From
left to right: General der Infanterie Gotthard Heinrici
(Kommandierender General XXXXIII. Armeekorps) and General der
Panzertruppe Heinrich von Vietinghoff (Kommandierender General XXXXVI.
Armeekorps). The picture was probably taken in the autumn of 1941 when
both Army Corps were under the command of 4. Armee (Hans-Günther von
Kluge). The picture was taken from the photo album of XXXXVI.
Panzerkorps, courtesy of Akira Takiguchi.
German officers in front of a shed on the Eastern front, where women work with hay. The war inflicted huge losses and suffering upon the civilian populations of the affected countries. Behind the front lines, atrocities against civilians in German-occupied areas were routine, including those carried out as part of the Holocaust. German and German-allied forces treated civilian populations with exceptional brutality, massacring whole village populations and routinely killing civilian hostages (see German war crimes). Both sides practised widespread scorched earth tactics, but the loss of civilian lives in the case of Germany was incomparably smaller than that of the Soviet Union, in which at least 20 million were killed.
German soldiers on bicycles (Radfahrtruppen) driving towards the German-Soviet demarcation line to their deployments before the attack on the USSR a.k.a. "Unternehmen Barbarossa" (Operation Barbarossa), June 1941. The Wehrmacht did invest in bicycle troops for Barbarossa, but the soviet road system was bad enough that most bike columns looked like this and mobility was effectively foot mobile with perhaps slightly greater combat load per soldier. As well, German bike troops frequently lacked organic artillery and engineers that the giant kessels that Barbarossa created forced the infantry to use to grind them down, and this further limited bike troop’s utility.
White winter camouflaged tanks of the 11. Panzer-Division in the village of Matronino near Volokolamsk. On the left, the first and third are Panzer III tanks, while between them and on the right is Panzer II tanks. The picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Artur Grimm in Moscow area, November 1941. From 31 October to 13–15 November 1941, the Wehrmacht high command stood down while preparing to launch a second offensive towards Moscow. Although Heeresgruppe Mitte (Army Group Centre) still possessed considerable nominal strength, its fighting capabilities had thoroughly diminished because of wear and fatigue. While the Germans were aware of the continuous influx of Soviet reinforcements from the east as well as the presence of large reserves, given the tremendous Soviet casualties, they did not expect the Soviets to be able to mount a determined defense..jpg)
Fightings on the southern section of the Eastern Front (Ukraine), probably summer 1941 or 1942. German soldiers take cover in the bush. Photographer: Artur Grimm.
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.
German artillery on the advance in the Ukraine: Sd.Kfz.7 KM m8 half-track pulling a field gun, summer 1941. The use of half-tracked prime movers for artillery was common in the German forces but not elsewhere. Compared to wheeled vehicles, half-tracks are more difficult to maintain, they often suffer track breakages, and are slower on roads. However, they have better off-road mobility compared to wheeled vehicles. Photographer: Artur Grimm.
Funeral of a Russian civilian. The body was taken from the coffin and placed in a blanket of the earth. The picture was taken by an unknown German photographer in the period of 1941-1943.
Winter in the Eastern Front, 1941-42. The winter of 1941–42 is known as the coldest European winter of the 20th Century. The temperature was much below normal from the beginning of January until the end of March 1942. Blockings and cut-off lows were frequent, particularly during January and February 1942. The role of quasi-stationary waves during this winter has been studied by decomposing the 500-mb geopotential height data in a low-pass, filtered, quasi-stationary part and a traveling part. The phase of the quasi-stationary wave was such that a ridge was present over the eastern Atlantic and a trough over western Russia throughout most of the winter. As a result, the majority of migratory cyclones that approached Europe from the west were steered either south toward the Mediterranian or north of Scandinavia. Photos by Dr. Paul Wolff and Alfred Tritschler.Source :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/permalink/1653292204856196/?__cft__[0]=AZXVbR-ov97tjXfW9zk4mYHF4ga0e1_E2XXLpRZ5lTxcrzqaGdgmfR6RLyeoAeYbR1z9F3WcYJT9qUaJTRhDlCwvA4Z9B69BQCEqfQSEUfku00_bKTcu8opbtFy5wcpXqItcjkKkTeFmUhz2oDMR2LnHs02DyB_7jMZC7LwkBWQF3Lnp9zZLQ5_KcfduSE3_xY0&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/70/3/1520-0477_1989_070_0271_tswiet_2_0_co_2.xml
1943. Winter is over. Time to "clean the white": German soldiers wash off winter camouflage from the Sd.Kfz half-track armored personnel carrier. 251/1 Ausf.C Hanomag at a hut in Ukraine.Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=3794601307258767&set=gm.2749314025335825
Panzergrenadiers of the German Wehrmacht driving through a burning village somewhere on the Eastern Front. 1944. Propaganda photo by SS-Kriegsberichter (war reporter) Grönert. Taken from “Signal” magazine, 5th year, issue 18, 1944.Source :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/permalink/1630505800468170/?__cft__[0]=AZUc7whqFkzd07ifDVuONGhje1Yk965FgCPGWG8exXHdRwSpRCFcD07Jw8rZe8jAJ_ni5KEP9r7HGjrmxxErk988cX01Pg-Q4_Vd-RO3cdG0MkYyix22l7DHO8kZLJYL4cY16KllMghhaNOpW8_TtfXgb3wsnwGsprC9LuiQj_nwWTJezhiaWZ0fpWEnGrONQSQ&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
Villagers photographed while Organization Todt works in a village in eastern Europe, 1943. Another slide (a few frames back) added - dance time. Mostly women and children, a few young lads and one older man from the village.Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/permalink/1621195738065843/?__cft__[0]=AZVh0Uofo_RtYTAlS3_Z3kmliBbdIPBwud9ehnXi75oZyM-Od-41rELEu1jamMrM0UJ10dB2sKT5y8rLpGo-4sJf92YcN1zdElXqa4lnLj0SwyGOM0jcLPnBKibk8XiuziLH4Vv5sc-R7gmM9frZxTCK&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
