Adolf Hitler and Luftwaffe Heroes After Award Ceremony at Obersalzberg

Adolf Hitler chats with his heroes from Luftwaffe after award ceremony (Eichenlaub and Schwertern) at Berghof Obersalzberg on 4 April 1944. From left to right: Major Werner Streib (Geschwaderkommodore Nachtjagdgeschwader 1. Schwertern #54, 11 March 1944), Hauptmann Gerhard Barkhorn (Gruppenkommandeur II.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 52. Schwertern #52, 2 March 1944), Oberst Erich Walther (Kommandeur Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 4 / 1.Fallschirmjäger-Division. Eichenlaub #411, 2 March 1944), Major Kurt Bühligen (Gruppenkommandeur II.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen". Eichenlaub #413, 2 March 1944), Hauptmann Hans-Joachim Jabs (Gruppenkommandeur IV.Gruppe / Nachtjagdgeschwader 1. Eichenlaub #430, 24 March 1944), Major Bernhard Jope (Geschwaderkommodore Kampfgeschwader 100. Eichenlaub #431, 24 March 1944), Major Reinhard Seiler (Gruppenkommandeur I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54. Eichenlaub #419, 4 March 1944), Major Hansgeorg Bätcher (blocked by Hitler. Gruppenkommandeur I. Gruppe / Kampfgeschwader 4 "General Wever". Eichenlaub #434, 24 March 1944), Adolf Hitler (Führer und Reichskanzler), Hauptmann der Reserve Horst Ademeit (Gruppenkommandeur I. Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54. Eichenlaub #414, 2 March 1944), Major Johannes Wiese (Gruppenkommandeur I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 52. Eichenlaub #418, 2 March 1944), Wachtmeister Fritz Petersen (Geschützführer 6.Batterie / Flak-Regiment 4 [motorisiert]. Eichenlaub #438, 26 March 1944), Major Dr.jur. Maximilian Otte (GruppenKommandeur II.Gruppe / Schlachtgeschwader 2 "Immelmann". Eichenlaub #433, 24 March 1944), and Oberleutnant Walter Krupinski (Staffelkapitän 7.Staffel / Jagdgeschwader 52. Eichenlaub #415, 2 March 1944). Actually there's one more recipient: Leutnant Erich Hartmann (Staffelkapitän 9.Staffel / Jagdgeschwader 52. Eichenlaub #420, 2 March 1944), but he is not visible in this picture!

Source:
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2011/11/album-foto-upacara-penganugerahan.html

Pilots from Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1) in Winter 1940/41

Pilots from Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1) pictured in the winter of 1940/1941 in front of a U.S. made Ford 1939 Mercury Eight car. FLTR: Leutnant Reinhold Knacke (Flugzeugführer in 2./NJG 1. Ritterkreuz 1 July 1942 and Eichenlaub 7 February 1943. 44 abschusse), Leutnant Kurt Loos (Flugzeugführer in 2./NJG 1. Deutsches Kreuz in Gold 21 August 1942. 10 abschusse), Leutnant Wolfgang "Ameise" Thimmig (Flugzeugführer in 2./NJG 1. Deutsches Kreuz in Gold 12 July 1943. 23 abschusse), Leutnant Hermann Reese (Flugzeugführer in 2./NJG 1. Ehrenpokal. 5 abschusse), and Leutnant Hans-Dieter Frank (Flugzeugführer in 2./NJG 1. Ritterkreuz 20 June 1943 and Eichenlaub 2 March 1944. 55 abschusse)

Source:
http://www.historicalwarmilitariaforum.com/topic/6937-ritterkreuztr%C3%A4ger-photos-in-color-thread/page-33

Officers from Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1) at Venlo

Officers from Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1) at Venlo, Holland, Spring 1941. FLTR: Nachtflugleiter Hauptmann G. Hitgen (Fluglotse a.k.a. air traffic controller), Hauptmann Werner Streib (Staffelkapitän 2./NJG 1), and Leutnant Hans-Dieter Frank (Flugzeugführer at 2./NJG 1). They're wearing ledermantel M1936

Source:
http://www.historicalwarmilitariaforum.com/topic/6937-ritterkreuztr%C3%A4ger-photos-in-color-thread/page-33

Wehrmacht Inspection at Paris

Wehrmacht inspection at Paris, France, in 1941, possibly before going to the Eastern Front. Please note the standard issue M31 Clothing bag

Source:
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/page/84

Wehrmacht Inspection at Paris

Wehrmacht inspection at Paris, France, in 1941, possibly before going to the Eastern Front. Please note the standard issue M31 Clothing bag and kids roaming freely!

Source:
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/page/84

German Generals in Slovenia

From left to right: Generalleutnant Hans Suttner (?), SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei Oskar Knofe (Befehlshaber der Ordnungspolizei in Salzburg), SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei Karl Heinrich Brenner (Assigned to the Aufstellungsstab of the SS-Generalkommando), and SS-Standartenführer Dr. Walter Blume. The event was Gauleiter Dr. Rainer proclamation of giving the People of Upper Carniola/Oberkrain/Gorenjska, Slovenia, German citizenship on revoke (auf Widerruf), 27 September 1942. It started with parade in Krainburg/Kranj at 9:00. Around 11 it was a visit of "Heldenfriedhof" Military cemetery in Krainburg/Kranj (and where the above picture was taken). At 12:00 was Gauleiter Dr. Rainer proclamation speech in Krainburg/Kranj. Upper Carniola was never part of Nazi Germany, it was Occupied territory with resistence movement

Source:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=197735

U-Boat Crew Wearing Diving Equipment

U-boat crew outside the boat hatch wearing tauchretter. Looks like on training. Taken from Signal magazine, May 1943 edition. An escape set (in German Tauchretter = "diver rescuer") is a breathing set, which lets its wearer survive for a time in an environment without (sufficiently) breathable air, in particular underwater, primarily or originally intending mainly to survive long enough to reach safety where the air is breathable

Source:
http://greec.free.fr/diaporama/u%20171/U-boot/album/slides/Tauchretter-Signal-051943-0-site.html

German Soldiers Relaxed at the French Beach

There are no sunbeds in sight, but this picture is clear evidence, as if any were needed, that the German aptitude for bagging the best sunbathing spots goes back a long way. There’s barely room to move on this beach near Boulogne, and any Britons trying to find a spot wouldn’t have been terribly welcome. The year was 1940 and this rare colour photo shows a unit of Hitler’s army relaxing as they waited to see if they would be called on to cross the Channel and attack. It was taken on June 6, two days after Churchill told Great Britain – standing alone after the collapse of France – ‘We shall fight them on the beaches…’ As it turned out, the invasion was called off after the Luftwaffe’s failure to defeat the RAF in the Battle of Britain during the exceptionally hot summer of that year. But the picture offers a glimpse of how relaxed and confident these crack troops were after their unstoppable Blitzkrieg through the Low Countries and France. One or two even seem to have packed Das Speedos in their kit bags in preparation for the excursion to the seaside. (Though look closely and it appears that some clearly didn’t.) And is the figure in bright red trunks a shapely collaborator in bikini bottoms? Some are drying out after a swim. Combat gear is scattered across the beach and their rifles are stacked in neat pyramids. They are infantrymen from the 1st Gebirgsjäger (Mountain Huntsmen) Division and were preparing to take part in Operation Sea Lion, which would have seen them streaming across the Channel in landing craft. Further up the coast, British and French troops were fighting for their lives at Dunkirk. The extraordinary snapshot is one of a series taken by an unnamed officer. Others show the same men marching along country lanes and through rubble-strewn towns. The officer seems to have dumped his box of negatives four years later as he fled Paris. They were discovered by photographer Marcel Gesgon but he simply filed them away. Now his son Alain, a Paris-based historian, has had them printed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the planned invasion. He said: ‘These young men were simply enjoying the sun in a newly-created outpost of the Third Reich. Many of were in their teens or early 20s but they had swept all before them so far, and seemingly had nothing to fear.’ Might some still be alive today? Unlikely, Mr Gesgon said. Some time after this sun-kissed day, the 1st Gebirgsjäger was posted to the freezing, blood-soaked Russian front. 

Source:
http://plasmaticplastic.blogspot.com/2011/11/battle-for-boulogne.html

The German Pilots of the Bombers Heinkel He-111 and Symbolic Funeral

It is extremely unusual photograph of World War II in color. The German pilots of the bombers Heinkel He-111 and symbolic funeral. At a coffin inscription in German: “Dein leben – dein gewinn” – your life – your reward. And “mich auch” – for me, too. Picture was taken by Siegfried Lauterwasser at Tatsinskaya airfield (Stalingrad), fall of 1942

Source:
http://albumwar2.com/he-111-pilots-and-symbolic-funeral/

Possibly a German retreat or even a surrendering ceremony

Picture taken late in May 1945 in Czechoslovakia, possibly a German retreat or even a surrendering ceremony

Source:
http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82787&page=2

Wehrmacht proxy marriage wedding ceremony

German Army officer shake hands with his soldier in the latter's proxy marriage wedding ceremony. Picture allegedly taken in the outskirts of Stalingrad, summer 1942

Source:

http://thirdreichcolorpictures.blogspot.com/2012/05/wedding-ceremony.html

German Motorcycles at Rest

Kradmelder wearing Kradmantel

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

Erwin Rommel in Africa

Erwin Rommel as Generaloberst and Oberbefehlshaber Panzerarmee "Afrika"

Source:

"Die Wehrmacht" magazine, 12 May 1942 edition