Sd.Kfz.222 of 2. Panzer-Division during Balkanfeldzug

 

 

An Sd.Kfz.222 from Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 5 of 2. Panzer-Division is seen with its crew in Balkan during Balkanfeldzug, spring 1941. Later after the campaign, surviving armored vehicles of 1.Schwadron were lost in the sinking of"Marburg" and "Kybfels" by the sea mines.

Some unit names were used by different organizations during the war. Names of Aufklärungs-Abteilungen are good examples. One must be careful when reading and writing about these units! Aufklärungs-Abteilung 5 was a unit of 5.Infanterie-Division (later 5. Jäger-Division) since August 1939. It was renamed to Radfahr-Abteilung 5 in May 1942, but renamed back to its original name in1943. Confusing enough another "Aufklärungs-Abteilung 5" was in existence since October 1935, which later in March 1940 renamed to Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 5 until it was disbanded in August 1941. This unit was organic to 2.Panzer-Division. The name was succeeded by the new Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 5 in 1943, renamed from Kradschützen-Bataillon 55. This unit was organic to 5.Panzer-Division.

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222748315769985&set=gm.1642065522645531

Waffen-SS Panzer Reconnaissance Troops

SS-Armoured Crews in front of an Sd.kfz.222

Source :
Book "Tip of the Spear: German Armored Reconnaissance in Action in World War II" by Robert J. Edwards, Michael H. Pruett and Michael Olive
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=721701321740358&set=gm.1466515296867222&type=3&theater&ifg=1

German Armored Formation in Russia

A Wehrmacht armored unit is seen resting on the sidelines of forward movement in Russia, in the summer of 1941. From the "Y" shaped markings written on the gepack-kasten (storage bin) on the back of the Panzer III on the left, we can find out that they are from the 7. Panzer-Division. This German medium tank is painted in dark gray (dunkelgrau), as well as Sd.Kfz.251 and other vehicles in the background, except the Kübelwagen car - which is likely to be used for reconnaissance missions - that painted in dark yellow ( dunkelgelb). This photo itself was taken from the air at low altitude by an unknown Kriegsberichter (war correspondent), possibly on a light transport aircraft Fieseler Fi 156 "Storch". During the Unternehmen Barbarossa (German invasion of Russia), 7. Panzer-Division operated in the middle sector of the Eastern Front, under the command of Generalleutnant Hans Freiherr von Funck who replaced the legendary previous commander, Erwin Rommel. The division started the campaign with 400 officers and 14,000 men.[32] By January 1942, six months from the start of the offensive, the division had suffered 2,055 killed, 5,737 wounded, with 313 missing and another 1,089 sick with frostbite and louse-borne diseases.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Panzer_Division_(Wehrmacht)
https://wehrmachtss.blogspot.com/2020/02/7-panzer-division-di-front-timur.html

Generalfeldmarschall Reichenau in Russia 1941

Generalfeldmarschall Walther von Reichenau (facing the camera, Oberbefehlshaber 6. Armee) in the summer of 1941 during Unternehmen Barbarossa - German invasion of Soviet Union. The picture was taken by Alois Beck, a Parish priest and amateur photographer in the Second World War on the Eastern Front and in Stalingrad. After the war Beck gave many lectures on the Battle of Stalingrad and tried to clarify the fate of fallen or missing German soldiers in Russia.

Source:
https://www.akg-images.com/Package/2UMEBMJZRZRZ

River Crossing in Russia Using a Ferry Made of Brückengerät B

Operation Barbarossa, summer 1941. A coloured picture of a ferry made out of 8-tonne Brückengerät B (Bridge Equipment B). The vehicle is a turretless Beute Russian BA 10 armored car used as gun tractor. Bruckengerat B was one of the most commonly used German pontoon. A motorized Bridge Column B was equipped with trucks and halftrack prime-movers for towing trailers with pontoons, decking, ramps, wooden planks, and motorboats. 16 steel half-pontoons used either paired or singly allowed the assembly of a bridge either of 8 tons capacity and 83m (274ft) long, or bearing 16 tons and 54m (178ft) long. The deck sections had steel stringers, and curb guards with 26 wooden planks. There were eight trestle sections consisting of roadway decking supported by adjustable steel posts, each with three bracing legs. These allowed ramps to connect to the floating bridge when the bank was higher than the bridge’s roadway, or when the water near the banks was too shallow to float pontoons; they also allowed ramp-angle adjustment as the river rose and fell. Several types of ferries could also be constructed, and a trailer was provided with cable reels which could pull these back and forth. A halfpontoon was 12ft long and 5ft wide, and a ferry capable of carrying 4 tons required two half-pontoons and one bridge deck section. An 8-ton double ferry used four half-pontoons and two deck sections, and 16-ton ferries used two full pontoons and two deck sections. The full-pontoon bridge and the 16-ton ferry could in fact support any vehicle and equipment found in the infantry or early-war armored infantry division, to include a Panzer IV tank or a 15cm howitzer and its halftrack prime-mover. This picture was first published in the book "Das Heer im Grossdeutschen Freiheitskampf" (The Army in the Greater German Battle for Liberty) as issued for the German youth by the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) in Berlin, printed by Förster und Borries in Zwickau, Germany in about 1942.

Source :
Book "World War II River Assault Tactics" by Gordon L. Rottman
http://www.usmbooks.com/nazi_army_combat_print_set.html

Oberst Alexander von Grundherr

Oberst Dr. Ing. Alexander von Grundherr zu Altenthan und Weyerhaus (1896-1973), Kommandeur Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 76 / 6.Panzer-Division and recipient of the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold (11 February 1943), photographed in his heavily camouflaged command APC - note large frame aerial!

Source:

"The 6th Panzer Division: 1937-45" by Oberst a.D. Helmut Ritgen

German Armored Cars Passing Convoys of Tanks in Yugoslavia

 Unternehmen 25: An armoured column (visible are Sd.Kfz.251 and Panzer II) of the 11. Panzer-Division "Gespenster Division" (Ghost Division) passes the disabled vehicles and burning trucks of the Yugoslav 5th Army in the Serbian town of Niš, near Morava river. Four days later, after initially easy and then also heavy and exhausting battles, the division entered the Yugoslav capital. In the arrogant propaganda report about the advance of this unit, the Yugoslav Army had been referred to with great disrespect – however, in the end, a tribute was paid to the defenders of Belgrade after all: "We have to admit that they exploited the terrain remarkably and defended themselves bravely". The picture was taken in 9 April 1941 by Kriegsberichter Artur Grimm from Propaganda-Kompanie (PK) 691.

Source:
http://bandenkampf.blogspot.co.id/search?updated-min=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2016-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=50
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16118167@N04/6788758214/in/set-72157629429929865
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=75080&start=420