Photos WW2 German Forces

[BravoZulu]

Untersturmführer Gerhard Mahn, commander of 11th company, 9th regiment “Germania” of the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking directs the actions of the division of armored personnel carriers Sd.Kfz.251. They are about to mount an attack against the Red Army during the battles east of Warsaw in the summer of 1944

Fallschirmjäger

A Panzer IV G from II SS-Panzerkorps crew watch while a Vichy French cruiser, likely Colbert, burns in the background following Operation Lila, Toulon, France, 27 November 1942

Filmmaker Horst Grund operates his camera while a soldier aims his MG 13, Constanta, Romania, circa 1941

 

[BravoZulu]

Dr. med. vet. Bruno Sassen (13 March 1918 – 19 June 2006) was a member of the Fallschirmjäger during World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (German language: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. After the war he studied veterinary medicine in Hanover.

Fallschirmjäger

 

[BravoZulu]

German artillerymen prepare a captured French gun for firing, Küstenbatterie, Norway, 1942-43.

The gun is specifically a Canon de 145 L modele 1916 Saint-Chamond that would have been captured following the surrender of France, and relocated to German coastal fortifications in Norway as part of Festung Norwegen or "Fortress Norway". Guns along this stretch coastline specifically would mostly see service repelling British warships and Soviet submarines that would try harass German convoys in the area.

PzKpfw V Ausf.A "Panther" tanks fire on Soviet positions along a ridgeline, December 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

Tail of Oskar-Heinrich Bär's Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4, Italy, July 1942, the emblem is for the Knight's Cross he received for his 100th kill, Bär would finish the war with 220 kills.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Bär

 

[BravoZulu]

A Soviet vehicle burns fiercely after being destroyed by German anti-tank gunners using a 3.7cm PaK, 1941

Tiger I tanks of sPA 502 during the Third Ladoga Battle, one advances towards the front while another returns for ammunition, August 1943

 

[BravoZulu]

A Panzer IV G of the 4th Panzer Division, 35th Panzer Regiment, advances while carrying panzergrenadiers, Soviet Union, Spring 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bomber pulling up from low level flight, Italy, September 1943

Kriegsmarine photographer taking photos with his Leica 35mm camera while at Voronstov Castle, Alupka, Crimea, July 1942

 

[BravoZulu]

U-255 arriving at port flying four victory pennants and the flag of SS Paulus Potter after her highly successful attack on convoy PQ 17, Narvik, Norway, 15 July 1942

 

[berkut76]

U-255 arriving at port flying four victory pennants and the flag of SS Paulus Potter after her highly successful attack on convoy PQ 17, Narvik, Norway, 15 July 1942

The destruction of PQ-17 precipitated a major crisis between the Soviet and the Western Allies. The Soviets were furious. The next Arctic convoy sailed to the Soviet Union in September 1942 with aircraft from HMS Avenger providing around the clock air cover.

 

[BravoZulu]

KMS Prinz Eugen

 

[BravoZulu]

Luftwaffe airmen crew a heavily armed "Siebel" ferry during a review, Lahdenpohja, Lake Ladoga, 13 August 1942.
These men were part of Einsatzstab Fähre Ost or "Eastern Ferry Operations Staff". They were a German naval detachment that was Luftwaffe operated, and operated on Lake Ladoga along with Finnish and Italian navy elements to disrupt Soviet supply and operations on the lake, as well as Leningrad's only supply line "The Road of Life".

A "Neger" one-man submarine preparing to be launched into the River Seine near the Normandy invasion beaches in France, 24 Jul 1944
The "Neger" could not submerge and was notoriously difficult to navigate due to waved washing over the "bubble" and a complete lack of any navigation aids. The pilot would release the torpedo when in range of the target but the release mechanism was also known to be very temperamental, usually resulting in the "Neger" being drawn along with the torpedo to its target. Over 80% of the crews perished.

 

[BravoZulu]

Tirpitz underway, circa 1941

SS Orion-A steam cargo ship that was taken over by the Kriegsmarine during the 2nd World War. It was sunk in Pireus (sabotaged), lifted and then sunk after being bombarded during an RAF mission at Donousa.

 

[BravoZulu]

Heinkel He 111 bombers in flight, October 1941

US Army personnel inspect a "Mistel" flying bomb trainer aircraft, April/May 1945; it was comprised of a Fw 190 and Ju 88H joined together with the latter being detachable and filled with explosives

 

[BravoZulu]

German submarine U-848 under attack in south Atlantic (10-09 S, 18-00 W) – second pass of LT Charles A. Baldwin, USNR, PB4Y-1 107-B-12 of VB107

ATLANTIC. C.1943. SAILORS TAKE COVER AROUND THE CONNING TOWER OF A GERMAN TYPE IXC SUBMARINE UNDER ATTACK FROM A VERY LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT (NOT IN THE PHOTOGRAPH). A DEPTH BOMB EXPLODES IN THE DISTANCE. NOTE THE TWO TWIN 2 CM FLAK 38 GUNS IN THE CONNING TOWER AND THE 10.5 CM SKC/32 DECK GUN. (NAVAL HISTORICAL COLLECTION).

She was intercepted after 49 days on 5 November 1943, off the coast of Brazil, by the United States Navy aircraft from VB-107. She was depth charged by 3 PB4Y-1 Liberators. All 63 hands were lost.

 

[BravoZulu]

U-758 under rocket attack from TBF Avengers from USS Block Island, the submarine would be damaged but not sunk in the attack, Northeast of the Azores, 11 January 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

KMS Bismarck (upper right) In Grimstadfjord, near Bergen, Norway, on 21 May 1941, just prior to her sortie into the Atlantic. Two merchant-type ships are also present. Photographed from a RAF reconnaissance aircraft.

KMS Tirpitz camouflaged as a group of civil buildings, Norway

"Lonely Queen of the North" KMS Tirpitz at anchor Fættenfjord, Norway 1942

 

[BravoZulu]

Prinz Eugen at Kiel, August 1, 1940

 

[BravoZulu]

Soldier from the Kampfgruppe Hansen with a STG44, the Ardennes offensive

 

[Connaught Ranger]

Soldier from the Kampfgruppe Hansen with a STG44, the Ardennes offensive

Well known picture taken from a Nazi film clip made by a Propaganda Unit during the Battle of the Bulge.

 

[BravoZulu]

Hotchkiss H35 tanks in service with the 7. SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen" in the Balklans, 1941.