Training of Panzer Attack in the East

Training of Panzer attack in the east. Photo taken in early 1943 in Ukraine. Panzer III was probably painted gray over Tropen. Color slide group from Dr. Grögl, Film 62, Frame 12.

Source :

Akira Takiguchi photo collection

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222023880259550&set=gm.1557944247724326

USS Pennsylvania Drydocked in the Pacific

USS Pennsylvania (BB-38, originally Battleship # 38), 1916-1948, drydocked in an Advanced Base Sectional Dock (ABSD) at the Pacific, 1944. Note the extensive anti-torpedo blister built into her hull side and paravane streaming chains running from her forefoot to her foredeck.

 

USS Pennsylvania, lead ship of a class of two 31,400-ton battleships, was built at Newport News, Virginia. Commissioned in June 1916, she served as the Atlantic Fleet's flagship into the early "Twenties". Though her operations during this time were primarily off the U.S. east coast and in the Caribbean area, Pennsylvania briefly cruised to France in December 1918. Transiting the Panama Canal to the Pacific early in 1921, she became flagship of the newly-organized Battle Fleet. During the next eight years, she led the Navy's battleships in maneuvers in the Atlantic, Caribbean and in the Pacific, including a cruise to Australia and New Zealand in mid-1925.

From June 1929 to May 1931, Pennsylvania received an extensive modernization at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania. She emerged with new "tripod" masts, improved combat systems, and an enlarged armored conning tower to better support her mission as fleet flagship. Through the following decade, Pennsylvania continued her pattern of drills, at-sea exercises and periodic major "Fleet Problems" conducted to refine the Navy's war plans.

When Japan attacked on 7 December 1941, Pennsylvania, flagship of the United States Fleet, was in drydock at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. Her relatively light damage was repaired over the next few months, and she operated along the U.S. west coast and off Hawaii until October 1942. Following an overhaul that significantly updated her secondary battery of 5" guns and added many anti-aircraft machine guns, Pennsylvania went to Alaskan waters, where she participated in the recapture of Attu in May 1943 and Kiska in August.

In November 1943, Pennsylvania bombarded Makin during the amphibious assault on the Gilbert Islands. She repeated this role a few months later at Kwajalein and Eniwetok, and in June and July 1944 at Saipan, Tinian and Guam. Her guns supported landings in the Palaus in September 1944 and at Leyte in October. When the Japanese Navy responded vigorously to the latter operation, Pennsylvania helped to destroy part of the enemy fleet in the Battle of Surigao Strait.

In January 1945, Pennsylvania took part in the Lingayen Gulf invasion. Freshly returned to the combat zone after another overhaul, she was seriously damaged by a Japanese aerial torpedo off Okinawa on 12 August 1945, the last major Navy ship to be hit during the Second World War. Too old for retention in the post-war fleet, Pennsylvania was repaired only enough to fit her for target duty. She served in that capacity during the July 1946 Bikini atomic bomb tests. Subsequently moored at Kwajalein for studies of residual radioactivity, USS Pennsylvania was scuttled at sea on 19 February 1948.

 

 

Source :

https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/permalink/1551937918324959/?__cft__[0]=AZUDzQiyLPz2bweHE1SUCwl2L7gKl3yP0seWajeueHjH4iQwNasmezrrCQTSh9W2rRTpk-MEW7HPrk8pn1b1arFSu4LeKPI9TlRdRW0KMrxq5x2HSN0k3j_fRQcZzuQ0sHCy_P69XKM29nnmlxd4O26maDWbm5_ZBqUk9MNW4mLtCw&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

Inside a B-24 Liberator Express Transport Plane

 

Inside a B-24 Liberator Express Transport Plane during a mission, 1942. Interior view of the B-24 Liberator Express Transport Plane bringing soldiers from both the US Army Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force to the base in Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada. 1942. Photos by Ivan Dmitri / Michael Ochs Archives.

Source :

https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/permalink/1539353576250060

Bus Trapped in the Crater at Balham Station

On 14 October 1940 at 8.02pm, a 1400 kilo semi armour piercing bomb from Luftwaffe bombers penetrated 32 feet underground and exploded just above the cross passage between the two platforms at Balham Underground station, London. Above ground a No.88 London double decker bus, travelling in blackout conditions, plunged into the crater created by the bomb. The dramatic spectacle of the trapped bus was to become emblematic of the dangers of the Blitz, a series of pictures of it appeared in publications around the world. The water and gas mains, along with the sewage pipes, had been broken: water poured down, flooding the tunnels below, and gas hampered rescue efforts. Almost all of the casualties would have resulted from the blast and debris. Yet stories soon developed of trapped people drowning in the flood waters and of miraculous escapes by people swimming along the tunnels to the next station. In total sixty six people died, although over the years there has been confusion over the exact number and only recently Transport for London has agreed to revise the memorial plaque at the station. The recovery of bodies was to take almost until Christmas yet remarkably the damage was repaired and trains were running through the station on 8th January 1941, and the station itself reopened on the 19th January.

For the collection of color photographs during the London Blitz, please see HERE.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=3334514389935729&set=gm.1545682382283846
http://ww2today.com/14th-october-1940-disaster-at-balham-tube-station?fbclid=IwAR3glFnTFkJsTblkhY5a8a3B1xxHSjgn5OQT4QMp1jP5j0rdrcd6Xnz_kYA

The London Blitz (1940-1941)

 Workers wielding pick-axes and shovels are tasked with clearing away the remains of bombed building that would have once stood next to this Central London church.

The appearance of German bombers in the skies over London during the afternoon of September 7, 1940 heralded a tactical shift in Hitler's attempt to subdue Great Britain. During the previous two months, the Luftwaffe had targeted RAF airfields and radar stations for destruction in preparation for the German invasion of the island. With invasion plans put on hold and eventually scrapped, Hitler turned his attention to destroying London in an attempt to demoralize the population and force the British to come to terms. At around 4:00 PM on that September day, 348 German bombers escorted by 617 fighters blasted London until 6:00 PM. Two hours later, guided by the fires set by the first assault, a second group of raiders commenced another attack that lasted until 4:30 the following morning.

This was the beginning of the Blitz - a period of intense bombing of London and other cities that continued until the following May. For the next consecutive 57 days, London was bombed either during the day or night. Fires consumed many portions of the city. Residents sought shelter wherever they could find it - many fleeing to the Underground stations that sheltered as many as 177,000 people during the night. In the worst single incident, 450 were killed when a bomb destroyed a school being used as an air raid shelter. Londoners and the world were introduced to a new weapon of terror and destruction in the arsenal of twentieth century warfare. The Blitz ended on May 11, 1941 when Hitler called off the raids in order to move his bombers east in preparation for Germany's invasion of Russia.

On the night of 14 October 1940, a bomb penetrated the road and exploded in Balham Underground station, killing 68 people. A No 88 bus travelling in black-out conditions then fell into the crater. In this extraordinary picture, the double-decker bus is still visible amid crumbling tarmac and bent girders left in an enormous crater.

The spire of the Central Criminal Court – better known as the Old Bailey – rises defiantly while all around it buildings have become jagged shells in a landscape scarred by the relentless German bombings.

Workers remove rubble from a building decimated in a heavy German air raid during the Blitz. Wallpaper inside the shattered bedrooms can be seen in the gap left in the row of houses.

Despite the terrifying raids by the Luftwaffe, they attacks failed to breaks the spirit of the British people. People pressed on with their lives and in one of these extraordinary images a man can be seen in a park calmly reading a book while a barrage balloon hovers close by and a second, right, soars above.

The random nature of the bombing is clearly demonstrated here as a church, right, remains untouched while a vast swathe of buildings close by were reduced to rubble.

The Houses of Parliament with part of them covered in scaffolding are seen across the River Thames on a sunny day in 1941.

Source :
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/blitz.htm
https://www.theundergroundmap.com/wp/the-london-blitz-in-colour/

Manstein and Breith Discussing Map Strategy

Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein (left, Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe Süd) met with General der Panzertruppe Hermann Breith (Kommandierender General III. Panzerkorps) to discuss the upcoming military operation in northeastern Bjelgorod, May 1943, as a preparation of "Unternehmen Zitadelle" (Operation Citadel) a.k.a. the Battle of Kursk. The officer wearing the monocle at right is Oberst im Generalstab Ernst Merk (Chef des Generalstabes III. Panzerkorps). After the conclusion of the battle for the Donets, as the spring rasputitsa (mud) season came to an end in 1943, both the German and Soviet commands considered their plans for future operations. Manstein arguing for a mobile defence that would give up terrain and allow the Soviet units to advance, while the German forces launched a series of sharp counterattacks against their flanks to inflict heavy attrition. But for political reasons, Hitler insisted that the German forces go on the offensive, choosing the Kursk salient for the attack. On 15 April 1943 the Führer authorised preparations for Unternehmen Zitadelle.

Source :
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2011/10/album-foto-terbaik-erich-von-manstein.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Citadel

Casablanca Conference (1943)

The Casablanca Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) or Anfa Conference was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. In attendance were United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill. Also attending were the sovereign of Morocco Sultan Muhammad V and representing the Free French forces Generals Charles de Gaulle and Henri Giraud, but they played minor roles and were not part of the military planning. USSR General Secretary Joseph Stalin had declined to attend, citing the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad as requiring his presence in the Soviet Union.

The conference's agenda addressed the specifics of tactical procedure, allocation of resources, and the broader issues of diplomatic policy. The debate and negotiations produced what was known as the Casablanca Declaration, and perhaps its most historically provocative statement of purpose, "unconditional surrender". That doctrine came to represent the unified voice of implacable Allied will and the determination that the Axis powers would be fought to their ultimate defeat.

The work of the conference was primarily military—deciding on the invasion of Sicily (after completion of the North African campaign) rather than an immediate invasion of western Europe, apportioning forces for the Pacific theatre and outlining major lines of attack in the Far East, and agreeing on the concentrated bombing of Germany. Roosevelt and Churchill also found time to discuss nuclear bomb research, to consider competing claims between Henri Giraud and Charles de Gaulle for the leadership of the French war effort against the Axis powers, and, most important of all, to demand an “unconditional surrender” from Germany, Italy, and Japan.

American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945) and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) at the Casablanca Conference in Morocco, 16 January 1943. Roosevelt, with advice from General George C. Marshall, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, lobbied for a cross-Channel invasion of Europe. Churchill, with advice from the British Chiefs of Staff, led by General Sir Alan Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS, the professional head of the British Army), felt the time was not opportune, and favored an Allied assault on the island of Sicily followed by an invasion of mainland Italy. The British argument centred on the need to pull German reserves down into Italy where, due to the relatively poor north-south lines of communication, they could not be easily extracted to defend against a later invasion of northwest Europe. Additionally, by delaying the cross-Channel landing, it would mean that any invasion would be against a German army further weakened by many more months fighting on the Eastern Front against the Red Army. Throughout the conference, Roosevelt's attention was prominently focused on the Pacific War front and he faulted the British for what he felt was not a full commitment against Japanese entrenchment. The Italian strategy was agreed upon, a compromise between the two leaders, Roosevelt acceding to Churchill's approach for Europe. Churchill, in turn, pledged more troops and resources to the Pacific and Burma to reinforce positions held by Chiang Kai-shek against the Japanese. The United States would provide assistance to the British in the Pacific by supplying escorts and landing craft.

American military commander Brigadier General William Hale Wilbur (1888 - 1979) (second right) kneels to receive the Medal of Honor from American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945) (seated, second left) outside the Anfa Hotel, Casablanca, Morrocco, January 22, 1943. Roosevelt is assisted by Major General George S. Patton (1885 - 1945) (right) while US Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall (1880 - 1959) (left) watches. The men where in Morrocco for the Casablanca Conference where they planned Allied strategy for the European campaign in World War II.

 1943-Casablanca, Morocco: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill (seated) pose with their staffs after historic allied conference at Casablanca. Standing (L to R) are: Lt. Gen. H.H. Arnold, Adm. Ernest J. King, Gen. George C. Marshall, Sir Dudley Pound, Sir Charles Portal, Sir Alan Francis Brooke, Sir John Dill, Lord Louis Mountbatten, and Brehon H. Somervell. Others are unidentified

American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945) (seated left) and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) (seated right) review documents at the Casablanca Conference where they planned Allied strategy for the European campaign in World War II, Casablanca, Morrocco, January 17, 1943. Among those behind them are, from left, Chief of the US Army Forces Lieutenant General Henry 'Hap' Arnold (1885 - 1950), Commander-in-Chief of the US Navy Admiral Ernest J. King (1878 - 1956), US Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall (1880 - 1959), Chief of British Naval Staff Admiral Sir Dudley Pound (1877 -1943), Chief of the Imperial General Staff General Sir Alan Brooke (1883 - 1963), and Air Chief Marshall Sir Charles Portal (1893 - 1971)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill talk on the lawn of the President's villa during the Casablanca conference, 17 January 1943. The conference produced a unified statement of purpose, the Casablanca Declaration. It announced to the world that the Allies would accept nothing less than the "unconditional surrender" of the Axis powers. Roosevelt had borrowed the term from US Army General Ulysses S. Grant (known as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant), who had communicated that stance to the Confederate States Army commander during the American Civil War. So Roosevelt stated at the concluding press conference on 24 January that the Allies were demanding "unconditional surrender" from the Germans, the Italians and the Japanese.

Military journalists at a press conference listen to President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill during a press conference at the Casablanca Conference, January 1943. Roosevelt and Churchill excluded the press from the conference—partly for safety reasons and partly to allow them to work without scrutiny of their every move. But, toward the end of the conference, Allied Forces Headquarters invited a group of approximately 50 journalists to Casablanca, promising them a history-making event. With space short in Anfa, the journalists received lodgings at the Excelsior, an upscale hotel on Casablanca’s main thoroughfare across from the entrance to the old medina. They were instructed not to talk about their assignment in front of hotel employees or others in Casablanca. They were also told to behave as if their rooms were bugged. The Excelsior’s bar had been a favorite hangout for the German Armistice Commission, and the current extent of Nazi infiltration of the hotel staff remained unclear. To help with security, the U.S. Army temporarily took over the hotel’s switchboard and kitchen.

General Charles de Gaulle of Free French Forces at Casablanca Conference, 17 January 1943. He had to be forced to attend, and he met a chilly reception from Roosevelt and Churchill. No French representatives were allowed to attend the military planning sessions. Elliott Roosevelt’s book, 'As He Saw It' (1946) describes how Franklin Roosevelt wanted the French provisional government to be set up with Giraud and de Gaulle, who would be “equally responsible for its composition and welfare.” That is because Franklin Roosevelt saw de Gaulle as Churchill’s puppet and thought that Giraud would be more compliant with US interests. Complications arose because most people in the French Resistance considered de Gaulle the undisputed leader of the Resistance and so Giraud was progressively dispossessed of his political and military roles. Roosevelt eventually recognized de Gaulle as the head of the Free French in mid-1944.

 Roosevelt's Delegation At Casablanca. Seated in the center, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945) discusses the British problem with a group of Casablanca Conference attendees, Morocco, 1943. Left to right, front row: General Goerge C. Marshall (1880 - 1959), Chief of Staff, President Roosevelt, Admiral E.J. King (1878 - 1956), Commander in Chief of the US Navy. Left to right, back row: Lieutenant General Harry Hopkins (1890 - 1946), Lieutenant General HH Arnold (1886 - 1950), Commander of US Army Air Forces, Lieutenant General Brehon Somervell (1892 - 1955), and Averell Harriman (1891 - 1986). Roosevelt presented the results of the conference to the American people in a radio address on February 12, 1943. During the return trip to the United States, President Roosevelt met with the President of Brazil, Getúlio Vargas, at the Potenji River Conference, where they discussed Brazil's participation in the war effort and defined the agreements that led to the creation of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force. The conference took place aboard the USS Humboldt in the Potenji River harbor in Natal, on January 28 and 29, 1943.

 View of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's delegation at the Casablanca Conference, January, 1943, Casablance, Morocco.

Allied leaders (from left) French General Henri Giraud, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, French General Charles de Gaulle, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on the lawn of President Roosevelt's villa during the Casablanca conference, 24 January 1943. The conference called for the official recognition of a joint leadership of the Free French forces by de Gaulle and Henri Giraud. There was notable tension between the two men, who limited their interactions to formalities like pledging their mutual support. Roosevelt encouraged them to shake hands for the photographers eager for a photo opportunity, but the ritual handshake was with reluctance and done so quickly that they reportedly had to pose for a second shot! Roosevelt would later describe this meeting between the French leaders as a "shotgun wedding".

Source :
https://www.britannica.com/place/Casablanca-Morocco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_Conference
https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/
https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/casablanca-conference-1943?family=editorial&phrase=casablanca%20conference%201943&sort=best

HJ-school ship "Hein Godenwind"

Adolf Hitler visits HJ-school ship "Hein Godenwind" in Hamburg. The Hein Godenwind was a full-rigged ship built in 1902 at the French shipyard Chantiers et Ateliers de Penhoët in Saint-Nazaire as Maréchal Souchet. The ship was used from 1933 to 1939 as the first floating youth hostel in the port of Hamburg.

Passagierschiff ''Hein Godenwind'' in 1938. Photo by Franz Grasser.

Germany. Hamburg Port. View over the passenger ship "Hein Godenwind" (floating youth hostel 1933-1939) with Hitler Youth to the city. View with tower of St. Michaelis Church (so-called Hambuger Michel). Photo by Franz Grasser.

Source :
Akira Takiguchi collection
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hein_Godenwind_(Schiff,_1902)
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10221866871654433&set=gm.1538862719632479

Flak Soldiers Enjoying Meal in Winter

Soldiers of Flak-Regiment 3 enjoying hot meal in winter. Lots of great stuff on display here: double decal helmets, tabs on mantels, and good shots of field equipment and trucks. If you look closely, there is an enlisted man on the left appears to have no gulls on his mantel. This is occasionally seen for one reason or another on enlisted men. The regiment itself were formed on 1 October 1936 in Weimar. Renamed on 15 June 1939 to Staff of Flak Regiment 11. Repositioned in Weimar in December 1939, the staff was relocated to Stettin in 1941 and was there under Luftgau III. The staff here reformed to became Flakgruppe Stettin. In 1945 the staff was used with the subordinate units in the ground combat near Pölitz near Stettin as part of the 6. Flak-Brigade.

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/FlakRegimenter/FR3-R.htm
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/forum/wehrmacht-era-militaria/photos-and-paper-items-forum/935046-post-your-atmospheric-photos?p=11771809#post11771809

Luftwaffe Officer Veteran of Legion Condor

A Flieger Oberleutnant with Spanienkreuz and Beobachterabzeichen. Medal ribbons, from left to right: Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse, Luftwaffe Dienstauszeichnung, Medaille zur Erinnerung an die Heimkehr des Memellandes; 22. März 1939 (Memel Medal), and Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938 (Sudetenland medal). A slide as sharp as you can hope for!

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10221900937066047&set=gm.1542968279221923

German Officer Collecting Honey

Watch out! Greedo is stealing honey! From a color slide group supposedly taken by Hermann Arndt of PK 691 (Propaganda-Kompanie 691). A "Greedo", a Panzerjäger officer, is collecting honey from beehive.

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10221920927725801&set=gm.1545156175669800

Kleßheim Palace during the Third Reich Era

Schloss Kleßheim in 1940

Kleßheim Castle is located four kilometers west of the city center of the provincial capital Salzburg in the area of ​​the neighboring municipality of Wals-Siezenheim (locality Kleßheim). It is surrounded by a large castle park and the Mühlbach. There is also a golf course in the historic park of the pleasure palace. The well-known Salzburg Tourism Schools are located below the edge of the terrace behind the castle.

From 1938, Adolf Hitler used the palace for state receptions and work meetings when he was staying on his private estate, the Berghof on Obersalzberg. For this purpose, the fenced-in area was provided with entrance portals in the style of the 1930s. Hitler received Benito Mussolini, Miklós Horthy, Ion Antonescu and others here. An assassination attempt by General Hellmuth Stieff planned there did not materialize. Kleßheim Palace was the scene of gun shows and parades. At the end of the war, the presidential administration stranded here on the way to the Alpine fortress. In 1945 Kleßheim Palace was the scene of the Allies' victory celebrations, then the seat of the American military administration.

These pictures below were taken by Walter Frentz in 1943. Enjoy!

Klessheim Palace near Salzburg, guest house of the Nazi Reich government. Hermann Göring and Dr.med. Karl Brandt in the park, 1943.

Klessheim Palace near Salzburg, guest house of the Nazi Reich government. Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring and entourage entering the reception room, 1943.

Klessheim Palace near Salzburg, guest house of the Nazi Reich government. Interior view, reception room, 1943.

Kleßheim Palace near Salzburg, guest house of the Nazi Reich government. Interior view, dining room, 1943.

Klessheim Castle near Salzburg, visit from Benito Mussolini. Front row, left to right: Kurt Zeitzler, Benito Mussolini, Hermann Göring, and Adolf Hitler, 2nd row: Alfieri, Bastianini, Karl Otto Schmidt, and Hans-Georg von Mackensen, April 7-10, 1943.

Klessheim Castle near Salzburg, guest house of the Nazi government. Hermann Göring with Hans Jeschonnek, 1943.

Klessheim Castle near Salzburg, Giuseppe Bastianini (center) with Wilhelm Keitel (left) and Dino Alfieri in the reception room, 1943.

Klessheim Castle near Salzburg, guest house of the Nazi government. Albert Bormann (left) With a captain of the Luftwaffe on the terrace, 1943.

Klessheim Castle near Salzburg, guest house of the Nazi government. Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop (left) with the Croatian dictator Ante Pavelic on the terrace, April 27, 1943.

Klessheim Castle near Salzburg, guest house of the Nazi government. View from the terrace into the park, 1943.

Source :
Cortesy of Tobi Moll at https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/permalink/1539388529579898/?__cft__[0]=AZXbdnTfB3dCshHo6SsZg2kqpy94axKOl1-5EeW_xGWDhkmJOZ0fzwx-l9sbI_Eg6nxzWSpU-R-XkPMxKrWowk9AXB5wPJvmX_APLXcAJbXmS-uvonvHREnLg5UvnpGwbf1Uewr1ROCDsqZrRKez8dUnxWlXH5Hohk9FbPL5rKhxPmZthIA23_ilg0P7Qt9SSs8&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
https://www.bildindex.de/document/obj20149809/?medium=fmlac43041
https://www.salzburgcb.com/en/destination-salzburg/regions/wals-siezenheim/