City Gate of Ville de Mouzon

 

France, Ville de Mouzon.- Historic city gate (La porte de Bourgogne).- Sign reading "La mendicite est rigoureusement interdite dans La Ville de Mouzon" (prohibition of begging); approximately June-July 1940.

Source :
Bundesarchiv B 206 Bild-GD-82

French Colonial Soldiers in 1940

French colonial soldiers as a prisoners of war on the march through a city guarded by Wehrmacht soldiers on bicycles. The picture was taken somewhere in France, June-July 1940.

In 1940, the French army included more than 100,000 black French soldiers from France’s African colonies, mainly Senegal, Mauritania,and Niger. More than 75,000 of them served in France before and during the German invasion; the rest of them served guard duty in the various colonies. As the Wehrmacht panzer divisions swept across France in May-June 1940, some of those black French soldiers (about 40,000 of them), mainly organized in black regiments or mixed units, were engaged in fierce combat against German soldiers. About 10,000 black soldiers were killed, some wounded, and others taken prisoner during the French debacle. Between 1,500 to 3,000 black French prisoners of war were massacred throughout the campaign, either during or after combat. Generally speaking, Tirailleurs Sénégalais were treated differently from other war prisoners by the victorious army. The existence of a well-implanted anti-black racism and stereotypes among the German soldiers frequently resulted in the black French troops being separated from other prisoners of war. Fear of coupes-coupes (a hand-to-hand weapon used by the Tirailleurs Sénégalais that German soldiers considered a treacherous weapon), latent desire for revenge because of German losses, or simple racism, resulted in random massacres of black French war prisoners by members of the Wehrmacht.

Source :
https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=24173

War Damage in France

Bridge after destruction and houses bombed in the background. Ville de Mouzon, France, June-July 1940.

France suffered staggering manpower losses and much property damage in the war of 1914-1918. She had not fully recovered from the effects of the war when she was plunged into a second conflict in which she sustained more terrible wounds than ever before. Her manpower losses were not as severe in World War II as they had been from 1914 to 1918, but the damage to her cities and towns was far more severe from 1940 to 1945 than it had been during World War I. France's structure of wages and prices, already threatened with inflation as a result of the prolonged period of hostilities from 1914 to 1918, was further weakened during World War II. Living conditions in France are so bad today that only the very wealthy are able to secure sufficient food, clothing, and fuel to maintain a healthful standard of living.

The German armies and air forces inflicted considerable damage upon France during their successful offensive in the spring and summer of 1940. The damage grew more extensive each year thereafter became of systematic German looting and Anglo-American aerial bombardment. Then, on June 6, 1944, the armies of the Western Allies landed in Normandy and commenced to fight their way across France into the Hitler Reich. The German armies resisted furiously, and countless towns and villages were destroyed in the bat-tles which ensued. Unfortunately for France, the invasion which liberated her brought about more destruction than she had suffered during the victorious onslaught of Hitler's armies in 1940.

Many cities, such as Brest, Caen, Dunkerque, Falaise, and St. L6 were almost completely destroyed. Hundreds of towns, villages, and farms suffered the same fate. All told, over 1,200,000 buildings were demolished or sustained major damage, and more than 1,000,000 people were made homeless! Several thousand kilometers of mainline railroad track were torn up, 2,300 railroad bridges were destroyed, and France lost about half of the railroad cars and nearly 8o percent of the locomotives which she had possessed in 1939! Tremendous damage was inflicted upon industrial plants. Many thousands of acres of the best arable land were rendered unproductive because of the war.

Source :
"War Damage and Problems od Reconstruction in France 1940-1945" by George W. Kyte

Polish Railway in World War II

Destroyed / damaged Polish State Railways PKP train on collapsed bridge with German soldiers waiting in the bottom. The picture was taken in September-October 1939, not long after the end of the German invasion in Poland.

In 1939, Polish State Railways had 220 thousand employees. It was a well-organised occupational group. 85% of railwaymen were members of trade unions. Most of them were also members of the Railway Military Training Organisation who had done compulsory military service.

As part of mobilisation activities, some railwaymen were summoned to join the army. In the last weeks before the outbreak of war numerous cases of German sabotage against railway facilities were recorded. Some acts of sabotage were prevented thanks to vigilant railway workers. The most tragic act of terror was an explosion of a time bomb on 28 August at 11:18 PM in the waiting room of the railway station in Tarnów. The lethal device was planted by Antoni Guz from Bielsko. 20 people were killed under the ruins of the destroyed railway station and 35 were injured.

When war broke out railways were handling emergency and general mobilisation transports. Also, the first evacuation trains pulled out on the route. Germans carried out bombing raids and airborne fire attacks on railway stations, echelons but also on evacuation trains carrying civilians and identification-bearing sanitary trains. Large railway stations such as those in Bydgoszcz, Grudziądz, Inowrocław, Toruń, Łowicz, Piotrków Trybunalski, Skierniewice, Kraków, Lublin and the stations of the Warsaw railway junction were bombed – some of them even more than once. Despite this fact, railwaymen and sappers were able to restore traffic on the damaged lines within 3–4 hours.

The first military transports were put into operation before mobilisation was declared; 5 large troops were transferred at that time. Subsequent echelons were transported under a mobilisation plan which provided that 32 out of 56 large troops would be transported by rail, as a whole or in part, to build-up points. In total they were to account for 3/5 of Polish forces. This task required 3 thousand trains. In addition, railways had an obligation to deliver 700 thousand reservists from emergency mobilisation and 400 thousand from general mobilisation and 100 thousand soldiers withdrawn from the west to reserve centres situated in the east. Railway troops were supposed to remove damages to railroads.

The attack of Nazi Germany on Poland on 1 September 1939 was also aimed at main junction stations and railway lines. Bombing raids on the stations in Tczew and Kutno started at dawn. Also, the bridge on the Bugonarew in Modlin was bombed. To prevent the progress of the German army, Polish sappers blew up some railway structures e.g. viaducts, tunnels in Żegiestów (on the line Muszyna– –state border) and in Łupków (on the Łupków–Medzilaborce line), bridges in Tczew, Grudziądz, Bydgoszcz-Fordon, on the Bydgoszcz Canal, in Toruń and in Płock.

The events in Szymankowo became a symbol of the heroism of railwaymen. Here, Polish railwaymen prevented an insidious seizure of the bridge in Tczew by the Germans. The scheduled transit train was followed by an armoured train which was sent to a sidetrack and derailed. In retaliation Germans murdered the railwaymen from Szymankowo. In Chojnice, instead of the scheduled train, a German armoured draisine pulled into the station followed by an armoured train. Polish railwaymen and soldiers had been able to take control of the draisine and destroy the bridge before the armoured train reached it. Two railway companies took part in the defence of Warsaw.

Armoured trains were used in the defensive war, including “Danuta” (No. 11) and “Poznańczyk” (No. 12) which took part in the Battle of the Bzura and were destroyed. “Generał Sosnkowski” (No. 13) was derailed and damaged after a bombing raid near Łochów. “Paderewski” (No. 14) was destroyed near Łowicz, and “Śmierć” (No. 15) suffered damage during fighting near Modlin. “Pierwszy Marszałek” (No. 51) fought both against Germans and the Red Army and was damaged in combat with Soviet airplanes. “Piłsudczyk” (No. 52), “Śmiały” (No. 53) and “Bartosz Głowacki” (No. 55) were seized by the Soviets in Lviv (Podzamcze), and “Groźny” (No. 54), fighting in Silesia, was destroyed by the crew when they reached a blown-up bridge on the Dunajec.

As a result of the warfare, 11 large bridges were destroyed, 8,000 smaller structures were damaged and 25,000 damages to stations and tracks were recorded. Some trains and evacuated rolling stock – the exact number is difficult to estimate – reached the eastern parts of the Republic of Poland that on 17 September were occupied by the Red Army.

Both occupying forces introduced their own order. The Germans divided the conquered territory. In the area of the General Government (95 thousand sq. km), on 19.11.1939 the General Directorate of Eastern Railways (Ostbahn) (GEDOB) was established in Kraków. District directorates were set up in Kraków, Warsaw, Radom and Lublin. The general organisation of divisions in the new general directorate was not changed compared to the organisation before the war. German identification symbols were applied on the rolling stock. At the beginning of 1940 the German railway police, called the Bahnschutz, was established as another element of the system of repression. Poles could travel by all trains except fast trains. Also, they could not sit in carriages for Germans. On the other hand, Jews were not allowed to travel without pass cards. In the territories incorporated into the Reich Poles could use the train service only if they were issued special pass cards. Polish railwaymen, and in particular members of the Silesian uprising, plebiscite activists, members of the Greater Poland uprising, and activists involved in social activity before the war were subject to repressions including executions by firing squads and imprisonment in concentration camps. Managerial and other functions were handled by the Germans.

Railway transport was a very important element of the German war machine, therefore, when the fighting ceased in September 1939, the occupying power commenced the reconstruction of the destroyed railway network. Railwaymen were called to work. Work on railways offered protection against being taken away to Germany and forced to work and railway passes enabled travelling after curfew. The war production required efficient technical back-up. Thus, some workshops (e.g. in Nowy Sącz) and factories (Chrzanów) were expanded. The steam locomotives and wagons were marked with vainglorious slogans: “Alles Rädern mussen rollen für den Sieg! (Wheels must roll for victory!)” and “V” signs painted on locomotive smoke-boxes.

In the meantime, Polish railwaymen organised acts of sabotage spontaneously or under emerging conspirators’ organisations, to make operation of the railway difficult to a varying degree and extent. Among other things, they poured sand into wagon grease tanks, falsified transport documents, replaced address stickers on wagons, or assigned double numbers to wagons after repairs. The official gazette of Ostbahn of September 1943 listed the numbers of 500 wagons and 200 tankers which were lost while carrying cargo. 25% of tankers of the former Polish State Railways’ network were sabotaged. In 1942 every fifth steam locomotive was out of order. Railwaymen provided enormous support in organising illegal deliveries of foodstuffs to cities, in conspiracy carriage of mail and courier mail or hiders and in warning against round-ups at railway stations and in intelligence operations. They were at a risk of severe repressions for such activities.

Prior to the attack on the Soviet Union, railway transport in Poland became particularly significant to the Reich. In the territory of the occupied country the Germans gathered 102 divisions of the Wehrmacht, i.e. nearly 3 million soldiers! Following the outbreak of the war between the Germans and Soviets on 22 June 1941 the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, General Władysław Sikorski, ordered the chief commander of the Union of Armed Struggle, General Stefan Grot-Rowecki to intensify the sabotage and subversion activities in the Reich and in the direct vicinity of the German army. At that time 420 military transports passed through Poland every day. During sabotage and subversion actions in the second half of 1941 as many as 1935 steam locomotives were damaged and 91 were held in repair workshops, 91 railway transports were derailed and 237 were set on fire. In addition, 2,851 wagons were damaged. At that time Ostbahn employed 150 thousand Polish railwaymen, 60 thousand Polish railway workers, 8.3 thousand Germans and 3.5 thousand rail guards.

Sabotage on railway lines passing near the frontline was further intensified in 1942. The largest achievement of the Warsaw District Union of Retaliation was Operation Wieniec (lit. Operation Corona) in the night of 7/8 October 1942, in which the rails surrounding Warsaw were blown up at the same time. Operation Bariera (Barrier) interrupted railway traffic at 92 points simultaneously. Actions at German rail transports were also carried out by partisan groups of any political orientation, including Soviet groups.

At the second stage of the war the retreating Germans purposefully destroyed railway lines on their way. They blew up tunnels, bridges, water towers and pump stations. The occupying forces burnt down and demolished railway station buildings and engine houses, and sappers blew up the poles of teletechnical networks. The Germans took machines, tools and rolling stock away to the Reich. 4 out of 11 main workshops were completely destroyed (Warsaw Chmielna, Warsaw-Praga, Eastern Warsaw and Łapy). 80–90% of machines and equipment was lost by the workshops in Pruszków, Tarnów and Nowy Sącz. Smaller losses were suffered in Radom, Gdańsk, Poznań and Bydgoszcz. The The Germans stole all equipment and machine tools from the regained territories, from, among other places, Opole, Oleśnica, Świdnica, Ostróda and Stargard Szczeciński. They also took away most machines from Wrocław and from 2 steam locomotive and wagon workshops in Gliwice. Only in Piła was complete equipment saved.

The total losses suffered by Polish railways, also calculated taking into account territories allocated after 1945, amounted to 16 billion zlotys (in pre-war currency). 38% of railway lines, 46% of bridges (including all major bridges), 50% of tunnels, 37% of railway buildings, 6 thousand steam locomotives and 60 thousand wagons were destroyed.

Source :
https://kolejnictwopolskie.pl/baza-wiedzy/kolejowa-ii-wojna?article_lang=en

German Soldiers Crossing a Wooden Bridge in Poland

German soldiers crossing a wooden bridge over a river in Poland, September-October 1939. They are most likely from 213. Infanterie-Division. During the Invasion of Poland, the 213th Infantry Division served in the reserves of Army Group South (Gerd von Rundstedt). It did not play a significant role in the Poland campaign. After the campaign, the division served under XXXV Army Corps.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/213th_Security_Division

General René de l'Homme de Courbière in Poland

German soldiers and officers in an unnamed town square in Poland, September-October 1939. The one in the middle is Generalmajor René de l'Homme de Courbière (Kommandeur 213. Infanterie-Division). During the Invasion of Poland, the 213th Infantry Division served in the reserves of Army Group South (Gerd von Rundstedt). It did not play a significant role in the Poland campaign. After the campaign, the division served under XXXV Army Corps.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/213th_Security_Division
https://forum.axishistory.com/index.php

Wehrmacht Officers at the French Beach

Luftwaffe and Heer officers on the beach of France during landing exercise for "Operation Sea Lion", summer 1940. Facing the camera in the middle is General der Pioniere Alfred Jacob (General der Pioniere und Festungen im Oberkommando des Heeres). German Army and Navy planners set to work in a race against time to solve the manifold and unfamiliar problems of a large- scale amphibious operation. The first big problem was that there were no landing craft, and very little shipping of any description. By gathering up all the barges from inland waterways at the cost of paralyzing large sections of industry, the Germans could reckon on barely enough shipping space to put an effective force ashore in England.6 But towed barges at the mercy of the slightest wind-roughened seas were hardly ideal. The perils of improvisation, furthermore, would be heightened by the lack of naval protection. The only way to guard the convoys seemed to be to mass all submarines and light surface vessels on the North Sea flank and at the same time mount a diversionary expedition on the Atlantic side to draw the British Fleet away from the main crossing. The Navy was decidedly cool toward the project. Grossadmiral Erich Raeder, the Navy Commander in Chief, as early as July had uncovered so many risks that he strongly recommended against the operation except as a last resort.

At left is Generaloberst Franz Halder (Chef des Generalstabes des Heeres), while second from right is General der Pioniere Alfred Jacob (General der Pioniere und Festungen im Oberkommando des Heeres).

Source :
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-XChannel/USA-E-XChannel-4.html
https://www.oocities.org/~orion47/WEHRMACHT/HEER/General2/JACOB_ALFRED.html

257. Infanterie-Division in Mörsbach

Scenes filmed by Leutnant Edgar Forsberg of the German 257. Infanterie-Division following the collapse of the Polish army on October 6, 1939. “Am Divisions-Gefechtsstrand in Morsbach.” Soldier on a motorcycle, camera pans to the trees and hill beyond. A car moves along a dirt road, tree-covered hills in the distance. WS of a building at the base of a hill. “Morsbach und Umgebung” Morsbach and the surrounding area. Houses at the top of a hill. “Zugang zum Divisions-Gefechtsstand.” Soldiers at the Division Command Post. Two soldiers help a man get his motorcycle started by running and pushing it from the back. A guard paces at the entrance. Cars drive. “Beim Schauertal.” Animals in a field. “Es hat wieder einmal in Morsbach geregnet.” It rains. Men ride their bikes along the road.

10:10:24 “Alt-Hornbach an der Brucke” Houses along a small river in Hornbach. “Seitenstrasse in Hornbach” side-street in Hornbach. “Posten in Hornbach,” A soldier speaks to a civilian. “Reinlichkeit ist das halbe Leben” Man cleans off the back of another man’s clothes. “Hornbach am Wasser” A bridge over the main waterway in Hornbach, soldiers talk on the side. “Ia mit Gefolge in der Widerstandslinie.” People in uniform along a dirt road. “Hornbacher Strassenbilder.” A soldier walks along the street and steps through a gate. He continues to walk towards the camera. A car drives on the street. View from a higher elevation of the town and the lake. Soldiers push a cart of supplies past a building with bundles of wrapped wire sitting outside. Horse-drawn carts move through the town. The town appears deserted aside from the soldiers. 10:13:35 "Tarnung einer leichte Feldhaubitz-Stellung bei Alt-Hornbach.” A field howlitzer camouflaged in a hill. A soldier breaks off the top of a pine tree. A soldier emerges from a building.

Source :
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn555308

257. Infanterie-Division in Poland 1939

Scenes filmed by Leutnant Edgar Forsberg of the German 257. Infanterie-Division following the collapse of the Polish army on October 6, 1939. "Mit dem Stab der 257. Inf. Div. im Krieg (schwarzweiss film)” “Tankabwehr an der Strasse Einod-Gersheim nordl. Von Webenheim” Trucks driving. A tank is buried into the side of a hill. “Offene Feuerstellung einer 10 cm Kanonenbatterie Nordausgang Herbitzheim.” A cannon at the base of a tree in a field. “Auf der landstrasse im Bliestal.” A soldier gets into a car on the road. “Gesprengte Eisenbahnbrucke bei Breitfurt.” A soldier walks across a destroyed railway bridge collapsed into the water, near Breitfurt, Germany. Water flows through the blasted bridge. A soldier uses a stick to see how deep the water is.

10:16:32 “Tankabwehrbunker auf der Truppacher-Hohe.” A tank gun or cannon points out of a bunker. Soldiers walk around, some look at the camera. “Artilleriebeobachtung auf dem husarenberg bei Medelsheim. Im Hinterfrund der ttt schlosshube.” Soldiers dig through rubble. “Bilder aus Medelsheim” Medelsheim buildings and streets. Two soldiers carry a large jar. “Gutgetarnte Stellung zweier SFH 18 bei Seyweiler.” Open fields in Seyweiler, Germany with two camouflaged sFH 18 howitzers. “Bilder aus walsheim.” Rubble in Walsheim. “Von der Walsheimer Brauerei wird ‘Freibier’ geholt.” Free beer from a local brewery is wheeled in by soldiers. Other soldier bring in weapon parts. “Eine reifenpanne in Walsheim.” A soldier attempts to fix a flat tire in Walsheim, Germany. 10:19:10 “Gesprengte Brucke bei Herbitzheim.” A river in Herbitzheim. “M.-G.-Stand am Bahndamm Sudausgang Gersheim, getarnt durch ein Bretterhauschen.” Something camouflaged on a railway embankment. “Gesprengte Bliesbrucke bei Gersheim” Bombed bridge in Gersheim, Germany. “Am Bahnhof Gersheim” “Bilder aus Seyweiler” Buildings in Seyweiler, a district of Gersheim, Germany. A soldier walks towards the camera on a cobblestone street. “Oberauerbach von der Schnecken-Hohe aus.”

Source :
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn555309

Tiger I in the Spring of 1943

View of a German Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf.E (Tiger I) heavy tank in the spring of 1943 in the Eastern Front. This one seems to be somewhat damaged as it is missing track guards as well as one of its front fenders. The tank was given its nickname "Tiger" by Ferdinand Porsche, and the Roman numeral was added after the Tiger II entered production. The initial designation was Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausführung H (literally "armoured combat vehicle VI version H", abbreviated PzKpfw VI Ausf. H) where 'H' denoted Henschel as the designer/manufacturer. It was classified with ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 182. The tank was later re-designated as PzKpfw VI Ausf. E in March 1943, with ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 181. The image was taken by Kriegsberichter Schroter, and originally published in 'Das Heer im Grossdeutschen Freiheitskampf' (translated as 'The Army in the Greater German Freedom Struggle'), a collection of 50 plus images taken by the German Army's combat photography unit (Propagandakompanie).

Source :
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-events-second-world-war-wwii-russia-1942-1943-german-tank-pzkw-vi-95432179.html?imageid=34A168B8-59C9-4319-91BD-4A1E1EEEB3DF&p=58867&pn=1&searchId=a6ea1c5f07a3760c805f5113704cf038&searchtype=0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_I
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-a-german-tiger-i-heavy-tank-early-1940s-this-one-news-photo/104329312

German Infantry March in Soviet Union

German infantry troops march along a dirt road in Ukraine, shortly after the invasion of Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa), June 1941. Most carry a 98k carbine, the one in the center carries a MG 34 machine gun. Pre-war German infantry training stressed the importance of a methodical approach to small unit tactics. The infantry section used only two simple formations to maneuver in battle, but it had a repertoire of choreographed tactical responses which produced predictable results in a given situation. Company and platoon commanders, section and squad leaders, even lead machine gunners were trained to recognize opportunity, and act on it. In theory, the tactical and operational concepts worked well, and they are valid today, but this kind of expertise is only one aspect of warfare. The Wehrmacht was a well-oiled machine involved in the wrong purpose, it had to fail. The image was originally published as 'Das Heer im Grossdeutschen Freiheitskampf' (translated as 'The Army in the Greater German Freedom Struggle'), a collection of 50 plus images taken by the German Army's combat photography unit (Propagandakompanie) during the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

Source :
Das Heer im Grossdeutschen Freiheitskampf
https://20thcenturywargaming.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/german-infantry-tactics-1932-1945/
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-wehrmacht-infantry-march-off-duty-german-army-soldiers-on-the-eastern-19823453.html?imageid=A60F52C6-9692-4619-B99F-28F580BBCF6F&p=28623&pn=1&searchId=4f3f1a6c71448f68833bbfc26f701185&searchtype=0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:German_soldiers_marching_in_Russian_summer.jpg
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/german-infantry-troops-march-along-a-dirt-road-soviet-union-news-photo/103137520
https://www.granger.com/results.asp?image=0025659

SS-Kriegsberichter Max Büschel

 

SS-Unterscharführer Max Büschel was born on the 10th of June 1912 and joined the SS-Kriegsberichter-Kompanie on the 6th of June 1941. A regular photographer with the Leibstandarte, he accompanied SS-Obersturmführer Goltz's Stabskompanie of the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 1 LSSAH from Honsfeld over Born and Kaiserbaracke to Recht, took the famous photos of the "ambush" on the road between Recht and Poteau, before doubling back to Kaiserbaracke where he was filmed by his collegue Schäfer as he fixed the roadsign at the crossroads. After the Leibstandarte surrendered to American forces in Austria in May 1945, Büschel managed to evade captivity and made his way back to his family in Berlin. He was shot when the Soviet occupational forces found him out as a member of the Leibstandarte.

 
Source :
Ian Spring photo collection
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=179572&start=150
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/forum/wehrmacht-era-militaria/photos-and-paper-items-forum/586209-original-ww2-color-photo-slides