Photos WW2 German Forces

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WWII. Tobruk, Libya. June 1942. German soldiers take stock of Allied supplies after the capture of the port city.

 

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Colour slides (not colourised B&W) from the Eastern Front during Battle of Moscow Oct. 1941 - Jan. 1942: German tanks (11th Pz. Div.) and infantry during an advance in the Wolokolamsk / Klin area. (Photo by Arthur Grimm/ullstein bild)

 

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Bugler from the German 469th Infantry Regiment, Thulin, Belgium, 23 May 1940

 

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Africa, WW2. Swapping out barrels on an 88mm flak gun.

 

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A German tank crew is watching an attack unfolding, during Operation Barbarossa. Eastern front, Summer, 1941.

 

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German infantrymen during the invasion of France, July 1940.

 

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY - JANUARY 24 1943...
General Paulus to Hitler: Let us surrender...
German Gen. Friedrich Paulus, commander in chief of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad, urgently requests permission from Adolf Hitler to surrender his position there, but Hitler refuses.
The Battle of Stalingrad began in the summer of 1942, as German forces assaulted the city, a major industrial center and a prized strategic coup. But despite repeated attempts and having pushed the Soviets almost to the Volga River in mid-October and encircling Stalingrad, the 6th Army, under Paulus, and part of the 4th Panzer Army could not break past the adamantine defense of the Soviet 62nd Army.
Diminishing resources, partisan guerilla attacks, and the cruelty of the Russian winter began to take their toll on the Germans. On November 19, the Soviets made their move, launching a counteroffensive that began with a massive artillery bombardment of the German position. The Soviets then assaulted the weakest link in the German force-inexperienced Romanian troops. Sixty-five thousand were ultimately taken prisoner by the Soviets.
The Soviets then made a bold strategic move, encircling the enemy, and launching pincer movements from north and south simultaneously, even as the Germans encircled Stalingrad. The Germans should have withdrawn, but Hitler wouldn’t allow it. He wanted his armies to hold out until they could be reinforced. By the time those fresh troops arrived in December, it was too late. The Soviet position was too strong, and the Germans were exhausted.
By January 24, the Soviets had overrun Paulus’ last airfield. His position was untenable and surrender was the only hope for survival. Hitler wouldn’t hear of it: “The 6th Army will hold its positions to the last man and the last round.” Paulus held out until January 31, when he finally surrendered. Of more than 280,000 men under Paulus’ command, half were already dead or dying, about 35,000 had been evacuated from the front, and the remaining 91,000 were hauled off to Soviet POW camps. Paulus eventually sold out to the Soviets altogether, joining the National Committee for Free Germany and urging German troops to surrender. Testifying at Nuremberg for the Soviets, he was released and spent the rest of his life in East Germany.

 

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On the day of the occupation of Denmark and Norway, nothing is swept under the rug!
Ref. Natmus/FHM

 

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A young German POW in Normandy, France. Summer/Autumn 1944.

 

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German "Landsers" in the Kholm pocket. Winter of 1941/42.

 

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Berlin.
Spanish police chief, José Pinat Conte de Maialde is being welcomed by Police-General, SS-Obergruppenfürher Daluege (No. 2 from left). Far left SS-Gruppenfurerr Heydrich.
Ref. Natmus/FHM

 

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German Infantrymen defend a trench south of the Lake Ladoga against Red Army attacks against
the Sinyavino Heights. Siege of Leningrad. Soviet Union. 12 August 1943. (PK-KB Rynas)

 

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German Tiger I Heavy Tank of the Kampfgruppe Peiper at Villers-Bocage, France. June 1944.
Photographer: Arthur Grimm
Source: German Federal Archive
Identification Code: Bild 101I-738-0267-18

 

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Pictured... German troops inspecting an abandoned KV-2 heavy tank and assault gun, Battle of Raseiniai (23–27 June 1941), Baltic state of Lithuania, June 1941.
Photographer: Nägele
Source: German Federal Archive
Identification Code: Bild 101I-209-0091-11

 

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First four tanks pictured are captured French SOMUA S35's which were utilized by the Axis powers with most remaining on the Western Front. However, some were deployed to Italy and the Eastern Front by the Wehrmacht. The tank's main armament was a 47mm SA 35 gun.
During the German invasion of May 1940, the SOMUA S35 proved itself to be a tactically effective type, but this was negated by the French command's strategic mistakes in deploying its Cavalry armored divisions. Around 440 tanks were built from 1936 until 1940 and only halted due to Germany's defeat of France in June 1940. The SOMUA S35 was for its time a relatively agile "medium-weight" tank... superior in armor and armament to its French and foreign competitors, such as the contemporary versions of the German Panzerkampfwagen III.
[Ref: Steven J. Zaloga, 2014, French Tanks of World War Two (2): Cavalry Tanks and AFVs, Osprey Publishing, New Vanguard 213]

 

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WW2 - A German Totenkopf "Unteroffizier" with a Russian POW fitted with a SN-42 breastplate.
The SN-42 armor was used by Soviet troops during World War II, mostly by sappers (Combat engineers) and sometimes, scouts. Soldiers would typically wear camouflaged suits underneath the armor. The soldiers seemed to like it, it was very useful in urban fighting.

 

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German field autoclave at an operating tent.
Ref. Natmus/FHM

 

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South of Bordeaux, France.
On the Atlantikwall, a German bunker is hiding into a camouflage of civilian house in the foreground of a wall covered with barbed wire.
The year is 1943.

 

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WWII. Bosnia. 12 January 1944. German troops use a 7.5cm Pak 40 anti-tank gun against Yugoslav partisans.