back, a date of 03/04/46 has been written after a signature and also 'R.M.' or a rank has been written in after some of the signatures. I have no idea who it may be of interest to or what to do with it. Have tried to upload pics but no matter how small I resize the photo's I get a message saying that the file is too large.

I noticed that 'Luneberg' where Monty accepted the German surrender is mentioned. What an amazing find, lucky you.
50 million marks would have bought at least 2 loaves of bread !

Well done.

Bill

Just noticed that it's 20 million, not fifty so only one loaf.

The RM used after the name usually indicates that the person was an officer in the Royal Marine.
One person has added 'ex 48th' - presumably he was in 48 RM Commando...
48 RM Cdo was disbanded in January 1946
The banknote is signed and dated by at least three people (Crawford, Elizabeth & Natt ?) on 3rd April 1946 so after the War had ended
I can only presume the Elizabeth & Heidi were locally employed office workers/interpreters or similar...

The Reichsmark continued as the currency in Germany until June 1948

Nick

The signed bank notes are known by the Americans as a "short snorter". It was a tradition that was started by commercial pilots in the United States and was continued by members of the U.S. and British military during the war. The Apollo 11 crew carried signed $1 bills.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_snorter

Are there signatures on the otherside that you can post?

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 06/08/2019 16:30:08

The reverse is also covered in signatures.

Thanks GUY - that is useful info

Am I mistaken or can I see J. Williams VC ??

That does appear to be what is written....it is definitely V.C or U.C.....what would U.C mean? Sorry - I have no military knowledge so I don't know if U.C might be a thing.