Sunday, August 30, 2020

Hitler and Mussolini at Salzburg Train Station

German Chancellor Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) meets with Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) and Axis officers at Salzburg railway station. This picture was taken by Walter Frentz on 22 April 1944 during the two-day meeting between Hitler and Mussolini at Schloss Kleßheim near Salzburg, Austria. The meeting also attended by Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Rudolf Rahn and Karl Wolff on the German side and Serafino Mazzolini, Rodolfo Graziani, Filippo Anfuso and general Umberto Morera for the Italians. Mussolini and his delegation presented a list of problems the Italian Social Republic was having which they attributed to the lack of cooperation with German authorities, but the German delegation no longer respected Mussolini who by now resembled a shadow of his former self.


 Adolf Hitler shaking hands with the Italian and German officials. SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff saluting at right.



SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff saluting to Hitler, while at right standing General der Infanterie Rudolf Toussaint


Adolf Hitler ready to shaking hands with SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff, while at far right is General der Infanterie Rudolf Toussaint






Benito Mussolini with German officials in Italy. At far left is General der Infanterie Rudolf Toussaint (Bevollmächtigten General der deutschen Wehrmacht in Italien), followed to the right by Oberst Heinz Heggenreiner (Verbindungsoffizier zum Marschall Graziani in den Stab des Bevollmächtigten General der deutschen Wehrmacht in Italien), and Oberstleutnant i.G. Hans Jandl (Chef des Verbindungsstabes in Bevollmächtigten General der deutschen Wehrmacht in Italien).


 Adolf Hitler shaking hands with Oberstleutnant i.G. Hans Jandl (Chef des Verbindungsstabes in Bevollmächtigten General der deutschen Wehrmacht in Italien).


 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini walks past through saluting German and Italian officials.


 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini walks past through saluting German and Italian officials.


Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini saluting each other








Source :
Aboubakre Boukhris photo collection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_1944#April_22,_1944_(Saturday)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1061781580891012&type=3&__cft__[0]=AZXXl8bU6RZ5QWolWF6JhME0vCCDOKSDeuJf3mRmLdbX2Nc9bLW6uLmEmcCIsEE9caha5FBi4D4usQkToh-uvMHkBjYqr1aURMOmOZ7qYSeS147BsUvYJi8vwwO7wpOfMXzSaG8bN2x-JUq1-Lz79P8weT57eF6z-GYHI0Jqp1mvy0QnPnr-OfOn_pinvCGzR2w&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R

Bio of Admiral William Halsey


William Frederick Halsey Jr. (October 30, 1882 – August 16, 1959) was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. He is one of four individuals to have attained the rank of fleet admiral of the United States Navy, the others being Ernest King, William Leahy, and Chester W. Nimitz. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Halsey graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1904. He served in the Great White Fleet and, during World War I, commanded the destroyer USS Shaw. He took command of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga in 1935 after completing a course in naval aviation, and was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in 1938. At the start of the War in the Pacific (1941–1945), Halsey commanded the task force centered on the carrier USS Enterprise in a series of raids against Japanese-held targets. Halsey was made commander, South Pacific Area, and led the Allied forces over the course of the Battle for Guadalcanal (1942–1943) and the fighting up the Solomon chain (1942–1945).[2] In 1943 he was made commander of the Third Fleet, the post he held through the rest of the war.[3] He took part in the Battle for Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle of the Second World War and, by some criteria, the largest naval battle in history. He was promoted to fleet admiral in December 1945 and retired from active service in March 1947.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Halsey_Jr.
https://www.historynet.com/william-bull-halsey-legendary-world-war-ii-admiral.htm

12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" Photo Collection by SS-Kriegsberichter Wilfried Woscidlo


  SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Fritz Witt (27 May 1908 – 14 June 1944), commander of 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend", photographed by SS-Kriegsberichter Wilfried Woscidlo on his 36th birthday celebration which held at Tillierès-sur-Avre, France, on May 27, 1944. Witt first joined the SS in 1933, serving in the SS-Stabswache Berlin, an élite guard formation of only 117 men. In 1938, as commander of the 3rd SS-Standarte Deutschland, he took part in the annexation of Austria, marching into that country with his unit. In March 1939, Witt served with the SS Standarte during the bloodless annexation of Bohemia and Moravia. During the Polish campaign, Fall Weiss, Witt’s SS-Standarte Deutschland was subordinated to Panzerverband Kempf, based in East Prussia. Witt's company saw some heavy fighting and he served well during this campaign. For personal bravery in combat, he was awarded both the first and second classes of the Iron Cross within. In October 1939, with the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer, Witt was appointed commander of the 1st Battalion of the Deutschland. He fought with bravery during the Invasion of France, again showing skill commanding his unit. For example, On 27 May 1940, 20 British Matilda tanks attacked Witt’s battalion. Despite the fact that his unit had no anti-tank weapons, Witt rallied his battalion and they held, destroying nine of the British tanks with grenades and other improvised methods. Witt was the model of the young leader, never retreating in the face of anything. In April, 1941, he participated with his unit in Operation Marita, which was the invasion of the Greece. His unit saw ferocious fighting, playing an important role. The 1st Battalion had been tasked with clearing resistance from the Klidi Pass, just south of Vevi and opening the way to the heart of Greece. Clashing with a hastily-assembled Australian-British-New Zealand-Greek force, under an Australian, Major General, Iven Giffard Mackay, Witt and his men were engaged in heavy fighting for three days before the pass fell. Witt’s brother, SS-Untersturmführer Franz Witt, died during the battle. Witt’s battalion itself had wreaked havoc on their enemy, causing a high number of casualties and capturing over 520 prisoners for the loss of only 37 dead and 95 wounded. From 22 June 1941, Fritz Witt and his unit fought in Operation Barbarossa, participating in the encirclement of 600.000 men near Kiev. Then his unit now moved south, to join the German 14. Armeekorps. Witt’s battalion fought fiercely for the town of Perekop, later advancing across the Perekop Isthmus and launching the assaults on the Soviet defensive positions near the Tarter Ditch. In spring 1943, after being engaged in heavy fighting on the Eastern Front, Witt was transferred to the newly created 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend". he continued training exercises for his division, allowing his troops to familiarise themselves with the terrain around Caen. This training would later prove vital.  On 6 June 1944, the Western Allies landed on the Normandy beaches. Witt ordered his division to form up north of Caen, defending the city and the Carpiquet Aerodrome. Over the next weeks, Witt’s division managed to hold the line above Caen despite incessant Allied attacks and constant air, artillery and naval bombardments. The Hitler Youth inflicted devastating losses on the British and Canadian forces, the training which Witt had developed maintaining his unit’s morale and fighting ability. On 14 June 1944, a British naval bombardment hit the divisional command post in Venoix. Fritz Witt, age 36, was hit in the face by shrapnel and killed instantly. He was buried on the war cemetery St André Champigny (France).


  SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Fritz Witt (27 May 1908 – 14 June 1944), commander of 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend", receives a model of an 8-wheel armoured scout car Sd.Kfz.232. The model was a birthday present by the division’s reconnaissance battalion (led by SS-Sturmbannführer Gerhard Bremer) to their divisional commander’s 36th birthday on May 27, 1944. To the left of Witt, his adjutant SS-Sturmbannführer Heinrich "Hein" Springer (3 November 1914 - 27 October 2007), followed by - possibly - SS-Obersturmführer Heinz Ritzert (Chef 15.Kompanie / SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 / 12.SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend"). The birthday celebration itself was held in Tillierès-sur-Avre, France. Over the next week, Witt’s division managed to hold the line above Caen despite incessant determined attacks and constant air, artillery and naval bombardments. On 14 June 1944, a British naval barrage hit the divisional command post in Venoix. Witt was hit in the face by shrapnel and killed instantly. The 12th SS-Hitlerjugend and his former 1st SS-Leibstandarte comrades mourned his loss. Kurt Meyer, as the next highest ranking officer, was promoted to divisional commander; at 33 years of age. Fritz Witt, recipient of the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub (Knight’s Cross with oakleaves), was buried with full military honours at Champigny—Saint-André-de-l’Eure in France.


Men of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 / 12.SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" erect temporary grave crosses for SS-Oberscharfuhrer Helmut Belke along the walls of Abbaye d'Ardenne (Ardenne Abbey) during the first days of the Normandy Invasion. Those who fell were generally buried first at site in the blood-drenched soil of Normandy. During the few pauses in the battle, members of the division cared for the graves of their fallen comrades. Belke himself was the driver for the Regimentskommandeur, SS-Standartenführer Kurt "Panzermeyer" Meyer. He was killed in action in the attack on Bretteville on June 9, 1944. As you can see the soldier on the left is wearing Italian camo (M1929, "telo mimetico"), the right one has a smock in Rauchtarn-Muster (blurred edge, spring version).


 At the building of l'Abbaye d'Ardenne (Ardenne Abbey), regimental command post of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 / 12.SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" in Caen, Normandy, late June 1944. On the left wearing Italian Telo Mimetico M29 camo is the regimental commander SS-Obersturmbannführer Heinz Milius, who was to report the recent battle situation to SS-Sturmbannführer Hubert Meyer (Ia Erster Generalstabsoffizier of 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend", Chief of staff). On the right wearing Demjanskschild is SS-Obersturmführer Bernhard-Georg Meitzel (Ib Quartiermeister of 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend", Supply Officer in the Division staff), while the NCO behind Meyer is SS-Oberscharführer Herbert Reinecker (1914-2007), who served as an SS-Kriegsberichter. He started writing for nazi magazines in 1935 and was a writer for "Das Schwarze Korps" during the war years. He became a famous crime writer for TV series in Germany after the war, and never made a secret about his Waffen-SS membership though.


 The strain of battle is evident in the face of SS-Sturmbannführer Johann "Hans" Waldmüller (13 September 1912 – 8 September 1944), commander of I.Bataillon / SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 / 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" while fighting in Normandy, June 1944. He is wearing the Italian M29 Telo Mimetico camo smock. Waldmüller joined the SS at an early stage in 1933. After started the career in SD (Sicherheitsdienst), during World War II he was transferred to the elites, the Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler, in the Summer of 1940. When a new Waffen-SS division was to be formed in 1943, the 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend", he was selected to be transferred over from the LSSAH as a Bataillonskommandeur. Waldmüller would take part in the fierce fighting in Normandy, where the "Baby Milk" Division would distinguished themselves for their outrageous fighting behavior. An account on one of the fighting: "During the fighting of 8 and 9 June 1944, I. Bataillon lost one NCO and four men killed. Four NCOs and sixteen were wounded. Of them, four NCOs and five men remained with the unit. The following days were remarkable mainly because of the industrious buildings of positions. The numerous fire attacks by enemy artillery forced the Panzer shelters to be constructed like bunkers. They were propped up on the inside with railroad ties from the close-by line Cane-Luc-sur-Mer. Trees had to be cut down to open up fields of fire. Sturmbannführer Waldmüller himself was on his feet day and night, to the point of dropping dead, to supervise and direct the building of the positions. His Bataillon command post, too, was an earth bunker in the open field, just behind the front line. His example, his inexorable insistence saved the lives of many of his men at the time." A second account on the fighting: "SS Major Johann Waldmüller, now the chief of the l. Battalion, stood in the midst of his men, the very soul of resistance," according to Kurt Meyer, his superior. For his bravery and excellent leadership he was recommended and awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernes Kreuzes on 27 August 1944. But he was killed not long after that, gruesomely mutilated by the Belgian partisans. On 8 september, 1944, while driving on his sidecar together with SS-Untersturmführer Karl Marquard, he got ambushed near Basse-Bodeux on the road from Werbomont to Stavelot. The belgian partisans had positioned a rope on the road and when the vehicle neared they tightened the rope. The cycle was brought to a halt - either stopped or caught in the cable - and was immediatly put under fire. Soon later, horse-drawn carriages from Waldmüller's unit discovered the horror. The driver of the cycle was found, seriously wounded, on the left side of the road. In the cycle itself sat SS-Untersturmführer Marquard dead in the rear seat. He was shot in the head. SS-Sturmbannführer Waldmüller was discovered a little further, mutilated and dumped. His belly had been slit open, genitals cut off and dumped in a drainage pipe of a small lake. Both men were buried in Düren and still are.


SS-Untersturmführer Willi Klein, Adjutant of SS-Sturmbannführer Hans Waldmüller (Kommandeur I.Bataillon [motorisiert] / SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 / 12.SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend") in his foxhole near Cambes/Normandy, summer of 1944. Klein (SS number 456 070) was born in 4 August 1921 in Grenzhausen. He started his career in 1.Kompanie / Bataillon der Waffen-SS z.b.V. as SS-Unterscharführer (July 1941), followed by a tour of duty in 2. SS-Infanterie-Brigade (March 1943) and SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 (June 1944). He was killed in action in 1945 as an SS-Obersturmführer and Chef 10.Kompanie / SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25.


SS-Untersturmführer Franz-Josef "Franzl" Kneipp (19 September 1911 - 12 October 2002) in Normandy front, June 1944. He was a signal officer (Nachrichtenoffizier) in the III.Bataillon / SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 / 12.SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend". The picture was taken by Wilfried Woscidlo. Kneipp was originally a signaler in the police on the staff of the High SS and Police Leader Rhein in Wiesbaden until he joined the Aufklärungs-Abteilung of the Totenkopf division in 1939. He was a signal platoon NCO as an Oberscharführer in the SS-Flak Abteilung “Ost” from August 1941 thru April 1943. Despite being kicked out of the officer course at the signal school in Metz near graduation for an affair with a French girl, he was promoted to Untersturmführer in April 1944 upon the recommendation of his regimental commander, Kurt Meyer. He was wounded on July 8, 1944 as signal officer of III./SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 25 in Normandy. He was sent out on a reconnaissance mission in a tank to look for the enemy. He was standing in the tank turret looking through his binoculars and the next thing he remembers is waking up while some Canadian soldiers were pulling him out of the tank with his arms streaming blood. His tank had taken a hit from a Canadian tank and he had been wounded in both arms. Following a brief hospitalization in Scotland, Kneipp was handed over to the Americans and transported by ship to the United States where he was brought to Washington, D.C. for questioning about his knowledge of German code machines. He had also been interrogated by the British about code machines and threatened with being shot if he did not tell what he knew. Kneipp refused. After his return to Germany Kneipp ended up on the staff of the US Air Force Wiesbaden air base commander. For many years Kneipp was the chairman of the Wiesbaden HIAG veterans association.


During a break in the fighting, SS-Untersturmführer Franz-Josef "Franzl" Kneipp (Signal officer of III.Bataillon / SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 / 12.SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend") plays his guitar in the trenches with the battalion adjutant, SS-Untersturmführer Kurt Bergmann, and just out of sight to the left is Battalion Commander SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Karl-Heinz Milius. In this picture, Kneipp is playing Dm6 chord. He’s an accomplished player, using chords like that, plus playing a classical guitar. Kneipp is wearing a Waffen-SS Plane Tree pattern tunic (Platanenmuster), while Bergmann is wearing Italian M29 Telo Mimetico camo. This color photo was taken near Buron in Normandy (France), June 1944, and are originally produced by Wilfried Woscidlo, a Kriegsberichter attached to the "HJ" Division. Bergmann would be MIA (Missing in action) on 8 July 1944, while Kneipp survived the war.


This picture was taken in Normandy front (France) in June 1944 by SS-Kriegsberichter Wilfried Woscidlo and showing a young Grenadier from 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" wearing pea dot camouflaged cloth and headgear. The division fought superbly throughout the Normandy campaign, its performance a testimony to the training it had received, its leaders and the calibre of its individual recruits. However, its fighting qualities were to no avail in the face of the Allies so-called ‘materialschlacht’, their overwhelming strength in tanks, aircraft, motorised infantry and artillery.


A grenadier from 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" in Normandy (France), summer 1944. He is wearing italian Telo Mimetico M29 camo trousers that were common throughout the 12th SS in normandy. Note that he is also holding a 15 cm sIG 33 (schweres Infanterie Geschütz 33), a heavy infantry support gun. It was the standard German heavy infantry gun used in the Second World War. It was the largest weapon ever classified as an infantry gun by any nation. Sources differ on the development history, but the gun itself was of conventional design. Early production models were horse-drawn, with wooden wheels. Later production models had pressed steel wheels, with solid rubber tires and air brakes for motor towing. The sIG 33 was rather heavy for its mission and it was redesigned in the late 1930s to incorporate light alloys in an effort to save weight. This saved about 150 kilograms (330 lb), but the outbreak of war forced the return to the original design before more than a few hundred were made, as the Luftwaffe had a higher priority for light alloys. A new carriage, made entirely of light alloys, was tested around 1939, but was not accepted for service.


Junior leaders and men of the 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" in Normandy, summer 1944. The relentless fighting has already left its traces on the young faces. These "Crack Babies" held their position in the trenches tenaciously, defying all attacks by the enemy who was superior in numbers and materials. The division itself was formed around a nucleus of experienced officers and NCOs from the Leibstandarte Division, such as Fritz Witt, Kurt Meyer, Max Wünsche and Wilhelm Mohnke. It would be up to these men to mould the Hitlerjugend into a potent combat unit. They knew how to soldier the Waffen-SS way: aggressively, taking risks to achieve victory.


 Men of the 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" in Normandy, summer 1944. Many of the youngsters were smoking cigarettes to steady their nerves. The majority of its junior enlisted men were drawn from members of the Hitler Youth, while the senior NCOs and officers were from other Waffen-SS divisions. Many of the recruits were so young that they were supplied with sweets instead of the standard tobacco and alcohol ration!


A Grenadier from 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" lit a cigarette during a pause in the battle. The picture was taken in Normandy front (France) in June 1944 by SS-Kriegsberichter Wilfried Woscidlo. Described as a "Crack Babies" division, the Hitlerjugend was unique because the majority of its junior enlisted men were drawn from members of the Hitler Youth born in 1926, while the senior NCOs and officers were generally veterans of the Eastern Front. The division, with 20,540 personnel, first saw action on June 7, 1944 as part of the German defense of the Caen area during the Normandy campaign. The battle for Normandy took its toll on the division and it came out of the Falaise pocket with a divisional strength of 12,500 men. The division has been criticized for performing inadequately in the opening days of the Normandy campaign. Following the invasion battles, the division was sent to Germany for refitting. On 16 December 1944, it was committed against the US Army in the Battle of the Bulge. After the failure of the Ardennes offensive the division was sent east to fight the Red Army near Budapest. The 12th SS Division eventually withdrew into Austria; on 8 May 1945, the surviving 10,000 men surrendered to the US Army at Enns.The reputation of Hitlerjugend has been affected by war crimes committed by members of the division during the early battles in Normandy.


A Flak (AA or Anti-Aircraft) MG-42 team of 12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" in Normandy, summer 1944. They are using a standard bipod and not a special anti-aircraft tripod or mount (Zwillingssockel), a desperate attempt to fight allied low-flying fighter bombers (The MG-42 or MG-34 is used for close-in AA support whenever 20mm or 30mm AA guns are few or nonexistant.). Very occasionally a rifle-calibre MG like the MG 42 managed to shoot down an aircraft, but it was mostly a waste of ammunition. Even the .50 Browning wasn't that effective (some sources said that it need a 50,000 rounds fired for every plane shot down!). 20mm was really the smallest calibre to be worth bothering with, which is why it was the smallest gun used by German FlaK units. Towards the end of the war even the 20mm was seen as too weak, according to Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin's 'Die deutschen Geschütze'. The focus on damage capability does of course ignore the deterrant effect on the pilots, who may not have been very keen to expose themselves to even quite ineffective fire. So it was maybe less the idea to shoot them down, and more to keep them away, that made use of the weapons seem attractive.


Source :
"The History of the 12. SS-Panzerdivision Hitlerjugend" by Hubert Meyer
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Photographs_by_Wilfried_Woscidlo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_SS_Panzer_Division_Hitlerjugend
https://military.wikia.org/wiki/12th_SS_Panzer_Division_Hitlerjugend

Detached Soldiers Wait for Assignment

One of war's lighter moments: Detached soldiers wait for assignment (no further information). Photo by Hugo Jaeger.

Source :
Tobi Moll photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/?post_id=1532316880287063&__cft__[0]=AZVmjIs-W2TUd9r-I4dXNkOa3e0kJww68PDB9F803dM01uRxlqQFf0ekoEE1KoPdnYBfNr4MpOSlEJdV5U8e11sGuprFGal65UG-RUOWjwqzrp3neKzWn6wKLW-2eVagdSUe7HJo2CEsCdUqK7sz3-wZFJDpaQdB2JAyThIwADCpO8seiw4f2wIi7ps8b1Y4jAQ&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

Luftwaffe Musikkorps

From a color slide group of Flak-Regiment 3: A Weimar regiment, Luftgau III. The big regimental standard follows the Musikkorps to the far right out of the image.

In 1935 the Luftwaffe's Musikkorps were keen to announce their arrival and introduced a distinctive style of brass music to emphasise this new air-arm within Nazi Germany's newly-created Wehrmacht. The freshly appointed Luftwaffen musikinspizient Prof. Hans Felix Husadel, un-bound by the strict tradition of the army, set about 'freeing' Luftwaffe music and brought the full range of clarinets, bass trumpet and alto-slide trombone into the musical line-up, plus the saxophone, so breaking a previously long-held boycott of this, supposedly, 'Negro instrument'.

With the enthusiastic support of Herman Göring, a change to the construction of existing instruments was also made and the much-beloved traditional rotary valves were replaced on the bass trumpet by pump valves! In a further move, Husadel engaged composers who would write specifically for the new arm to develop a modern style of military band music more similar to the American 'Sousa' style than the old traditional Prusso-German marches.

With Prof. Husadel's modern and exciting compositions allied to his introduction of silver-plated instruments over the army's more traditional and standard 'plain' brass finishes, a much more distinctive look and sound for the Luftwaffe's military bands was guaranteed and this successful transformation was fundamental in now promoting a feeling of elitism and real pride in this, the new airm arm within the Nazi Third Reich.


Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10221814799072651&set=gm.1532973903554694
http://www.tomahawkfilms.com/german-airforce-music.html

Friday, August 28, 2020

Female Welder with Her Torch

With the flame from her torch ignited, a female welder adjusts her goggles at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, Connecticut, October 1943. Later known as General Dynamics Electric Boat, the company produced more than 70 submarines and almost 400 PT boats during World War II. Photo by Bernard Hoffman.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4261286423943577&set=gm.1532023366983081

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Heer Soldiers by Franz Guthausen

Zitronengelb (citron yellow) and Hellblau (light blue) soutache. Color correction is far from perfect on this one (sorry about that!), but you see yellow and light blue branch colors. They are most probably related to Zentra-Kraft-OST (the photographer's unit). photographed by Franz Guthausen.


Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/?post_id=1414267335425352

Biography of Douglas MacArthur


General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (26 January 1880 – 5 April 1964) was an American five-star general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines campaign, which made him and his father Arthur MacArthur Jr. the first father and son to be awarded the medal. He was one of only five to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the US Army, and the only one conferred the rank of field marshal in the Philippine Army.

Raised in a military family in the American Old West, MacArthur was valedictorian at the West Texas Military Academy where he finished high school, and First Captain at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated top of the class of 1903. During the 1914 United States occupation of Veracruz, he conducted a reconnaissance mission, for which he was nominated for the Medal of Honor. In 1917, he was promoted from major to colonel and became chief of staff of the 42nd (Rainbow) Division. In the fighting on the Western Front during World War I, he rose to the rank of brigadier general, was again nominated for a Medal of Honor, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross twice and the Silver Star seven times.

From 1919 to 1922, MacArthur served as Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he attempted a series of reforms. His next assignment was in the Philippines, where in 1924 he was instrumental in quelling the Philippine Scout Mutiny. In 1925, he became the Army's youngest major general. He served on the court-martial of Brigadier General Billy Mitchell and was president of the American Olympic Committee during the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. In 1930, he became Chief of Staff of the United States Army. As such, he was involved in the expulsion of the Bonus Army protesters from Washington, D.C. in 1932, and the establishment and organization of the Civilian Conservation Corps. He retired from the US Army in 1937 to become Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines.

MacArthur was recalled to active duty in 1941 as commander of United States Army Forces in the Far East. A series of disasters followed, starting with the destruction of his air forces on 8 December 1941 and the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. MacArthur's forces were soon compelled to withdraw to Bataan, where they held out until May 1942. In March 1942, MacArthur, his family and his staff left nearby Corregidor Island in PT boats and escaped to Australia, where MacArthur became Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area. Upon his arrival, MacArthur gave a speech in which he famously promised "I shall return" to the Philippines. After more than two years of fighting in the Pacific, he fulfilled that promise. For his defense of the Philippines, MacArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor. He officially accepted the surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945 aboard the USS Missouri, which was anchored in Tokyo Bay, and he oversaw the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951. As the effective ruler of Japan, he oversaw sweeping economic, political and social changes. He led the United Nations Command in the Korean War with initial success; however, the controversial invasion of North Korea provoked Chinese intervention, and a series of major defeats. MacArthur was contentiously removed from command by President Harry S. Truman on 11 April 1951. He later became chairman of the board of Remington Rand.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_MacArthur
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/douglas-macarthur

Biography of George S. Patton


George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general of the United States Army who commanded the U.S. Seventh Army in the Mediterranean theater of World War II, and the U.S. Third Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

Born in 1885, Patton attended the Virginia Military Institute and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He studied fencing and designed the M1913 Cavalry Saber, more commonly known as the "Patton Saber", and competed in modern pentathlon in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.

Patton first saw combat during 1916's Pancho Villa Expedition, America's first military action using motor vehicles. He saw action in World War I as part of the new United States Tank Corps of the American Expeditionary Forces: he commanded the U.S. tank school in France, then led tanks into combat and was wounded near the end of the war. In the interwar period, Patton became a central figure in the development of the Army's armored warfare doctrine, serving in numerous staff positions throughout the country. At the American entry into World War II, he commanded the 2nd Armored Division.

Patton led U.S. troops into the Mediterranean theater with an invasion of Casablanca during Operation Torch in 1942, and soon established himself as an effective commander by rapidly rehabilitating the demoralized U.S. II Corps. He commanded the U.S. Seventh Army during the Allied invasion of Sicily, where he was the first Allied commander to reach Messina. There he was embroiled in controversy after he slapped two shell-shocked soldiers, and was temporarily removed from battlefield command. He then was assigned a key role in Operation Fortitude, the Allies' disinformation campaign for Operation Overlord. At the start of the Western Allied invasion of France, Patton was given command of the Third Army, which conducted a highly successful rapid armored drive across France. Under his decisive leadership, the Third Army took the lead in relieving beleaguered American troops at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, after which his forces drove deep into Nazi Germany by the end of the war.

During the Allied occupation of Germany, Patton was named military governor of Bavaria, but was relieved for making aggressive statements towards the Soviet Union and trivializing denazification. He commanded the United States Fifteenth Army for slightly more than two months. Severely injured in an auto accident, he died in Germany twelve days later, on December 21, 1945.

Patton's colorful image, hard-driving personality and success as a commander were at times overshadowed by his controversial public statements. His philosophy of leading from the front, and his ability to inspire troops with attention-getting, vulgarity-ridden speeches, such as his famous address to the Third Army, was met favorably by his troops, but much less so by a sharply divided Allied high command. His sending the doomed Task Force Baum to liberate his son-in-law, Lieutenant Colonel John K. Waters from a prisoner of war camp further damaged his standing with his superiors. His emphasis on rapid and aggressive offensive action nonetheless proved effective, and he was regarded highly by his opponents in the German High Command. An award-winning biographical film released in 1970, Patton, helped solidify his image as an American folk hero.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S._Patton
https://id.pinterest.com/pin/760826930779166421/

Sunday, August 23, 2020

The US Naval Battleship USS Iowa


The US Naval Battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) known as 'The Big Stick' in 1943 somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. / Photos by Ivan Dmitri/Michael Ochs Archives.

USS Iowa (BB-61) is a retired battleship, the lead ship of her class, and the fourth in the United States Navy to be named after the state of Iowa. Owing to the cancellation of the Montana-class battleships, Iowa is the last lead ship of any class of United States battleships and was the only ship of her class to have served in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II.

During World War II, she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, en route to a meeting of vital importance in 1943 in Tehran with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Britain andJoseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. When transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1944, Iowa shelled beachheads at Kwajalein and Eniwetok in advance of Allied amphibious landings and screened aircraft carriersoperating in the Marshall Islands. She also served as the Third Fleet flagship, flying Admiral William F. Halsey's flag at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. During the Korean War, Iowa was involved in raids on the North Korean coast, after which she was decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets, better known as the "mothball fleet." She was reactivated in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan and operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to counter the recently expanded Soviet Navy. In April 1989, an explosion of undetermined origin wrecked its No. 2 gun turret, killing 47 sailors.

Iowa was decommissioned for the last time in October 1990 after 19 total years of active service, and was initially stricken from the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) in 1995, before being reinstated from 1999 to 2006 to comply with federal laws that required retention and maintenance of two Iowa-class battleships. In 2011 Iowa was donated to the Los Angeles–based non-profit Pacific Battleship Center and was permanently moved to Berth 87 at the Port of Los Angeles in 2012, where she was opened to the public as the USS Iowa Museum.
 























Source :
Michael Ochs Archives, courtesy of Tobi Moll
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iowa_Museum
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=316981769570654&set=pcb.1527108590807892

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Johannes Steinhoff in 1944

An original colour slide by Walter Frentz. Portrait of German fighter ace Oberstleutnant Johannes "Macky" Steinhoff (Geschwaderkommodore Jagdgeschwader 77) in 1944. He was one of very few Luftwaffe pilots who survived to fly operationally through the whole of the war period 1939–45. His wartime record was 176 aircraft claimed destroyed, of which 152 were on the Eastern Front, 12 on the Western Front and 12 in the Mediterranean. He also flew 993 operational sorties. Steinhoff was shot down 12 times but had to bail out only once. Explaining his preference to remain with his damaged aircraft, Steinhoff admitted: "I only bailed out once. I never trusted the parachutes. I always landed my damaged planes, hoping not to get bounced on the way down when I lost power."

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10218511195353368&set=gm.923124541516319