Tuesday, February 25, 2014

US Private Jerry Smith

US Private Jerry Smith, on Okinawa during World War II. Jerry served in the Army's 718th Amphibious Tractor Battalion of XXIV Corps. He was a driver and armorer on an LVT-4 amphibian tractor, or "amtrac." Picture taken in Nishihara-Cho, Okinawa Prefecture, June 1945


Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11046337@N07/2306611086

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

King Boris III of Bulgaria with one of his army general

King Boris III of Bulgaria with one of his army general


Source:
http://ww2-weapons.com/Orders-of-battle/Bulgaria/Armed-Forces.htm

Bulgarian Civilian Giving Water to a German Army Motocyclist

Bulgarian civilian giving water to a german army motocyclist or Kradmelder (1942). The bike is NSU 601TS


Source:
http://thirdreichcolorpictures.blogspot.com/2010/08/german-motorcycles-in-color.html

German Flame-Thrower in Action

Flammenwerfer 35 – from a german postcard printed in 1944. The Flammenwerfer 35, or FmW 35 (literally, "flame thrower") was a one-man German flamethrower used during World War II to clear out trenches and buildings. It could project fuel up to 25m from the user. It weighed 35.8 kilograms (79 lb), and held 11.8 litres (2.6 imp gal; 3.1 US gal) of flaming oil, (Flammöl 19), petrol mixed with tar to make it heavier and to give it better range, which was ignited by a hydrogen torch providing about 10 seconds of continuous use. The firing device is activated at the same time with the Selbstschlussventil and is inside the protective pipe. The Flammenwerfer 35 was produced until 1941, when the lighter, slightly redesigned Flammenwerfer 41 began replacing it

Source:
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/articles/in-their-own-words-german-veterans-of-wwii-by-rob-schafer.html

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Looking at a Map

"Why always me old donkey?" - Statement of Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshall) Gerd von Rundstedt (1875-1953), several times discharged by Hitler, as many times called back. Eisenhower and Montgomery regarded him as the most dangerous and most capable German field marshall, not Rommel. When in 1944 he was asked by Generalfeldmarschall Keitel how to improve the critical situation of German forces in general, von Rundstedt answered (in front of Hitler and the whole Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht): "End the war, you idiots!"


Source:
https://www.ww2incolor.com/german/GFM+v.html?g2_fromNavId=xc00551b0

Mutterkreuz Recipient

Mutterkreuz (Mother's Cross) recipient. The Cross of Honour of the German Mother (German: Ehrenkreuz der Deutschen Mutter), referred to colloquially as the Mutterehrenkreuz (Mother’s Cross of Honour) or simply Mutterkreuz (Mother’s Cross), was a state decoration and civil order of merit conferred by the government of the German Reich to honour a Reichsdeutsche German mother for exceptional merit to the German nation. Eligibility later extended to include Volksdeutsche (ethnic German) mothers from, for example, Austria and Sudetenland, that had earlier been incorporated into the German Reich. The decoration was conferred from 1939 until 1945 in three classes of order, bronze, silver, and gold, to Reichsdeutsche mothers who exhibited probity, exemplary motherhood, and who conceived and raised at least four or more children in the role of a parent. A similar practice, that continues to this present day, was already established in France since 1920, by conferring the Médaille de la Famille française (Medal of the French Family), a tribute to the French mother who raised several children in an appropriate way.


Source:
http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191725

Monday, February 17, 2014

A Wehrmacht Religious Service in the Field Before Operation Barbarossa Began

Men from a German 6. Armee infantry unit attending divine service in the field before going into battle, June 1941. They had not been told what their objectives were: a drive from the south of the Polish Gouvernement-General towards Kiev and the Dnieper

Source:
Book "The Onslaught; The German Drive to Stalingrad Documented in 150 Unpublished Colour Photographs" by Max Hastings

Street Sign in the Border of Soviet-German Occupied Poland

Soviet-occupied Poland began 14 metres beyond this frontier sign on the river Granitsa, June 1941 just days before Unternehmen Barbarossa. German-held Poland, the so-called Gouvernement-General, comprised the lowlands on either side of the Upper and Centra Vistula down to the south of Warsaw; in the East it extended to the River Bug and in the South to the summits of the Carpathians


Source:
Book "The Onslaught; The German Drive to Stalingrad Documented in 150 Unpublished Colour Photographs" by Max Hastings

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Erwin Rommel (Left) and Ludwig Crüwell Chats in North Africa

Two prominent German generals in North African theatre takes a little walk while discussing the recent situation: Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Panzerarmee "Afrika") and General der Panzertruppe Ludwig Crüwell (Kommandierender General Deutsche Afrikakorps)


Source:
Book "Für Rommels Panzer durch die Wüste" by Hellmuth Frey