Pilot and Navigator of Heinkel He 111

Pilot (right) and navigator in the cockpit of the German bomber Heinkel (Heinkel He-111). The pilot is Major Eduard Zimmer (last rank Oberst), Gruppenkommandeur IV.Gruppe / Kampfgeschwader 100. The picture itself was taken around 1942 in the Eastern Front by Michael Sobotta.

Source :
https://www.bpk-bildagentur.de/shop
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=168491
https://waralbum.ru/381725/

A Naval Air Station Boneyard Shortly After World War II

A Naval Air Station boneyard shortly after the end of the war contains numerous catapult-launched OS2U Kingfishers (foreground), along with JM-1 (B-26) target tugs in yellow, and a R4D (C-47) transport.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-K-14588
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=71258

Navy Flight Nurses Walk from Their Douglas R5D

In Spring 1945, a group of Navy flight nurses walk from their Douglas R5D (C-54) transport. They are, from left to right: Lt. JG Lydia Masserine, Lt. Stella Makar, Lt. JG Dorothy Wood, Lt. JG Hope Toone, Lt. JG Mae Hanson, and Ens. Winnifred Jennings.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-K-5446
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

U.S. Marine Paratroopers in Maneuvers

U.S. Marine Paratroopers in training. A rare Douglas DC-5 aircraft in the background. It was operated by the USMC as the R3D-2s. Only 12 built. This photo itself is maneuvers in Australia.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4581299928623451&set=gm.1809759462542802

Celebration in Liberated Paris

Celebration in Paris after the French capital was liberated in August 1944

After more than four years of Nazi occupation, Paris is liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division on 25 August 1944. German resistance was light, and General Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison, defied an order by Adolf Hitler to blow up Paris’ landmarks and burn the city to the ground before its liberation. Choltitz signed a formal surrender that afternoon, and on August 26, Free French General Charles de Gaulle led a joyous liberation march down the Champs d’Elysees.

Paris fell to Nazi Germany on June 14, 1940, one month after the German Wehrmacht stormed into France. Eight days later, France signed an armistice with the Germans, and a puppet French state was set up with its capital at Vichy. Elsewhere, however, General Charles de Gaulle and the Free French kept fighting, and the Resistance sprang up in occupied France to resist Nazi and Vichy rule.

The French 2nd Armored Division was formed in London in late 1943 with the express purpose of leading the liberation of Paris during the Allied invasion of France. In August 1944, the division arrived at Normandy under the command of General Jacques-Philippe Leclerc and was attached to General George S. Patton’s 3rd U.S. Army. By August 18, Allied forces were near Paris, and workers in the city went on strike as Resistance fighters emerged from hiding and began attacking German forces and fortifications.

At his headquarters two miles inland from the Normandy coast, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower had a dilemma. Allied planners had concluded that the liberation of Paris should be delayed so as to not divert valuable resources away from important operations elsewhere. The city could be encircled and then liberated at a later date.

On August 21, Eisenhower met with de Gaulle and told him of his plans to bypass Paris. De Gaulle urged him to reconsider, assuring him that Paris could be reclaimed without difficulty. The French general also warned that the powerful communist faction of the Resistance might succeed in liberating Paris, thereby threatening the re-establishment of a democratic government. De Gaulle politely told Eisenhower that if his advance against Paris was not ordered, he would send Leclerc’s 2nd Armored Division into the city himself.

On August 22, Eisenhower agreed to proceed with the liberation of Paris. The next day, the 2nd Armored Division advanced on the city from the north and the 4th Infantry Division from the south. Meanwhile, in Paris, the forces of German General Dietrich von Choltitz were fighting the Resistance and completing their defenses around the city. Hitler had ordered Paris defended to the last man, and demanded that the city not fall into Allied hands except as “a field of ruins.” Choltitz dutifully began laying explosives under Paris’ bridges and many of its landmarks, but disobeyed an order to commence the destruction. He did not want to go down in history as the man who had destroyed the “City of Light”—Europe’s most celebrated city.

The 2nd Armored Division ran into heavy German artillery, taking heavy casualties, but on August 24 managed to cross the Seine and reach the Paris suburbs. There, they were greeted by enthusiastic civilians who besieged them with flowers, kisses, and wine. Later that day, Leclerc learned that the 4th Infantry Division was poised to beat him into Paris proper, and he ordered his exhausted men forward in a final burst of energy. Just before midnight on August 24, the 2nd Armored Division reached the Hótel de Ville in the heart of Paris.

German resistance melted away during the night. Most of the 20,000 troops surrendered or fled, and those that fought were quickly overcome. On the morning of August 25, the 2nd Armored Division swept clear the western half of Paris while the 4th Infantry Division cleared the eastern part. Paris was liberated.

In the early afternoon, Choltitz was arrested in his headquarters by French troops. Shortly after, he signed a document formally surrendering Paris to de Gaulle’s provisional government. De Gaulle himself arrived in the city later that afternoon. On August 26, de Gaulle and Leclerc led a triumphant liberation march down the Champs d’Elysees. Scattered gunfire from a rooftop disrupted the parade, but the identity of the snipers was not determined.

De Gaulle headed two successive French provisional governments until 1946, when he resigned over constitutional disagreements. From 1958 to 1969, he served as French president under the Fifth Republic.

Source :
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/paris-liberated

German standards at the Moscow Victory Parade of 1945

The LSSAH standard staff at the parade (first from left)

At the Moscow Victory Parade of 24 June 1945, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, there were a total of 201 German cavalry standards and combat banners, majority being from the Wehrmacht. Carried by a battalion of Soviet soldiers from the Separate Operational Purpose Division of the NKVD, they were thrown to the steps of Lenin's Mausoleum under drumroll during the march past of the ground column. Around twenty standards at the parade were not Nazi and belonged to previous German units (in 1944 Adolf Hitler ordered to move all military unit standards to museums to prevent their capture in a battle). All the rest were made in 1935. Among them was the standard staff of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH); its banner had been found separately and was not brought to the parade. The staff was carried in a prominent place on the right of the front rank of the first column of soldiers. It has been incorrectly called Hitler's personal standard which went missing during the war. After the parade additional color shots were made showing the flags of various Nazi organizations being thrown to the ground. The shots were added to the official video of the parade.

The standards were selected from a pool of about 900 standards and banners shipped to Moscow from Berlin and Dresden. Some of them were collected by SMERSH trophy teams in May 1945 and some were taken from museums. The show of contempt to the standards at the parade was proposed by Joseph Stalin, stemming from the old custom of "disdain not for the enemy, but for his defied military distinctions" in the troops of Alexander Suvorov. In order to not touch the standards themselves the soldiers wore gloves. The following list is based on the list of standards approved by Colonel Peredelsky on 21 June 1945. It includes 138 battalion, 36 Division and 26 regimental standards. The standard staff of LSSAH was approved separately from the list. All standards are now housed in the Central Armed Forces Museum of Moscow.

 Battalion standards
Number     Military unit
1     3rd Battalion of the 57th Infantry Regiment
2     2nd Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment
3     1st Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment
4     3rd Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment
5     2nd Battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment
6     1st Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment
7     1st Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment
8     3rd Battalion of the 106th Infantry Regiment
9     1st Battalion of the 49th Infantry Regiment
10     2nd Battalion of the 83th Infantry Regiment
11     2nd Battalion of the 81st Infantry Regiment
12     1st Battalion of the 84th Infantry Regiment
13     2nd Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment
14     3rd Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment
15     9th Tank Battalion
16     1st Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment
17     2nd Battalion of the 43rd Infantry Regiment
18     3rd Battalion of the 44th Infantry Regiment
19     1st Battalion of the 22nd Infantry Regiment
20     4th Battalion of the 61st Infantry Regiment
21     1st Battalion of the 36th Infantry Regiment
22     1st Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment
23     2nd Battalion of the 51st Infantry Regiment
24     2nd Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment
25     1st Battalion of the 57th Infantry Regiment
26     2nd Battalion of the 38th Infantry Regiment
27     1st Battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment
28     3rd Battalion of the 43rd Infantry Regiment
29     2nd Battalion of the 88th Infantry Regiment
30     2nd Battalion of the 44th Infantry Regiment
31     1st Battalion of the 106th Infantry Regiment
32     3rd Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment
33     2nd Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment
34     1st Battalion of the 51st Infantry Regiment
35     3rd Battalion of the 88th Infantry Regiment
36     3rd Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment
37     1st Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment
38     2nd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment
39     2nd Battalion of the 36th Infantry Regiment
40     3rd Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment
41     3rd Battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment
42     1st Battalion of the 83rd Infantry Regiment
43     3rd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment
44     2nd Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment
45     3rd Battalion of the 33rd Fusilier Regiment
46     3rd Battalion of the 22nd Infantry Regiment
47     3rd Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment
48     2nd Battalion of the 22nd Infantry Regiment
49     2nd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment
50     2nd Battalion of the 49th Infantry Regiment
51     3rd Battalion of the 84th Infantry Regiment
52     1st Battalion of the 59th Infantry Regiment
53     1st Battalion of the 88th Infantry Regiment
54     2nd Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment
55     3rd Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment
56     2nd Battalion of the 84th Infantry Regiment
57     1st Battalion of the 81st Infantry Regiment
58     1st Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment
59     2nd Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment
60     2nd Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment
61     1st Battalion of the 43rd Infantry Regiment
62     2nd Battalion of the 59th Infantry Regiment
63     1st Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment
64     1st Battalion of the 38th Infantry Regiment
65     3rd Battalion of the 51st Infantry Regiment
66     2nd Battalion of the 57th Infantry Regiment
67     3rd Battalion of the 49th Infantry Regiment
68     3rd Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment
69     1st Battalion of the 6th Rifle Regiment
70     2nd Battalion of the 71st Infantry Regiment
71     3rd Battalion of the 71st Infantry Regiment
72     2nd Battalion of the 15th Reconnaissance Regiment
73     2nd Battalion of the 14th Infantry Regiment
74     1st Battalion of the 2nd Tank Regiment
75     1st Battalion of the 21st Reconnaissance Regiment
76     77th Tank Communication Battalion
77     2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Rifle Regiment
78     29th Combat Engineer Battalion
79     41st Communication Battalion
80     1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Rifle Regiment
81     48th Communication Battalion
82     2nd Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment
83     15th Communication Battalion
84     Jäger Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment
85     21st Communication Battalion
86     1st Battalion of the 71st Infantry Regiment
87     48th Combat Engineer Battalion
88     18th Communication Battalion
89     15th Machine Gun Battalion
90     37th Communication Battalion
91     1st Battalion of the 68th Combat Engineer Regiment
92     2nd Battalion of the 7th Reserve Regiment
93     58th Combat Engineer Battalion
94     4th Reconnaissance Unit
95     59th Machine Gun Battalion
96     9th Reconnaissance Unit
97     2nd Battalion of the 116th Reserve Regiment
98     9th Vehicle Transport Battalion
99     1st Bicycle Infantry Battalion
100     29th Communication Battalion
101     2nd Battalion of the 68th Combat Engineer Regiment
102     1st Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment
103     1st Battalion of the 31st Tank Regiment
104     2nd Battalion of the 15th Combat Engineer Regiment
105     1st Battalion of the 27th Tank Regiment
106     2nd Battalion of the unnumbered infantry regiment
107     2nd Battalion of the 6th Rifle Cavalry Regiment
108     38th Machine Gun Battalion
109     1st Battalion of the 14th unknown unit
110     28th Communication Battalion
111     1st Rifle Motorcycle Battalion
112     11th Communication Battalion
113     1st Battalion of the 1st Tank Brigade
114     1st Battalion of the 13th Infantry Regiment
115     2nd Battalion of the 1st Tank Regiment
116     41st Combat Engineer Battalion
117     9th Machine Gun Battalion
118     2nd Battalion of the 2nd Tank Regiment
119     1st Battalion of the 15th Tank Regiment
120     2nd Battalion of the 13th Infantry Regiment
121     1st Reconnaissance Unit
122     29th Reconnaissance Unit
123     1st Communication Battalion
124     8th Communication Battalion
125     11th Combat Engineer Battalion
126     3rd Battalion of the 11th Reserve Regiment
127     31st Machine Gun Battalion
128     21st Combat Engineer Battalion
129     1st Combat Engineer Battalion
130     18th Combat Engineer Battalion
131     28th Combat Engineer Battalion
132     15th Combat Engineer Battalion
133     1st Vehicle Transport Battalion
134     8th Vehicle Transport Battalion
135     8th Combat Engineer Battalion
136     1st Jäger Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment
137     1st Battalion of the 10th Infantry Regiment
138     67th Tank Battalion


 Regimental standards
Number     Military unit
176     5th Cuirassier Regiment
177     8th Cavalry Regiment
178     3rd Grenadier Horst Wessel
179     1st Dragoon Regiment
180     10th Uhlan Regiment
181     3rd Cavalry Regiment
182     12th Light Cavalry Regiment
183     10th Infantry Cavalry Regiment
184     9th Infantry Cavalry Regiment
185     4th Hussar Regiment
186     11th Infantry Cavalry Regiment
187     8th Heavy Dragoon Regiment
188     8th Uhlan Cavalry Regiment
189     1st Cuirassier Regiment
190     4th Hussar Regiment
191     4th Uhlan Regiment
192     1st Cavalry Regiment
193     10th Dragoon Regiment
194     1st Uhlan Cavalry Regiment
195     4th Cavalry Regiment
196     1st Cavalry Regiment
197     2nd Cavalry Regiment
198     2nd Uhlan Regiment
199     6th Hussar Regiment
200     4th Cavalry Regiment
201     17th Artillery Regiment


 Division standards
Number     Military unit
139     3rd Division of the 8th Artillery Regiment
140     1st Division of the 9th Artillery Regiment
141     1st Artillery Instrumental Reconnaissance Division
142     2nd Division of the 18th Artillery Regiment
143     18th Artillery Instrumental Reconnaissance Division
144     2nd Division of the 37th Artillery Regiment
145     2nd Division of the 78th Artillery Regiment
146     2nd Division of the 28th Artillery Regiment
147     21st Anti-Tank Division
148     1st Division of the 54th Artillery Regiment
149     1st Division of the 44th Artillery Regiment
150     1st Division of the 45th Artillery Regiment
151     1st Division of the 28th Artillery Regiment
152     2nd Division of the 47th Artillery Regiment
153     28th Artillery Instrumental Reconnaissance Division
154     2nd Division of the 21st Artillery Regiment
155     3rd Division of the 65th Artillery Regiment
156     2nd Division of the 64th Artillery Regiment
157     2nd Division of the 8th Artillery Regiment
158     3rd Division of the 9th Artillery Regiment
159     1st Division of the 8th Artillery Regiment
160     3rd Division of the 21st Artillery Regiment
161     11th Anti-Tank Division
162     2nd Division of the 9th Artillery Regiment
163     15th Anti-Tank Division
164     1st Division of the 116th Artillery Regiment
165     1st Division of the 15th Artillery Regiment
166     3rd Division of the 1st Artillery Regiment
167     37th Anti-Tank Division
168     2nd Division of the 44th Artillery Regiment
169     1st Division of the 57th Artillery Regiment
170     9th Anti-Tank Division
171     1st Battalion of the 13th Motorized Rifle Regiment
172     42nd Division
173     41st Combat Engineer Battalion
174     3rd Jäger Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment
175     1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (without banner)

Source :
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/List_of_German_standards_at_the_Moscow_Victory_Parade_of_1945

US Army Combat Engineers Salvaging Steel

 

Combat Engineers of the US Army salvage steel to be used in building bridges for Allied armies from the Fallersleben Factory, which has been turned from a "peoples' car" factory to V-1 production. The VW factory had Cellars originally to be used for support equipment and storage. After allied bombing the undamaged areas were used to manufacture the Wing assemblers for the Fi156 V-1s ("repurposing" is what we call it nowadays!).

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4369889033097876&set=gm.1781015942083821

The XPB2M-1 Prototype for the Martin Mars Flying Boat

The XPB2M-1 prototype for the Martin Mars flying boat sits on the ground at the Martin Aircraft Factory, Martin State Airport in Baltimore, Maryland ,in late 1942 with a Piper J-3 Cub parked on its right wing to convey its massive size. The Martin JRM Mars is a large, four-engined cargo transport flying boat designed and built by the Martin Company for the United States Navy during World War II. It was the largest Allied flying boat to enter production, although only seven were built. The United States Navy contracted the development of the XPB2M-1 Mars in 1938 as a long-range ocean patrol flying boat, which later entered production as the JRM Mars long-range transport. Four of the surviving aircraft were later converted for civilian use to firefighting water bombers. Two of the aircraft still remain based at Sproat Lake just outside of Port Alberni, British Columbia, although neither are operational.

Source :
From the collection of the National Air and Space Museum Archives, HGC-1073
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_JRM_Mars
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Black Rosie the Riveter

A riveter works on a wing panel of a Vultee A-31 Vengance dive bomber at Vultee’s Nashville, Tennessee, plant in February 1943.

Rosie the Riveter—the steely-eyed World War II heroine with her red bandanna, blue coveralls and flexed bicep—stands as one of America’s most indelible military images. Positioned under the maxim “We Can Do It,” the “Rosie” image has come to broadly represent the steadfast American working woman, and more specifically, the millions of female laborers who kept the factories and offices of the U.S. defense industries humming.

What the iconic Rosie image doesn’t convey is the diversity of that work force—specifically the more than half-million “Black Rosies” who worked alongside their white counterparts in the war effort. Coming from throughout the United States, these “Black Rosies” worked tirelessly—in shipyards and factories, along railroads, inside administrative offices and elsewhere—to fight both the foreign enemy of authoritarianism abroad and the familiar enemy of racism at home. For decades, they received little historical recognition or acknowledgement.

Like the Great War before it, World War II had required participating nations’ entire populations to contribute to the war effort. Once the U.S. entered the conflict in 1941 and millions of American men were enlisted into the military, the government had to rely on American women to fill domestic war-related roles. At the peak of the wartime industrial production, some 2 million women worked in war-related industries.

For African American women, becoming a Rosie was not only an opportunity to aid in the war effort, but also a chance for economic empowerment. Already on the move as part of the Great Migration, they sought to leave behind dead-end, often demeaning work as domestics and sharecroppers.

“Black people were leaving the south anyway and fanning out across the country,” says Gregory S. Cooke, director of Invisible Warriors, a documentary on the Black Rosies. “The war gave the women a more pointed motivation for leaving and an opportunity to make money in ways Black women had never dreamed before.”

At first, finding war-related work proved difficult for many prospective Black Rosies, as many employers—almost always white men—refused to hire Black women.

“The war represented this incredible opportunity, but Black women really had to rally and fight for the opportunity to even be considered,” says Dr. Maureen Honey, author of Bitter Fruit: African American Women in World War II and emeritus professor of women's and gender studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. “Many employers held out, attempting to only hire white women or white men, until they were forced to do otherwise.”

That coercion came in the summer of 1941 when activists Mary McLeod Bethune and A. Phillip Randolph brought the widespread hiring discrimination to President Franklin Roosevelt, prompting the Commander-in-Chief to sign Executive Order 8802 banning racial discrimination in the defense industry. The order boosted Black women's entry into the war effort; of the 1 million African Americans who entered paid service for the first time following 8802’s signing, 600,000 were women.

The roles Black Rosies played in the war effort ran the gamut. They worked in factories as sheet metal workers and munitions and explosive assemblers; in navy yards as shipbuilders and along assembly lines as electricians. They were administrators, welders, railroad conductors and more.

“It was work that you were proud of,” says Ruth Wilson, a 98-year-old Black Rosie living in Philadelphia.

During the war, Mrs. Wilson left her job as a domestic and became a sheet metal worker at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where she worked on the yard’s dry dock assembling ship bulkheads. “It made me feel good because my husband was over there in Europe fighting, and here I was doing my part,” Ms. Wilson said. Plus, she said, “I made more money!”

Industrial labor was just part of the wartime employment picture, says Dr. Honey: “All kinds of labor was highly valued and seen as ‘war jobs.’" Black Rosies worked in critical roles outside of the manual labor force, as computer scientists and clerk typists and in the fields as farmers, mining precious cotton needed for the bed linens and uniforms of American troops abroad.

Yet, despite their importance, Black Rosies still faced biting racism and sexism on the home front.

Both Black and white women were routinely paid 10 to 15 cents an hour lower than their male counterparts, despite equal pay regulations. Across the nation, Black workers received fewer benefits and were barred from controlling any union activities, with the shipbuilder’s union blocking Black people from membership altogether. And at Wagner Electric, a factory in St. Louis, despite a diverse workforce composed of 64 percent white women and 24 percent Black men, no Black women were hired.

“These struggles were a part of the Double V campaign,” says Dr. Honey, denoting the slogan used during World War II highlighting the struggle on two fronts that Black Americans found themselves fighting—for victory over freedom overseas and for victory over oppression at home.

Willie Mae Govan, another Rosie and one of three Black women who worked making gunpowder for the E.I. DuPont Corporation in Childersburg, Alabama, was nearly brought to tears when describing the sexual harassment she endured at the hands of male white bosses at her plant. This all while working a particularly dangerous job, which Ms. Govan believes contributed to frequent and intense migraine headaches for much of her life.

Bernice Bowman, who worked at the U.S. General Accounting Office as a clerk typist, says despite frequent promotions for her white coworkers, she was never offered a chance for advancement.

“The thing is, Black people, we were used to discrimination,” says Mrs. Wilson. “So we just did our best to ignore it and kept pushing on.”

In 1945, in a written report compiled at the end of the war, Kathryn Blood, a researcher or the Department of Labor studying the wartime contributions of Black women, wrote the following about the Black Rosies:

“The contribution [of Black women] is one which this nation would be unwise to forget or evaluate falsely.”

But for decades, the efforts of Black Rosies went largely unrecognized—until African American historians, playwrights and filmmakers like Mr. Cooke began, in the 21st century, shedding light on their contributions.

“These women, I truly believe, are some of the most significant women of the 20th century,” says Mr. Cooke.

“At the time, we didn’t really think about it as wanting recognition,” says Mrs. Wilson. “But now it does feel nice to know that the work we did is being remembered.”

Source :
From the collection of Library of Congress 1a35371u
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
https://www.history.com/news/black-rosie-the-riveters-wwii-homefront-great-migration

Bio of Konteradmiral Erich Bey

Erich Bey (23 March 1898 – 26 December 1943) joined the Kaiserliche Marine on 13 June 1916 and served in its destroyer arm. Following the end of World War I, he stayed in the navy and continued his career with the rise of the Nazi Party in power in Germany. By the start of World War II was a Fregattenkapitän (frigate captain).

Bey led the 4th Destroyer Flotilla, consisting of the destroyers Z11 Bernd von Arnim, Z12 Erich Giese and Z13 Erich Koellner, as part of Kommodore Friedrich Bonte's force that carried General Eduard Dietl's mountain troops for the occupation of Narvik during the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940. In the following Battles of Narvik on 10 April and 13 April, Bey distinguished himself by leading a small group of destroyers in a brave though doomed action against a superior Royal Navy force that included the battleship HMS Warspite.

Bey was awarded with the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 9 May 1940. The next day he was promoted to Captain and appointed commander of the German destroyer force (Führer der Zerstörer), succeeding Commodore Bonte, who had been killed on 10 April in the first Battle of Narvik. Bey then commanded the destroyer screen protecting the ships of the Brest Group (Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Prinz Eugen) during Operation Cerberus (the “Channel Dash”) in February 1942. Of the three, Scharnhorst suffered extensive damage, having struck a naval mine laid off the Dover Straits.

Promoted to Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral), on Christmas Day, 25 December 1943, Bey led a task force consisting of the battleship Scharnhorst and the destroyers Z29, Z30, Z33, Z34 and Z38 out of Alta Fjord in Operation Ostfront. The first and only surface sortie ordered by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, Bey's objective was to intercept the Allied Convoy JW 55B en route to Murmansk.

Bey's initial force of Scharnhorst and five destroyers was superior to the convoy's escorting British cruisers and destroyers in terms of firepower. However, Bey's flagship was outmatched by Admiral Bruce Fraser's battleship HMS Duke of York which led another Royal Navy fleet shadowing the convoy. Scharnhorst was expected to use her speed to avoid an engagement with Duke of York.

Poor weather, heavy seas and inadequate Luftwaffe reconnaissance prevented Bey from initially locating the convoy, so he detached his destroyers to fan out and assist in the search. However, the storm meant that Bey's destroyers ending up playing no part in the battle. Bey guessed correctly and Scharnhorst then managed to locate the convoy by herself. In the first engagement of the ensuing Battle of North Cape, while trading fire with the British convoy's screening cruisers, Scharnhorst's radar was destroyed, rendering her blind. Scharnhorst was then caught by the more powerful HMS Duke of York and suffered critical damage before being sunk after several torpedo hits from British cruisers. Of Scharnhorst's crew of 1,968, Royal Navy vessels fished 36 men alive from the icy sea, not one of them an officer.

Decorations & Awards:
- Ritterkreuz (7): am 09.05.1940 als Kapitän zur See und Chef 4. Zerstörerflottille
- 1914 EK II
- Hamburgisches Hanseatenkreuz
- Kgl. Preuss. Rettungsmedaille am Bande
- Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
- Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis II. Klasse
- Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938
- Medaille zur Erinnerung an die Heimkehr des Memellandes
- 1939 EK I: 20.11.1939
- Spange zum EK II: 16.10.1939
- Zerstörer-Kriegsabzeichen: 00.10.1940
- Narvikschild: 1940
- im Wehrmachtbericht genannt: 27.12.1943

Source :
http://www.geocities.ws/orion47.geo/WEHRMACHT/KRIEGSMARINE/Konteradmirals/BEY_ERICH.html
http://www.historicalwarmilitariaforum.com/topic/6937-ritterkreuztr%C3%A4ger-photos-in-color-thread/?page=9&tab=comments#comment-36914

U.S. Tank Men Enjoying Italian Grapes

 

Three battle-wearied tank men enjoy Italian grapes in the vicinity of Fauglia, Italy, August 21, 1944. The trio are, left to right, Corporal Jerome J. Lackman, Private First Class Everett L. Idell, and Sergeantt Peter DeWispelaere of the U.S. First Tank Battalion, First Armored Division, Fifth Army.

Source :
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/three-battle-wearied-tank-men-enjoy-italian-grapes-in-the-news-photo/176655161

M-8 Greyhound before Boarding an LST

 

U.S. M-8 Greyhound tanks of the 36th Division of the 5th Army lined up just before boarding an LST (Landing Ship, Tank) at a port of embarkation in Italy, 1944. Men in the front vehicle are: Bottom, left to right: Private Carl Rowens and Private Roy P. Thrasher; Top left to right: Private Nicholas J. Saviano and Private Frank E. Sherman. It is the full dope on the Ford Motor Company's M8 Greyhound Armored Car as it was presented to the olive-clad readers of YANK MAGAZINE in the summer of 1944: "Armored Car, M8, 6x6: the Army's latest combat vehicle, is a six-wheeled, eight-ton armored job that can hit high speeds over practically any type of terrain. It mounts a 37-mm cannon and a .30-caliber machine gun in a hand-operated traversable turret..." Although the M8 was originally envisioned as a tank killer, it was soon understood that its 37 mm gun was not up to the job. It first saw combat in 1943 in both theaters.

Source :
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/greyhound-tanks-of-the-36th-division-of-the-5th-army-lined-news-photo/103354634
http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/article-summary/M8_Greyhound_Armored_Car_of_WW2#.YN2pJX4xXcs

Disinfecting the Soviet POWs at Zeithain

Soviet prisoners of war are disinfected in the German prisoner of war camp Zeithain

In the summer of 1942, Karl Schmitt – head of the Wehrmacht mining division in Liège, Belgium – went to Berlin on vacation with his wife. On the way, he visited the Zeithain prisoner of war camp in Saxony. The Soviet POWs were ordered to present themselves for inspection with the aim of deploying them to Belgian mines under German control. They were accordingly checked for physical fitness. Karl Schmitt decided who was to be transported to Belgium and who was not.

Soviet prisoners of war were frequently put to work in mines. The Reich Security Main Office had ruled that they could be employed only in work gangs kept separate from German workers. The authorities considered the mines particularly suitable in that respect.

In September 1942, the prisoner of war camp was closed, and the remaining prisoners of war (by that time more than ten thousand) were transferred to the Leuven camp in Belgium, from where they were sent to the mines of Belgium and Northern France for forced labor – to extract coal. The photo is disinfected before transport to Belgium.

Source :
https://www.ausstellung-zwangsarbeit.org/en/selection-in-a-prisoner-of-war-camp.html
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4183730505083768&set=gm.1769254436593305

Bio of Luftwaffe Bomber Ace Hermann Hogeback

Hermann Hogeback, the son of a tax inspector, was born on 25 August 1914 in Idar-Oberstein at the time in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, a state of the German Empire. Growing up in Münster from 1921 on he graduated with his Abitur (diploma) in 1934. After his graduation, Hogeback joined the military service as an officer cadet in the 9th Company of Infantry Regiment 15, 5th Division of the Reichswehr in Kassel. Following his officers training he transferred to the Luftwaffe a year later where he received his pilot training at Neuruppin, Ludwigslust and at the R.B.-Strecke of the Deutsche Luft Hansa. During this training period he was promoted to Leutnant (second lieutenant) on 1 June 1936. After he completed his bomber pilot training he transferred to the III./Lehrgeschwader Greifswald (3rd group of Demonstration Wing Greifswald), which was formed on 1 April 1937 and later became the III./Lehrgeschwader 1 (LG 1—1st Demonstration Wing). Hogeback then transferred to the II./Kampfgeschwader 355 (2nd group of the 355th Bomber Wing) on 1 May 1938 and to Kampfgeschwader 253 (243rd Bomber Wing) on 1 September 1938.

Following his promotion to Oberleutnant (first lieutenant) Hogeback volunteered for combat service with the Condor Legion (Legion Condor) where he flew more than 100 missions in the Spanish Civil War. The Condor Legion was a unit composed of volunteers from the Luftwaffe and from the German Army (Heer) which served in the Spanish Civil War in support of the Nationalists. His Heinkel He 111 was shot down by republican anti-aircraft artillery on his first mission with 1. Kampfgruppe 88 in Spain. The mission was to attack positions at Móra d'Ebre and Ebro. Hogeback's starboard engine was hit and caught fire. Attempting to return to Zaragoza-Sanjurjo, he had to give the order to abandon the aircraft. The combat observer, Poppenhagen, and the flight engineer, Hermann, managed to bail out but the radio operator Unteroffizier Gerhard Pacht, was wounded and failed to escape. Hogeback bailed out as well but sustained skull and lung injuries when he struck the antenna and vertical stabilizer and came down in no man's land where he was recovered the following night. For his services in Spain he was awarded the Spanish Cross in Gold with Swords in June 1939.

At the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, Hogeback was back with III./LG 1 where he flew the He 111 in combat missions in the Invasion of Poland. His Gruppe (group) converted to the then new Junkers Ju 88 at the beginning of 1940. He flew further combat missions in the Battle of France. In summer of 1940 he flew missions against England in what would become the Battle of Britain, including 28 missions over London.

Hogeback and III./LG 1 was relocated to Sicily for operations in the siege of Malta and on 20 January 1941 he was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of the 8./LG 1. On one of his first missions in the Mediterranean theatre he was credited with the sinking of a 10,000 gross register tons (GRT) freighter. His Ju 88 came under attack from 12 British fighters during an aerial reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean Sea in July 1941. The British fighters broke off the attack following aerial combat, during the course of which Hogeback's radio operator Feldwebel (Sergeant) Willy Lehnert managed to shoot down two of the attackers.

On 8 September 1941, after 163 combat missions, Oberleutnant Hogeback received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) from the hands of Fliegerführer Afrika Generalmajor (Major General) Stefan Fröhlich at Derna in North Africa. On 20 February 1943, for his leadership of III.(Kampf)/LG 1, Hogeback was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub), the 192nd German soldier so honoured. The award was presented at the Wolf's Lair, or Wolfsschanze (Führer Headquarters, at Rastenburg, East Prussia) in early March 1943. Hogeback together with Hauptmann Erwin Fischer, an aerial reconnaissance pilot with Fernaufklärungs-Gruppe 121 (Long–range Reconnaissance Group 121), received the award directly from Adolf Hitler. At this presentation Hitler commented that eligibility for high awards was most difficult to achieve for reconnaissance pilots, next were the bomber pilots, and last and most easy for the "fine gentlemen" from the fighter force. Hitler then said that this procedure would be changed before inviting them to tea along with Luftwaffe adjutant Oberst Nicolaus von Below.

On 12 August 1943 Hogeback was appointed to succeed Oberst Walter Storp as Geschwaderkommodore (Wing Commander) of Kampfgeschwader 6 (KG 6—6th Bomber Wing) and was promoted to Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) with effect from 1 May 1944. On 18 October 1944 KG 6, along with Kampfgeschwader 27 (KG 27—27th Bomber Wing), Kampfgeschwader 30 (KG 30—30th Bomber Wing) and Kampfgeschwader 55 (KG 55—55th Bomber Wing) were subordinated to the newly formed IX. (J) Fliegerkorps. KG 6 received the suffix "J" to its name—J stands for Jagd (fighter aircraft)—and was now known as Kampfgeschwader (J) 6, denoting its fighter aircraft character. Hogeback ordered all the remaining Junkers Ju 88 and Junkers Ju 188 units transferred to other units. KG(J) 6 then transferred to Prague for conversion to the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.

Between 1943 and 1945 every member of Hogeback's Junkers Ju 88 crew was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, making it the most highly and only so decorated crew in the Luftwaffe. Air gunner Oberfeldwebel Günter Glasner—crew member since early 1940—received the Knight's Cross on 31 December 1943, radio operator Oberfeldwebel Willy Lehnert—crew member since March 1941—on 5 April 1944, and observer Fahnenjunker-Oberfeldwebel Wilhelm Dipberger—crew member since 1940—on 9 January 1945.

Following the German capitulation in May 1945, Hogeback was taken prisoner of war by United States Army forces. He was held captive in London, England, and at Sainte-Mère-Église, France, before being released in September 1945.

After the war Hermann Hogeback studied law and worked in the automobile industry. He died on 15 February 2004 in Dötlingen, Lower Saxony, and was buried with full military honors.

Awards and Decorations :
Medalla de la Campaña (4 May 1939)
Spanish Medalla Militar
Spanienkreuz in Gold mit Schwertern (6 June 1939)
Frontflugspange der Luftwaffe in Gold with Pennant "500"
Flugzeugführer- und Beobachterabzeichen
Italian aviator badge
Krimschild
Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz
Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse (20 May 1940)
Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse (26 September 1940)
Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 24 September 1942 as Hauptmann in the III./LG 1
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 8 September 1941 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 9.(K)/LG 1
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #192 on 19 February 1943 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of the III./LG 1
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #125 on 26 January 1945 as Oberstleutnant and Geschwaderkommodore of KG 6

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Hogeback
http://www.historicalwarmilitariaforum.com/search/?q=hogeback&type=forums_topic&item=6937

Bio of Generalmajor Reinhard Gehlen

Reinhard Gehlen (3 April 1902 – 8 June 1979) was a German lieutenant-general and intelligence officer. He was chief of the Wehrmacht Foreign Armies East military intelligence service on the eastern front during World War II, spymaster of the CIA-affiliated anti-Communist Gehlen Organisation (1946–56) and the founding president of the Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND) of West Germany (1956–68) during the Cold War.

Gehlen became a professional soldier in 1920 during the Weimar Republic. In 1942, he became chief of FHO, the German Army's military intelligence unit on the Eastern Front (1941–45). He achieved the rank of major general before being fired by Adolf Hitler in April 1945 because of the FHO’s "defeatism", the pessimistic intelligence reports about Red Army superiority.

In late 1945, at the start of the Cold War, the U.S. military (G-2 Intelligence) recruited him to establish the Gehlen Organisation, an espionage network against the Soviet Union, which employed former military officers of the Wehrmacht and former intelligence officers of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). As head of the Gehlen Organization Gehlen sought cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) which was formed in 1947, and the Gehlen Organization eventually became a close affiliate of the CIA.

Gehlen was instrumental in the negotiations to establish an official West German intelligence service on the basis of Gehlen Organization from the early 1950s. In 1956, the Gehlen Organization was transferred to the West German government and formed the core of the Federal Intelligence Service, the Federal Republic of Germany's official foreign intelligence service, and Gehlen served as its first president until his retirement in 1968. While this was a civilian office, he was also a lieutenant-general in the Reserve forces of the Bundeswehr, the highest-ranking reserve-officer in the military of West Germany. He received the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1968.

 

Source :
https://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/dba/de/search/?yearfrom=&yearto=&query=reinhard+gehlen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Gehlen

Walter Model with Hungarian General

Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe Nordukraine) chats with Major General vitéz noble Mihály Ibrányi de Vaja et Ibrány (Commander of Hungarian 25th Infantry Division). The Ritterkreuzträger in the background is Oberst (later Generalmajor) Arthur Finger (Führer 291. Infanterie-Division). There is no information about when and where this picture was taken, but probably in Kovel-Lublin area in the summer of 1944.

Source :
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2012/02/album-foto-terbaik-walter-model.html
https://live.warthunder.com/user/Hebime/

Generalmajor Julius Ringel in Crete

Generalmajor Julius Ringel visits the Küstenwachen (coast guards) in Crete. Austrian-born Ringel commanded the 5. Gebirgs-Division in Greece and Crete. On 22 May 1941 he was given control of all German forces on Crete and told to secure the island. While he achieved this objective, Ringel’s decision to push his troops eastwards towards Retimo allowed the bulk of British Creforce to escape south to Sfakia for evacuation. For his leadership during the battle he was awarded the prestigious Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes in June 1941.

Source :
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/general-julius-ringel

Heldengedenktag 1942

 

Heldengedenktag in the year of 1942, which was held at Berlin on 15 March 1942. In front of the Zeughaus, from left to right: Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (Chef Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler (Chef der SS und Polizei), and Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch (Generalinspekteur der Luftwaffe). Photo by Siegfried Rösch.

In Germany, the rough equivalent of Memorial Day and Armistice Day is known as Volkstrauertag. This word does not translate well into English. One rough literal translation would be People's Mourning Day. In 1935 after the Nazi takeover of power, they renamed Volkstrauertag as Heldengedenktag, which is roughly translated into English as Memory of Heroes Day. Heldengedenktag became a significant propaganda event in Nazi Germany. After 1945, the use of the term Heldengedenktag was abandoned because of its close association with the Nazi government.

 

Heldengedenktag in the year of 1942, which was held at Berlin on 15 March 1942. In front of the Zeughaus, from left to right: Großadmiral Erich Raeder (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine), Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (Chef Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), and Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch (Generalinspekteur der Luftwaffe). Photo by Siegfried Rösch.

Source :
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2011/09/album-foto-heldengedenktag-hari.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkstrauertag

Hitler Inspects the Panzerjäger Ferdinand

 

On 18-19 March 1943 Hitler paid a visit to the city of Rügenwalde / Pommern (Germany) to see a demonstration of the latest Nazi war machines, mainly the largest cannon in the world at that time, the Eisenbahngeschütz "Dora", which had a caliber of 800mm and which was previously used in the bombing of the Soviet Naval Base at Sebastopol. This photo by Walter Frentz shows the Führer examining the Panzerjäger Tiger (P) "Ferdinand", a heavy tank hunter whose chassis was taken from the Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger. The name itself is taken from the name of the designer, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche. For the identification, from left to right: Adolf Hitler (Führer und Reichskanzler), SS-Oberführer Prof. Dr.-Ing. e.h. mult. Ferdinand Porsche (Vorsitzender der Panzerkommission), General der Artillerie Emil Leeb (Chef Heereswaffenamt im Oberkommando des Heeres), Generalleutnant Walter Buhle (Chef vom Heeresstab im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), Generalmajor Hugo Beißwänger (General beim Chef der Heeresrüstung), Prof.Dr.-Ing.Albert Speer (back to the camera, Reichsminister für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion), and General der Artillerie Alfred Jodl (Chef Wehrmacht-Führungsamt).

Source :
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2014/05/album-foto-berwarna-adolf-hitler.html

212. Infanterie-Division Crossing Viaduc de Dinan

German 212. Infanterie-Division stationed in France, 1941. This impressive bridge is Viaduc de Dinan in Brittany. Dinan is without doubt one of the most attractive and best preserved small towns in Brittany. With its 1.8 mile (3km)-long ramparts, half-timbered houses, attractive port and cobbled streets filled with art galleries and craft shops. Wherever you are, you won’t miss the 131ft (40m)-high viaduct. From the estate of Eugen Kastner.

Viaduc de Dinan now

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.brittanytourism.com/destinations/the-10-destinations/cap-frehel-saint-malo-mont-saint-michel-bay/dinan/
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10223680712759327&set=gm.1727228047462611

Wehrmacht Winter Training

 

Wehrmacht winter training in the barracks, pre-war or early-war period. The picture come from the color slide estate of Siegfried Keller. Looking at other frames, this unit appears to be a Machinengewehr-Bataillon (you can see "M" on their shoulder boards). It is most probably MG-Bataillon 8 whose peacetime base was Züllichau im Wehrkreis III. It is also interesting that the guy marching the formation is wearing a Schützenschnur. Still awarded today!

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10223840436992333&set=gm.1743370425848373

Bio of Air Vice Marshal Don Bennett

 

Half length portrait of Air Vice Marshal D. C. T. Bennett CBE DSO, seated.

Air Vice Marshal Donald Clifford Tyndall Bennett, CB, CBE, DSO (14 September 1910 - 15 September 1986) was an Australian aviation pioneer and bomber pilot who rose to be the youngest air vice marshal in the Royal Air Force. He led the "Pathfinder Force" (No. 8 Group RAF) from 1942 to the end of the Second World War in 1945. He has been described as "one of the most brilliant technical airmen of his generation: an outstanding pilot, a superb navigator who was also capable of stripping a wireless set or overhauling an engine".

During 1940 Bennett's long-distance expertise was set to work setting up the Atlantic Ferry Organization tasked with the wartime delivery of thousands of aircraft manufactured in the United States and Canada to the United Kingdom. At that time, a transatlantic flight was a significant event, but the Atlantic Ferry project proved remarkably successful and demonstrated that with suitable training even inexperienced pilots could safely deliver new aircraft across the North Atlantic.

Bennett was recommissioned in 1941 in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve as a squadron leader. His first task was to oversee the formation of the Elementary Air Navigation School, Eastbourne, for the initial training of observers (later navigators). However he was promoted to wing commander, and appointed to the command of No. 77 Squadron, based at RAF Leeming and flying Whitleys in 4 Group, Bomber Command, on 7 December 1941.

In April 1942, No. 77 Squadron was transferred to Coastal Command and Bennett was given command of No. 10 Squadron (Handley Page Halifax) and shortly afterwards led a raid on the German battleship Tirpitz. Shot down during that raid, he evaded capture and escaped to Sweden, from where he was able to return to Britain; he and his copilot were awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 16 June 1942.

In July 1942, Bennett was appointed to command the new Pathfinder Force, an elite unit tasked with improving RAF Bomber Command's navigation. At this stage of the war, Bomber Command had begun to make night-time raids deep into Germany, but had not yet been able to cause significant damage, largely because only about a quarter of the bomb loads were delivered "on target"—and this at a time when "on target" was defined as within three miles of the aim point.

Pathfinder Force was set up to lead the bomber stream to the target areas and drop markers for the remainder of the force to aim at. Later in the war, the Pathfinder Force would be equipped with a range of newly developed and often highly effective electronic aids, but the initial object was to simply take experienced crews with standard equipment and hone their navigation skills.

Having already demonstrated that he could pass on his meticulous navigational ability to others, Bennett was an obvious choice for the role, yet nevertheless a surprising one. The Air Ministry's Directorate of Bomber Operations had for some time been pushing to establish an elite precision bombing force, but Bomber Command AOC-in-C Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris was implacably opposed to the idea on the grounds that it would "lower the morale" of the other squadrons.

When Harris learned that Vice-Chief of the Air Staff Sir Wilfrid Freeman planned to order the change, and that the strong-willed Basil Embry would probably be given command of the new force, Harris bowed to the inevitable, but was given a "more or less free hand" in selection of the force commander. He chose to appoint Bennett without considering other candidates. Harris described Bennett as "the most efficient airman I have ever met". Bennett was called to Bomber Command HQ when he was on the point of leaving with his squadron for the Middle East. There he was informed by Harris that he was to lead a special force to make use of the new bombing and navigational aids then available and the more sophisticated ones that would follow. With effect of the 5 July he was promoted to group captain.

In 1943 Bennett was promoted with the upgrading of PFF to group status to air commodore, and then in December to acting air vice-marshal — the youngest ever to hold that rank – giving him a rank similar to those of the other commanders of groups. He remained in command of the Pathfinder Force until the end of the war, overseeing its growth to an eventual 19 squadrons, a training flight and a meteorological flight, working relentlessly to improve its standards, and tirelessly campaigning for better equipment, in particular for more Mosquitos and Lancasters to replace the diverse assortment of often obsolete aircraft with which the force started.

Bennett was not a popular leader: a personally difficult and naturally aloof man, he earned a great deal of respect from his crews but little affection. As Harris wrote, "he could not suffer fools gladly, and by his own high standards there were many fools". Nor did Bennett get on well with the other RAF group commanders: not only was he 20 years younger, he was an Australian. Indeed, Bennett saw his own appointment in those terms: it was, he believed, a victory for the "players" over the "gentlemen". There was antagonism between Bennett and Air Vice-Marshal Ralph Cochrane of No. 5 Group. In 5 Group's 617 Squadron, Cochrane had his own specialist squadron pursuing high levels of accuracy.

Despite the unquestioned achievements of No. 8 Group, at the end of the war Bennett was the only bomber group commander not to be knighted. He resigned his commission in the RAF, and returned to private life to pursue a variety of activities. He became a director of British South American Airways, and designed and built both cars (Fairthorpes) and light aircraft.

One of his darkest hours after the war came on 12 March 1950, when an aircraft operated on charter by his airline Fairflight crashed at Llandow in Wales.

Bennett became one of the shortest-serving Members of Parliament (MPs) of the 20th century when he was elected at a by-election in 1945 as Liberal MP for Middlesbrough West. He was defeated soon afterwards in the 1945 general election — his parliamentary career having lasted all of 73 days. He had previously attempted to be selected as a Conservative candidate for Macclesfield in February 1944. One of his fellow candidates was Guy Gibson; Gibson was selected instead.

Attempts to return to the House of Commons for Croydon North at a by-election in 1948 and in Norwich North at the 1950 general election were unsuccessful. A later attempt at the 1967 Nuneaton by-election, standing for the obscure National Party, resulted in his losing his deposit. He continued his support for far-right fringe parties during the 1970s as a patron of the National Independence Party. At the February 1974 general election, he stood against the incumbent Conservative prime minister Ted Heath in Sidcup, under the banner "Anti-EEC" (in opposition to Britain's membership of the European Economic Community). He came last, winning just 1.5% of the vote.

In 1958, an autobiography entitled Pathfinder, detailing his experiences throughout the war, was published by Frederick Muller Ltd.

After the closure of Blackbushe Airport in 1960 by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Bennett purchased three-quarters of the Aerodrome from the Calthorpe Estate and set about reopening the airport as a general aviation facility. He was successful and Blackbushe reopened on 6 October 1962. Bennett fought a planning battle with local councils to develop Blackbushe with new hangar facilities. At the time he faced a lot of opposition from local residents, councils, and the ministry. Ultimately many of the efforts to establish modern facilities at Blackbushe were unsuccessful, and he subsequently sold the airport to Doug Arnold.

Bennett died at the age of 76 on Battle of Britain Day, 15 September 1986.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=493517885250374&set=gm.1743332772518805

Bio of General Sir Nevil Brownjohn

 

Half length portrait of the Deputy Quartermaster General, Middle East, Major General N. C. D. Brownjohn.

General Sir Nevil Charles Dowell Brownjohn, GBE, KCB, CMG, MC (25 July 1897 - 21 April 1973) was a senior British Army officer who served as Quartermaster-General to the Forces from 1956 until his retirement in 1958.

Brownjohn was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1915. He served in the First World War, where he was awarded the Military Cross. In 1927 he was sent, as a captain, to China to protect the international settlement in Shanghai; he used his skills as a Russian speaker to raise a company of White Russians.

Attending the Staff College, Camberley from 1931 to 1932, he also served in the Second World War, rising to be major general in charge of supplies to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, in 1943. He then became Deputy Chief of Staff at General Eisenhower's Headquarters in 1944 before being appointed Deputy Quartermaster-General in the Middle East later that year.

After the war he took charge of Administration for the British Army of the Rhine and then joined the Control Commission (British Sector) for Germany in 1947. He became Vice Quartermaster General at the War Office in 1949 and Vice Chief of Imperial General Staff in 1950. He was Chief Staff Officer at the Ministry of Defence from 1952 to 1955 when he became Quartermaster-General to the Forces; he retired in 1958.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevil_Brownjohn
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=493522628583233&set=gm.1743336992518383

Bio of Lieutenant-General Sir Ronald Weeks

 

Sir Ronald Weeks (1890-1960), Field Marshal Montgomery's chief representative on the Allied Control Council for Germany during World War Two, England, June 1945.

Lieutenant-General Ronald Morce Weeks, 1st Baron Weeks KCB, CBE, DSO, MC & Bar, TD (13 November 1890 - 19 August 1960) was a British Army general during the Second World War.

Weeks was commissioned into the South Lancashire Regiment of the Territorial Army in 1913. He served in the Rifle Brigade during the First World War and then retired from military service in 1919.

He was re-employed during the Second World War, initially as Chief of Staff for the Territorial Division and then as a brigadier on the General Staff of Home Forces in 1940. He was promoted to acting major-general on 17 March 1941 and was appointed Director General of Army Equipment in 1941 and Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1942. He then became Deputy Military Governor and Chief of Staff of the British Zone for the Allied Control Council in Germany in 1945; in that capacity he was involved in negotiations to avoid the Berlin Blockade. He retired from the British Army later that year.

He was awarded the Military Cross in 1917, and a Bar to the Military Cross in 1918. He was appointed to the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1918, made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1939 and a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1943.

After the war, Weeks became Chairman of Vickers. In 1956 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Weeks, of Ryton in the County Palatine of Durham.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Weeks,_1st_Baron_Weeks
https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/permalink/1738151199703629/?__cft__[0]=AZXOs5QiuqIDFwxiCtHwoaZwxjbhs_6hLBS8PnILydOOg6STULIaG3M3L8RPXX6bjgK5-O6xoWmB_ClsSBINYM8ph4Hcdj_DAJ1t0Ivz78RMYcNrVfM2FO-wKArsfS6Nw5sMKNBzoHctNIVP6ezkoM41&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R