Russian POW Collecting Wood in Norway

Russian prisoners fetch wood for heating. In the background POW camp in Rønvik which located in Bodø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The picture was taken by Martin Hennig in 1944.

Source :
https://www.tekniskmuseum.no/grossraum-bildegalleri/39-nettutstillinger/grossraum/569-grossraum-korsnes-sorfold-morsvik-leirfjord

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

Testing New Weapons at Aberdeen Proving Ground

Soldiers testing new weapons at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, 1942. Photos by Bernard Hoffman. Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving Grounds) is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/permalink/1656920917826658/?__cft__[0]=AZW8flX6_CPTaDnXSztsHb0FAPeWgivDN1_TRzjvTHK7d-WyJqYyLZjEuZ3J1Cmcdj0CA70m-ZEjQxpaZ7FrWSsScG6C55ceEt1YJsXZzwOWb2R1MyblxHT8s6oQRQOf0ubpKgw1INMR0RJZXw6zYTQxtyg6aChPWE7jr4nRUiwmjRGw9Mrbi8v5uaBAr_Lz6QE&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

German Panzers Ready to Cross a Pontoon Bridge

 

Interesting photo of a German panzer unit on the approaches to the blown bridge at Kremenchug, Ostfront. At left we can see a temporary bridge built to get across. German Army pioniere were pretty experienced at this point at quickly constructing sturdy pontoons for armored units. The truck has the symbol of "Werkstattwagen" (repair company). According to Axel Urbanke, the slide of this traffic jam at the makeshift bridge next to the blown up Dnjeper bridge near Kremenchug was taken by Obergefreiter Joseph Kleinhenz from the Brückenbau-Bataillon 751 in August 1941. The tanks could belong to the 13. Panzer Division. They have little yellow tower numbers. Its a slide of big group (320 slides) of this soldier. All slides are well labeled. Later this unit was transferred to Heeresgruppe Nord.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2824672191185440&set=gm.1650558301796253

A Motor Column Crossing a River on a Pontoon Bridge

France, 1940: The German convoy crossing a tributary of the Oise at Senlis on a pontoon bridge, in this case a Brücken-Gerät B, some 50m long and capable of supporting as much as 20 tons. While not evident here, anti-aircraft guns were normally emplaced to protect bridge sites. The Bruckengerat B could use two-piece metal pontoons (Halbpontons) or large inflatable boats.

Source :
Book "German Pionier 1939-45: Combat Engineer of the Wehrmacht" by Gordon L. Rottman
http://www.cartula.ro/forum/topic/4297-al-doilea-razboi-mondial-in-fotografiian-sau-color/page__st__620

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

Sd.Kfz.7 Towing Artillery Crossing the K-Gerät Bridge

The halftrack prime mover shown in this picture (towing a 15cm sFH18 heavy howitzer battery) is the Sd.Kfz.7 mittlerer Zugkraftwagen (8-ton). It was the most widely used prime mover type of which 10,257 units were built. The K-Gerät  (Kastenträger-Gerät) moveable bridge and simple broad leaf camouflage is interesting too. K-Gerät is a light self-supporting 16-ton bridge on three part pontoons or blocks with length 78,8m. Its design was copied from the British Small Box Girder bridge in the mid-1930s. The K-Gerät used the same panel length as the SBG, but slightly amended the bracing details. A 1943 article in the German military magazine describes the bridge being used on the Russian Front in conjunction with pontoons and goes on to say that 'the bridge has given good service and is similar to bridges used in enemy armies'

Source :
Book "One More River To Cross" by J.H. Joiner
http://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7775
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=152334&hilit=equipment&start=330
http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2011/12/uk-military-bridging-equipment-pre-wwii-equipment-bridging/
http://www.ww2incolor.com/german-artillery/ale.jpg.html

German Cart Crossing a Stream in the Eastern Front

This picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Koltzenburg and showing a horse wagon belong to a German Grenadier company crossing the stream in Russia, summer 1942. It's a nice picture to illustrate the myth about the "invincible" german mechanized forces: no other Army during World War II relied so much on horses than the German one. A regular infantry division had 3,635 horses (!) and 895 wooden field wagons. Approximately 3 MILLION horses and mules served with the German army from 1939 to 1945. This caused ridiculous unsurmountable logistical problems in Russia, and in France in 1944. On the other side, you should remember that only 10% roads in russia was 'normal', so horses were the best to help with stucked vehicles.

Source :
http://3reich-collector.com/concentration-camp-ww2-german/set-51-huge-full-color-photos-idealized-conception-life-german-soldier
http://www.ww2incolor.com/german/stuck_in_mud.jpg.html

Finnish Infantry Crossing a River

Finnish infantry crossing a river at Olonets Karelia using an "Iivar’s Bridge", named after its inventor Captain Iivari Akseli Kauranen, during the retreat in Continuation War in 1944. The pioneers could quickly make these pontoon bridges by lashing together branches and planks of wood. Kauranen himself was a Jäger officer who retired as a Colonel from duty of Inspector of Engineer Corps. He also co-designed another quick-build floating bridge: Pikasilta M/32, nicknamed after the designer: Iivarin Pikasilta.

Source :
 Book "Finland at War: The Continuation and Lapland Wars 1941-45 by Vesa Nenye
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=206843&start=30

US Third Army Crossing the Rhine

A group of U.S. Third Army men are waiting to be transported over the River Rhine. The man sitting in the foreground is wearing the standard wool shirt and trousers and M1941 field jacket. He has a privately acquired red bandanna around his neck to reduce chafing. This bandanna would probably have been removed closer to the front line, as its bright color could expose the wearer to unnecessary attention. Around his waist, the man is wearing a navy life-preserver. This life-preserver could be inflated with either two CO² catridges at the front of the belt or manually. Many veterans of the Normandy landings complained that when these life-belts were inflated, they caused the wearer to flip upside down! The US Third Army carried out four river assaults in late March 1945. The 5th Infantry Division undertook the first on March 22, 1945, crossing the Rhine at Oppenheim, south of Mainz. They crossed without the usual artillery preparation, a maneuver that caught German troops by surprise. Within 48 hours, four US divisions had crossed the Rhine at Oppenheim and positioned themselves to advance into Germany. Third Army troops soon also successfully assaulted the Rhine at three other locations: Boppard, St. Goar, and south of the city of Mainz. Two divisions of the US Seventh Army crossed the Rhine near the city of Worms on March 26, 1945. All of these operations were vital in facilitating the encirclement of the Ruhr and the conquest of Germany.

Source :

Book "Patton's Third Army" by Christopher J. Anderson 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10006181

German Armour Crosses the Don River Over a Pontoon Bridge

A Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.F2 with the "long" 75mm from Infanterie-Division Großdeutschland (motorisiert) crossing the Don River over a pontoon bridge, east of Rostov, summer 1942. Operation Fall Blau commenced on 28 June 1942 with Heeresgruppe B making its push towards Voronezh and the Don, but it was not until 9 July that Heeresgruppe A joined in. Ewald Von Kleist’s 1. Panzerarmee then attacked the right flank of General-polkovnik Rodion I. Heeresgruppe A was faced with crossing one water obstacle after another (as shown in this picture, taken by Kriegsberichter Hanns Hubmann), which strained its limited engineering capabilities

Source :
Book "The Caucasus 1942-43; Kleist's Race for Oil" by Robert Forczyk

Panzer III Negotiating a River Crossing

Panzerbefehlswagen (Command Tank) III Ausf H(U) Tauchfahrig (Submersible Motor Vehicle), also known as Tauchpanzer or U-Panzer (Submersible Diving Tank, Underwater Tank), negotiating a river crossing in central Europe during World War II

Source:
http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/044596

Panzer III Negotiating a River Crossing

Panzerbefehlswagen (Command Tank) III Ausf H(U) Tauchfahrig (Submersible Motor Vehicle), also known as Tauchpanzer or U-Panzer (Submersible Diving Tank, Underwater Tank), negotiating a river crossing in central Europe during World War II

Source:
Book "A Photo History of Tanks in Two World Wars" by George Forty, page 80