Heldengedenktag (Heroes' Remembrance Day) 1943

On 21 March 1943, all of Germany commemorates 'Heldengedenktag' (Heroes' Remembrance Day). On this occasion, a state ceremony took place in the Berliner Zeughaus (Berlin armory), in which Hitler also took part. Seated in the front-left row, from left to right: Reichskriegsopferführer Hanns Oberlindober, Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock (Führerreserve), Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch (Generalinspekteur der Luftwaffe), Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler (Chef der SS und deutschen Polizei), Großadmiral Karl Dönitz (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine), Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (Chef Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe), and Adolf Hitler (Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht). Seated in the front-right row, from left to right: Reichsminister Joachim von Ribbentrop, Reichsminister Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Reichsminister Dr. Wilhelm Frick, SS-Oberstgruppenführer und Generaloberst der Polizei Kurt Daluege, unknown, Reichsleiter Robert Ley, and SS-Obergruppenführer Dr. Philipp Bouhler.

Source :
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1983-0117-06
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/german-military-officers-including-hermann-goering-wilhelm-news-photo/493272171
https://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=11336

The crew of a Martin PBM-5 Mariner flying boat

The crew of a U.S. Martin PBM-5 Mariner flying boat used for patrol missions and anti-submarine warfare pose on top of their aircraft in April 1945 at Tanapag Harbor in Saipan.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 80-G-K-16192
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Free French air force formally receives a Curtiss P-40Fs

The newly reconstituted Free French air force formally receives its first frontline combat aircraft, Curtiss P-40Fs, on January 8, 1943, at Casablanca from the U.S. Army Air Forces. This was the first of 1,000 combat aircraft promised by President Roosevelt to General de Gaulle. This is Groupe de Chasse GC II/5, which had just adopted the designation Lafayette Escadrille as a reciprocal tribute to the World War I French squadron of American recruits that had fought the Germans before the U.S. entered WWI in 1917. Less than two months earlier, these P-40s had been catapult launched from a U.S. carrier with U.S. Army Air Forces pilots during Operation Torch, the U.S. invasion of North Africa, while the French pilots of GC II/5 were fighting U.S. Navy Grumman F4F Wildcats under the flag of Vichy France, allied to Germany. The hostilities lasted for only three days, when, on November 11, 1942, the Vichy French forces in North Africa swore allegiance to Free French commander General Charles de Gaulle, resulting in Germany occupying all of Vichy France.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-91
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Mussolini in SIGNAL Magazine

Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator and leader of the National Fascist Party (29 July 1883 - 28 April 1945) - 'L'homme d'Etat' (The Statesman). From 'Signal', December 1940, French language news magazine published by the Nazis. Original caption: "Avec un calme parfait et un sureté de vues qui ne l'abandonment jamais, sachent constamment attendre l'heure exacte ou il agira, et animé d'un ardent amour pour son peiple, le Duce préside avec une calirvoyance géniale aux destinées de son pays" (With a perfect calm and a certainty of views which never abandon him, knowing how to constantly wait for the exact hour when he will act, and animated by an ardent love for his people, the Duce presides with a brilliant clairvoyance over the destinies of his country).

Source :
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mussolini-lhomme-detat-from-signal-december-1940-french-news-photo/171081970?phrase=benito%20mussolini
https://original.newsbreak.com/@anita-durairaj-561241/2774092996081-the-gift-that-italian-dictator-mussolini-gave-to-cincinnati-in-1929-was-stolen-decades-later

Bio of Ritterkreuzträger Ekkehard Kylling-Schmidt

Ekkehard Kylling-Schmidt

Date of Birth: 21.06.1918 - Flensburg, Schleswig (German Empire)
Date of Death: 28.08.2000 - Koblenz, Rhein (Germany)

Promotions:
25.06.1940 Leutnant
01.11.1941 Oberleutnant
04.12.1942 Hauptmann
00.00.194_ Major
00.00.194_ Oberstleutnant im Generalstab

Career:
10.10.1938 Infanterie-Regiment 26
00.00.19__ Führer 3.Kompanie / Infanterie-Regiment 26
00.00.19__ Chef 4.Kompanie / Infanterie-Regiment 26
00.01.1943 Kommandeur I.Bataillon / Fusilier-Regiment 26
00.05.1944 7. Infanterie-Division
00.06.1944 Kriegsakademie
00.00.194_ Adjutant
00.05.1945 - 00.08.1945 POW

Awards and Decorations:
09.11.1940 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
22.07.1941 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
00.00.19__ Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen in Silber
00.00.19__ Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz
00.00.194_ Verwundetenabzeichen in Silber
20.10.1941 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, as Leutnant and Führer 3.Kompanie / I.Bataillon / Infanterie-Regiment 26 / 30.Infanterie-Division
15.07.1942 Panzervernichtungsabzeichen in Silber, Received for the destruction of a Soviet tank in August 1941
15.07.1942 Panzervernichtungsabzeichen in Silber, Received for the destruction of a Soviet tank in October 1941
15.07.1942 Panzervernichtungsabzeichen in Silber, Received for the destruction of a Soviet tank in October 1941
00.00.1942 Medaille "Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42" (Ostmedaille)
00.00.194_ Demjankschild
00.00.194_ Nahkampfspange in Bronze
04.12.1942 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #150, as Oberleutnant and Chef 4.Kompanie / I.Bataillon / Füsilier-Regiment 26 / 30.Infanterie-Division


Source :
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/ekkehard-kylling-schmidt.html
https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Kylling-Schmidt,_Ekkehard
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151261670212
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/german-world-war-two-postcard-showing-ekkehard-kylling-news-photo/500839327?phrase=Kylling-Schmidt
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/K/KyllingE.htm
http://pantorijn.blogspot.com/2013/06/tita-binz.html
http://www.pvoller.net/new_stamps/germany/military/ww2/ritterkreuztrager.php
http://www.ritterkreuztraeger.info/rk/k.html
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/39319/Kylling-Schmidt-Ekkehardt-InfReg-26.htm
https://www.weitze.com/cgi-bin/suche/suche.pl?q=Kylling-Schmidt#s=alle

US Navy L-ships at Naval Air Station Moffett Field

US Navy L-ships at Naval Air Station Moffett Field were used for training patrol crews that operated K and M class blimps equipped with radar and depth bombs to hunt surfaced submarines.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 80-G-K-1472
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Chaplain Michael Ragan blesses the crew of the Boeing B-17G “Fifinella”

Captain Michael Ragan, the Catholic chaplain of the 91st Bomb Group, blesses the crew of the Boeing B-17G “Fifinella” before a mission in mid-1944. The plane was lost on a mission on August 13, 1944. The “Fifinella” was the female gremlin cartoon created by Walt Disney and adopted by the Women Air Service Pilots (WASP) as their mascot.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-2105
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936