German Soldier Playing with a Dog

 

German soldier playing with a dog. This picture was part of 280 35mm slides in five boxes, which were donated to National Monument Kamp Vught in 2002. These slides were left by a German soldier who was billeted in Vught, Netherlands. These private pictures are taken in Germany, Den Bosch, Vught and the surrounding area.

Source :
https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/detail/865d3dda-025a-11e7-904b-d89d6717b464/media/703e10bf-ba1d-c33d-644e-4a9d0958fda5?mode=detail&view=horizontal&rows=1&page=1&fq%5B%5D=search_s_keywords_poolparty:%22Duitse%20strijdkrachten%22&sort=random%7B1639847377120%7D%20asc&filterAction

Briefing of 355th Fighter Squadron

 

Fighter pilots from the U.S. 355th Fighter Squadron gather around their squadron commander as he briefs them prior to a figher mission, near Ober-Olm, Germany, 1945.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=440499133885583&set=gm.1677772582408158

Free French Rest in a Poppy Field

 

In the Fields where the Poppies Grow... Free French soldiers rest in a poppy field near the M4 'Sherman' tanks. Between the tanks worth army truck 'Chevrolet' G7107. Italy, August, 1944. Parking in the open instead of near the trees in the background only shows the total allied air supremacy in Europe!

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2896136927341279&set=gm.1644674452384638

U-Boat Ace Reinhard Suhren Returning from Patrol

 

 

Kapitänleutnant Reinhard Suhren, commander of U-564, after returning from a patrol, 1942. Photo by Photographer Bonnemann.

 

Reinhard Johann Heinz Paul Anton Suhren (16 April 1916 - 25 August 1984) was a German U-boat commander in World War II and younger brother of Korvettenkapitän (Ing.) and Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipient Gerd Suhren.

Suhren was born in Langenschwalbach, the second of three children, and grew up in the Weimar Republic and Third Reich. He joined the navy in 1935 and began his U-boat career in March 1938. He spent a year as 1st watch officer on U-48 where he received the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross for his contribution in the sinking of 200,000 gross register tons (GRT) of merchant shipping. In April 1941 he took command of U-564. As a commander, he is credited with the sinking of 18 merchant vessels of 95,544 GRT, 1 warship of 900 long tons (910 tonnes) and damaged four merchant vessels of 28,907 GRT for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.
Suhren left the boat and became an instructor in October 1942. He then served in the 27th U-boat Flotilla along with Korvettenkapitän Erich Topp. During the last year of the war Fregattenkapitän Suhren was the Führer der Unterseeboote Norwegen (Leader of U-boats in Norwegian waters) and from September 1944 the Commander-in-Chief of U-boats of the North Sea. After the war he worked in the petroleum industry and died of stomach canceron 25 August 1984.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=405108927424604&set=gm.1632605800258170
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Suhren?fbclid=IwAR34bkhXQwU0JKghcGT0XHtrHT8Po6MfGCCEW1U8rKbMgMi-UYLsrwKsRC0

U.S. MP in a French Ruined Building

Summer of 1944, Northwestern France. A lieutenant of the MP (Military Police) in the courtyard of a ruined building. He wears a black A-1 flight jacket of the USAAF. On the inside he used what technically would be called a "Faithful US Jacket, Army ETO", which is but one of the very first versions of what will be known as "Ike's Jacket" or the British Battledress version for the US Army that is mostly used as a walking uniform (here rarely used as a combat uniform). Another "first" of this jacket is that it has the pockets at an angle with flaps (this has been put inside the pocket) identical to those of the first version of the Parsons jacket. The color of the Ike's Jacket is the Olive Drab shade 33. What looks like a dustbin with fireplace on the right is actually a U.S. Army mobile kitchen. There also seems to be the letter that appears on his helmet. This picture was made by Frank Scherschel

Source :
http://iqisu.blogspot.com/2015/11/photo-minute-post-normandy-france.html
http://www.panzernet.com/foro4/showthread.php?11073-Uniformes-mezclados/page3
http://surfingbird.ru/surf/f6h00111E#.XCvwsWkxXcs

German Soldier Lay Flowers in the Military Cemetery

German Kriegsberichter (war correspondent) from Kriegsmarine, Horst Grund, honors a fallen comrade on the Soldatenfriedhof (military cemetery) at Gadshikov on the Crimea peninsula/Ukraine in summer of 1942. "And I will show you the field where the Iron Crosses grow..." (quote from the movie 'Cross of Iron'). On 4 July 1942, German troops captured the Russian port of Sevastopol. The Soviet Separate Coastal Army was annihilated, with 118,000 men killed, wounded or captured in the final assault and 200,481 casualties in the siege as a whole for both it and the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. Axis losses in Störfang amounted to 35,866 men, of which 27,412 were German and 8,454 Romanian. With the Soviet forces neutralized, the Axis refocused their attention on the major summer campaign of that year, Case Blue and their advance to the Caucasus oilfields.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sevastopol_(1941%E2%80%9342)
http://www.ww2incolor.com/german/_n_1603_bild-261_501x0_0_22.html

Stuka Ace Helmut Benkendorff in Front of his Aircraft

In August 1943 Oberfeldwebel Helmut Benkendorff, a pilot in 5.Staffel / II.Gruppe / Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 (StG 1), reached a significant milestone, completing his 500th combat mission. In this photo, Benkendorff can be seen in front of the aircraft in which he flew the milestone mission. The machine is a Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" D-5, which can be identified by the wing-mounted MG 151/20 cannon and the absence of a siren on the mainwheel fairing. The aircraft code is A5+MN. The aircraft letter is repeated on the left mainwheel fairing in the Staffel color red. Apparently the aircraft was prepared for another sortie immediately after landing. Behind Benkendorff members of the ground crew can be seen loading a bomb onto the aircraft with the help of an hydraulic bomb trolley. At that time II./StG 1 was active over the central sector of the Eastern Front. This photo itself was taken by an unidentified Hauptmann of the Gruppenstab who was taken prisoner in southern Germany in May 1945. There American soldiers took from him several rolls of exposed, but undeveloped, film. The film was later developed by Kodak in the USA, and decades after that a collector discovered the collection by chance. The photographs were subsequently returned to Germany, albeit in poor condition. Another pictures from the same event: 1, 2, 3.

Source :
"Luftwaffe im Focus", Spezial No.1 - 2003

Helmut Benkendorff Welcoming Ceremony

 In August 1943 Oberfeldwebel Helmut Benkendorff, a pilot in 5.Staffel / II.Gruppe / Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 (StG 2), reached a significant milestone, completing his 500th combat mission. The photo shows Oberfeldwebel Benkendorff - "Mucki" to his friends - immediately after landing. With the flowers in hand, he receives the congratulations from the Staffelkapitän of 7./StG 1, Leutnant Willi Viertel (left), for the benefit of the photographers. The four wings on Benkendorff's left sleeve identify him as an Oberfeldwebel. Only a few days later, on 31 August 1943, Willi Viertel was shot down by ground fire while attacking enemy tanks near Glukhov. His aircraft (Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" D-3, Werknummer 2279) sustained a direct hit and crashed from a height of 300 meters. Viertel and his gunner, Oberfeldwebel Heinrich Hippe, were both killed. Helmut Benkendorff was later promoted to the rank of Leutnant and on 26 March 1944 was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross) after more than 600 feindflügen (combat missions). He would completed 666 feindflüge by the end of the war. This photo itself was taken by an unidentified Hauptmann of the Gruppenstab who was taken prisoner in southern Germany in May 1945. There American soldiers took from him several rolls of exposed, but undeveloped, film. The film was later developed by Kodak in the USA, and decades after that a collector discovered the collection by chance. The photographs were subsequently returned to Germany, albeit in poor condition. Another pictures from the same event: 1, 2, 3.

Source :
"Luftwaffe im Focus", Spezial No.1 - 2003

Helmut Benkendorff Greeted by Willi Viertel in the Welcoming Ceremony

In August 1943 Oberfeldwebel Helmut Benkendorff, a pilot in 5.Staffel / II.Gruppe / Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 (StG 2), reached a significant milestone, completing his 500th combat mission. The photo shows Oberfeldwebel Benkendorff - "Mucki" to his friends - immediately after landing. With the flowers in hand, he receives the congratulations from the Staffelkapitän of 7./StG 1, Leutnant Willi Viertel (left), for the benefit of the photographers. Only a few days later, on 31 August 1943, Viertel was shot down by ground fire while attacking enemy tanks near Glukhov. His aircraft (Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" D-3, Werknummer 2279) sustained a direct hit and crashed from a height of 300 meters. Viertel and his gunner, Oberfeldwebel Heinrich Hippe, were both killed. Helmut Benkendorff was later promoted to the rank of Leutnant and on 26 March 1944 was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross) after more than 600 feindflügen (combat missions). He would completed 666 feindflüge by the end of the war. This photo itself was taken by an unidentified Hauptmann of the Gruppenstab who was taken prisoner in southern Germany in May 1945. There American soldiers took from him several rolls of exposed, but undeveloped, film. The film was later developed by Kodak in the USA, and decades after that a collector discovered the collection by chance. The photographs were subsequently returned to Germany, albeit in poor condition. Another pictures from the same event: 1, 2, 3.

Source :
"Luftwaffe im Focus", Spezial No.1 - 2003

A Gift Basket and Bouquet for Helmut Benkendorff's Welcoming Ceremony

In August 1943 Oberfeldwebel Helmut Benkendorff, a pilot in 5.Staffel / II.Gruppe / Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 (StG 2), reached a significant milestone, completing his 500th combat mission. This photograph, taken shortly before his return from the milestone mission, shows a staffel vehicle (Mercedes-Benz 170V saloon) adorned with a wreath and the number "500", along with a gift basket and bouquet. In the basket is the Gruppe's "Adler" (Eagle) emblem. This photo itself was taken by an unidentified Hauptmann of the Gruppenstab who was taken prisoner in southern Germany in May 1945. There American soldiers took from him several rolls of exposed, but undeveloped, film. The film was later developed by Kodak in the USA, and decades after that a collector discovered the collection by chance. The photographs were subsequently returned to Germany, albeit in poor condition. Another pictures from the same event: 1, 2, 3.

Source :
"Luftwaffe im Focus", Spezial No.1 - 2003
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=73232&p=1988977#p1988977

American Soldier in Phone during Exercise

A soldier of the U.S. 5th Armored Division takes a message during training exercise early in the war. The soldier is wearing the one piece HBT uniform over a white T-shirt. On his left side he has attached an M1 gas mask. He has sewn his divisional insignia on to the left hand side of his chest. The 5th Armored Division would arrive in France in July 1944. After a short time with the Third Army, the division would be transferred to the First Army.

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

Quiet Days before Operation Barbarossa

Quiet days in Johannisburg (East Prussia) with the blooming tulips while the war against Soviet Union was imminent, early summer 1941. Left is Oberleutnant Hermann Budenbender (Abteilungsadjutant Aufklärungs-Abteilung 35 / 35.Infanterie-Division) while at right is unknown Führer Panzerspähzug from the same unit. In early April 1941, the 35. Infanterie-Division (known as "Fish Division") began moving to the east - originally was staying in the area north and east of Warsaw but then moved to East Prussia in the space around Johannisburg. They stayed until 10 June 1941 and then march further to the east in "Suwalkizipfel" for the upcoming Unternehmen Barbarossa

Source:
http://kavallerie-regiment18.de/aa35.html

Alfred Gause Posed for Rommel

Generalmajor Alfred Gause (Chef des Generalstabes Panzergruppe "Afrika") posed in the flowery grass of North Africa and sporting his Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes which he received in 13 December 1941. Photo taken by his commander, General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel (Kommandierender General Panzergruppe "Afrika") during his Campaign in North Africa, winter 1941/1942. Gause was initially sent to Africa with a large staff by Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), the German Army High Command, to act as a liaison officer with the Italian High Command, Comando Supremo. Gause had specific instructions not to place himself under the command of Erwin Rommel, but did so when Rommel told him categorically that the command of all troops in Africa were vested in him. This was not correct, but Gause acceded to Rommel's authority, and served as his Chief of Staff. He proved invaluable to the famous desert commander, who was well known to direct his forces from the front and who frequently would lose touch with his command staff during operations. Gause spent two and a half years serving Rommel in the Afrika Korps. Though initially sent by OKH to keep an eye on the independent commander, they soon developed an excellent working relationship

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Gause
http://www.cybermodeler.com/history/germany/rommel.shtml