Bio of SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff

SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Karl Wolff (Höhere SS und Polizeiführer Italien und Bevollmächtigter General der deutschen Wehrmacht in Italien) in Northern Italy, late 1944. The picture was taken by Walter Frentz.

Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff (13 May 1900 – 17 July 1984) was born the son of a wealthy district court magistrate in Darmstadt on 13 May 1900. During World War I he graduated from school in 1917, volunteered to join the Imperial German Army (Leibgarde-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 115) and served on the Western Front. He rose to the rank of lieutenant and was awarded both the Iron Cross second class and first class.

After the war, Wolff was forced to leave the army because of the reduction of the German armed forces following the terms imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Wolff was in the paramilitary Freikorps from December 1918 to May 1920. He started a two-year apprenticeship at the Bethmann Bank in Frankfurt and married Frieda von Römheld in 1923. The couple moved to Munich, where Wolff worked for Deutsche Bank. In June 1924 he was laid off and joined a public relations firm. Wolff may also have studied law, but never took any state exams. In 1925 he started his own public relations company which he operated in Munich until 1933.

Wolff joined the Nazi Party with card number 695,131 and the SS in October 1931. His SS membership number was 14,235 and he was commissioned as an SS-Sturmführer in February 1932.

From March 1933, after the Nazi Party had obtained national power, Wolff served as an adjutant to Franz Ritter von Epp, then-governor of Bavaria. Here he came to the attention of the head of the SS Heinrich Himmler who appointed Wolff his personal adjutant in June 1933. In 1936 Wolff became a member of the Reichstag. The same year Himmler named him chief of Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS to coordinate all contact and correspondence within the SS at both party and state levels.

By managing Himmler's affairs with the SS, the Nazi Party, state agencies and personnel, the eloquent and well mannered Wolff rose to become one of the key figures in Himmler's power regime. In addition, Wolff oversaw the economic investments made by the SS, was responsible for saving funds among Himmler's circle of friends and for connections to the SS organizations Ahnenerbe and Lebensborn. In 1939 he retroactively became head of the Main Office and SS liaison officer to Hitler. In 1936, Wolff left the Protestant Church. On 30 January 1937, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Gruppenführer (major general).

As was later revealed in the 1964 trial, during the early part of the Second World War, Wolff was "Himmler's eyes and ears" in Hitler's headquarters. He would have been aware of significant events or could easily have access to the relevant information. Apart from the information passing across his desk, Wolff received (as Chief of Himmler's Personal Staff) copies of all letters from SS officers, and his friends at this point included Odilo Globocnik, the organiser of Operation Reinhard. His later denial of knowledge of Holocaust activities may be plausible only at the detailed level, but not of the extent of atrocities by the Nazi regime.

Incriminating letters show that Wolff was involved in the Holocaust. On 8 September 1939, shortly after the invasion of Poland, Wolff wrote to the Gestapo office in Frankfurt (Oder) and ordered the immediate "arrest of all male Jews of Polish nationality and their family members" and the confiscation of any wealth. In 1942 Wolff oversaw the deportation transports during "Grossaktion Warschau", the mass extermination of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. When rail transport bottlenecks occurred, Wolff communicated repeatedly with Reich Railway Director Albert Ganzenmüller. In a letter sent from the Führer Headquarters, dated 13 August 1942 and referring to transports of Jews to Treblinka extermination camp, Wolff thanked Ganzenmüller for his assistance:

"I note with particular pleasure from your communication that a train with 5,000 members of the chosen people has been running daily for 14 days and that we are accordingly in a position to continue with this population movement at an accelerated pace. I have taken the initiative to seek out the offices involved, so that a smooth implementation of the named measures appears to be guaranteed. I thank you once again for the effort and at the same time wish to ask you to continue monitoring these things. With best wishes and Heil Hitler, yours sincerely W."
    — Karl Wolff to Albert Ganzenmüller, 13 August 1942 —

In August 1941, Himmler and Wolff attended the shooting of Jews at Minsk which had been organized by Arthur Nebe who was in command of Einsatzgruppe B, a mobile killing unit. Nauseated and shaken by the experience, Himmler decided that alternative methods of killing should be found. On Himmler's orders, by the spring of 1942, the camp at Auschwitz had been greatly expanded, including the addition of gas chambers, where victims were killed using the poison gas Zyklon B.

After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in June 1942, Wolff developed a strong rivalry with other SS leaders, particularly with Heydrich's successor at the Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt), Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and with Walter Schellenberg of the foreign intelligence service in the RSHA. His position was weakened by his frequent absence from Berlin, in part due to his suffering from pyelitis and renal calculus (kidney stones), which required surgery. Wolff fell out of favour with Himmler and was dismissed as his chief of staff. In April 1943, he was relieved of his duties as liaison officer to Hitler. Himmler announced he would temporarily take over Wolff's duties. A new replacement as liaison officer to Hitler's HQ did not occur until the appointment of Hermann Fegelein, who assumed the duty in January, 1944. Wolff had particularly angered Himmler by his divorce and remarriage in March 1943. Himmler, who believed the family to be the nucleus of the SS, had denied Wolff permission to divorce, but Wolff had turned directly to Hitler. Himmler still appears to have considered Wolff a loyal member of the SS, for in September 1943 Wolff was transferred to Italy as Supreme SS and Police Leader.

In that position, Wolff shared responsibility for standard police functions such as security, maintenance of prisons, supervision of concentration camps, and forced labor camps as well as the deportation of forced laborers with Wilhelm Harster, who was the Commander in Chief of the Security Police. When Wolff became Plenipotentiary General of the German Wehrmacht in July 1944, he also became responsible for anti-partisan warfare in occupied Italy. By now Wolff commanded the police and the entire rear army in Italy. So far Wolff's involvement in war crimes in Italy remains largely unclear, partially because source material on the degree to which SS units participated in Nazi security warfare is lacking. Although it seems as if US investigators were in possession of incriminating material in 1945, that indicated Wolff's approval of the executions that became known as the Ardeatine massacre, this evidence was deemed not sufficient for criminal charges. On 9 December 1944, Wolff was awarded the German Cross in Gold for using Italian units, with secondary German units, to destroy partisans and for the "maintenance of war production in the Italian territory". During this period he approved the project of the Marnate's Bunker, close to the German command of Olgiate Olona. By 1945 Wolff was acting military commander of Italy.

In 1945, Wolff, under Operation Sunrise, took over command and management of intermediaries including the Swiss Intelligence officer, Captain Max Waibel, in order to make contact in Switzerland with the headquarters of the US Office of Strategic Services, under Allen W. Dulles, as to the surrender of German forces in and around Italy. After initially meeting with Dulles in Berne on 8 March 1945, Wolff negotiated the surrender of all German forces in Italy, ending the war there on 29 April, before the war ended in Germany on 2 May 1945. Wolff's capitulation of Italy to the Allies upset Admiral Karl Dönitz who had otherwise planned a staged series of surrenders designed to give the troops and refugees more time to make their way west.

Arrested on 13 May 1945, he was imprisoned in Schöneberg. During the Nuremberg trials, Wolff was allowed to escape prosecution in exchange for the early capitulation in Italy and by appearing as a witness for the prosecution at trial. Although released in 1947, he had been indicted by the post-war German government as part of the denazification process. Detained under house arrest, after a German trial, Wolff was sentenced in November 1948 and served four years' of imprisonment. After his release, Wolff worked as an executive for an advertising agency.

He took up residence with his family in Starnberg. In 1962 during the trial in Israel of Adolf Eichmann, evidence showed that Wolff had organized the deportation of Italian Jews in 1944. Wolff was again tried in West Germany and in 1964 was convicted of deporting 300,000 Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp, which led to their murder. Sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment in Straubing, Wolff served only part of his sentence and was released in 1971 following a heart attack.

After his release, Wolff retired to Austria. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wolff returned to public life, frequently lecturing on the internal workings of the SS and his relationship with Himmler. This resulted in his appearing in television documentaries including The World At War saying that he witnessed an execution of twenty or thirty partisan prisoners in Minsk in 1941 with Himmler.

In the early 1970s, Wolff promoted the theory of an alleged plot to kidnap Pope Pius XII. Most other allegations of such a plot are based on a 1972 document written by Wolff that Avvenire d'Italia published in 1991, and on personal interviews with Wolff before his death in 1984. Wolff maintained that on 13 September 1943, Hitler gave the directive to "occupy Vatican City, secure its files and art treasures, and take the Pope and Curia to the north". Hitler allegedly did not want the Pope to "fall into the hands of the Allies".

Wolff's reliability has been questioned by Holocaust historians, such as István Deák, a professor of history at Columbia University. Reviewing A Special Mission by Dan Kurzman, a promoter of the theory, Deák noted Kurzman's "credulity" and that the latter "uncritically accepts the validity of controversial documents and unquestioningly believes in the statements made to him by his principal German interlocutor, the former SS General Karl Wolff". He further criticized the book's "modest documentation" containing "a great number of vague or inaccurate references".

In the late 1970s Wolff also became involved with Stern journalist Gerd Heidemann. Together with Heidemann, he travelled through South America, where he helped to locate, among others, Klaus Barbie and Walter Rauff, with whom Heidemann conducted interviews for a series of articles. Wolff served as a consultant for the alleged Hitler Diaries and was upset when they turned out to be forgeries by Konrad Kujau. Asked to attend the trial of Heidemann and Kujau, Wolff declined; on 17 July 1984, he died in a hospital in Rosenheim. He was buried in the cemetery at Prien am Chiemsee on 21 July 1984.

SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Karl Wolff (Höhere SS und Polizeiführer Italien und Bevollmächtigter General der deutschen Wehrmacht in Italien) in Northern Italy, late 1944. The officer behind him is his adjutant, SS-Sturmbannführer Eugen Wenner. The picture was taken by Walter Frentz.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Wolff
https://twitter.com/nickfshort/status/1213392477144698880/photo/1

Market in Athens

 

Athens 1941 in the market. This is from the same photographer who took Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 5 series.

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/posts/1828970997288315/?__cft__[0]=AZWomJ17kfWKwrmgls8DCZBf1o5S76_AwPDh02j_XO0HnY4afgj7LODOrZQARIJyfft2aQ-4vFYIl5SVEOSzFxbgJGUKv_UVhbAwZzlG38OTyJuEfc6wst298UQio-70SuSi09EPaxKtPyEnKuWYSGBZ&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

Two Diving Bf109's from JG 52

Two diving Bf109's from JG 52 (Jagdgeschwader 52).

The speed of Agfacolor Neu film was only ISO 25 - 2 stops slower than the later standard of ISO 100, so it required the photographer extreme skill when he wants to take photos of moving targets. Compare with the today's digicams which enjoy something like ISO 12800 and more...

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10224498370480259&set=gm.1829076917277723

U.S. Paratroopers during Training in Tunisia

U.S. Paratroopers of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment / 82nd Airborne Division during training in Tunisia before the Allied invasion of Sicily, 1943. They are holding watermelons, with the purpose unknown. Photo taken by Robert Capa.

Source :
https://www.vintag.es/2016/07/the-world-in-color-during-1940s-and.html

Bio of Luftwaffe Ace Werner Schroer

Werner Schroer was born on 12 December 1918 at Mülheim in Ruhr. His Luftwaffe career began in 1937 as a member of the ground staff. In May 1940 he completed his flying training. On 27 August 1940 he joined 2./JG 27 based on the Channel front. He flew his first combat missions during the Battle of Britain but did not claim any confirmed victories. In March 1941, I./JG 27 was deployed to North Africa in order to support the Afrika Korps under the command of Erwin Rommel. Schroer claimed his first victory, a RAF Hurricane, on 19 April 1941, however, his Bf 109 E (WNr 3790) was hit and he had to make a forced-landing near his airfield with 48 bullet holes in his aircraft. On 21 April, in an engagement with RAF Hurricanes, an aircraft collided with his Bf 109 E (WNr 4170) slightly injuring him and requiring him to make another forced-landing. By the end of 1941 his score stood at seven. In March 1942, he was appointed Adjutant of I./JG 27. He was appointed Staffelkapitän of 8./JG 27 on 22 June. In July he recorded 16 victories. On 9 September, he was awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold. He shot down 13 enemy aircraft in September, including six on 15 September to record his 35th through 40th victories. In October, Schroer claimed 15 victories. Leutnant Schroer was awarded the Ritterkreuz on 21 October for 49 victories. On 4 November, Schroer, with Alfred Stückler (10 victories), shot down two four-engined B-24s. On 11 February 1943, Schroer reportedly shot down two RAF Beauforts, although he claimed them as B-26s. When Major Gustav Rödel (98 victories, including 13 four-engined bombers, RK-EL) was appointed Kommodore of JG 27, Hauptmann Schroer took his place as Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 27 on 22 April 1943. Operating over Sicily and southern Italy, between 29 April and 23 July, Schroer was to claim 22 Allied aircraft shot down, including 12 four-engined bombers. On 2 August, he became the 268th recipient of the Eichenlaub, awarded for his 84 victories. In August 1943, II./JG 27 was redeployed to Wiesbaden-Erbenheim in Germany for Reichsverteidigung duties. On 6 September, Schroer led the Gruppe on an interception of a formation of 262 B-17s. In all 45 American bombers were lost including four shot down by II./JG 27, three of which were claimed by Schroer as his victories 86 through 88. On 3 March 1944, Major Schroer scored his 99th victory and was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 54, relieving Major Rudolf Sinner (39 victories, DK) who had been badly wounded on 6 March attacking a formation of four-engined bombers. III./JG 54 was based at Lüneberg and flew the Bf 109 G-6. On 24 May, Schroer shot down a P-51 and two P-47s for his 100th to 102nd victories. On 21 July 1944, Schroer relinquished command of III./JG 54 to Hauptmann Robert “Bazi” Weiss (121 victories, RK-EL, killed in action 29 December 1944). Schroer was transferred to a fighter pilot school as an instructor. On 4 August, he had to make a forced-landing when his engine malfunctioned. From November 1944 to February 1945 Schroer was retained in a training role. On 14 February 1945, Schroer was appointed Kommodore of JG 3. With this unit he quickly claimed 12 Russian aircraft destroyed. On 19 April 1945 he became the 144th recipient of the Schwertern. Werner Schroer survived the war. He died on 10 February 1985 in Munich, aged 67.

Werner Schroer was credited with 114 victories flying 197 missions. 102 of his victories were scored on the Western front, including 61 claimed over North Africa, and 26 four-engined bombers.

 

Source :
"Ritterkreuzträger Profile Nr. 15" by Ralf Schumann
http://www.luftwaffe.cz/schroer.html

Bio of Luftwaffe Fighter Ace Horst Ademeit

Horst Ademeit (Adomaitis) (8 February 1912 – 7 August 1944), the son of a Regierungsbaurat (government building officer), was born on 8 February 1912 in Breslau in the Kingdom of Prussia of the German Empire, present-day Wrocław in western Poland. He studied at the Königsberg Albertina University, a member of the Corps Masovia Königsberg. He then studied chemistry at the Technical University of Berlin and the Technical University of Braunschweig graduating as Diplom Ingenieur. He joined the military service of the Luftwaffe on 1 August 1936.

On 9 December 1938, Ademeit was made an officer cadet of the reserves and received flight training.

In the spring of 1940, Unteroffizier Ademeit was transferred to 3. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54—54th Fighter Wing) and participated in the Battle of Britain. He claimed his first victory on 18 September 1940. Shortly afterwards he was shot down over the Channel. He bailed out and was rescued by the Seenotdienst unharmed.

In June 1941, after the attack on the Soviet Union, he accompanied I./JG 54 to the Eastern Front. In quick succession he achieved aerial victories, promotions and awards. On 7 March 1943, Ademeit was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 6. Staffel of JG 54, replacing Oberleutnant Hans Beißwenger who was killed in action the day before.

In October 1943, Ademeit was credited with his 100th aerial victory. He was the 61st Luftwaffe pilot to achieve the century mark. In the beginning of August 1944, Ademeit was appointed acting Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) of JG 54.

On 7 August 1944, Ademeit, flying a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-5 (Werksnummer 5960 — factory number) pursued a Russian Il-2 Sturmovik ground-attack aircraft eastwards over Russian lines near Dünaburg, however he failed to return from this mission and is considered Missing in action since. Berlin radio announced his loss on 29 September 1944.

Horst Ademeit was credited with 166 victories in over 600 missions over the Eastern Front. He was posthumously promoted to Major.

Matthews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found documentation for 160 aerial victory claims, all of which confirmed and claimed on the Eastern Front. The authors Prien, Stemmer, Rodeike and Bock list six further victories, aerial victories numbered 99–104, which were not documented by Matthews and Foreman, in the timeframe 18 September to 3 October 1943.

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 2525". The Luftwaffe grid map (Jägermeldenetz) covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about 360 square miles (930 km2). These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 × 4 km in size.

Awards
Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (7 September 1940) and 1st Class (5 September 1941)
Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe for fighter pilots in Gold and Penant
Honour Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 8 December 1941 as Leutnant and pilot
German Cross in Gold on 25 February 1942 as Leutnant in the 1./Jagdgeschwader 54
Knight's Cross on 16 April 1943 as Leutnant and pilot in the I./Jagdgeschwader 54
414th Oak Leaves on 2 March 1944 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur I./Jagdgeschwader 54

Source :
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2011/07/album-foto-berwarna-perwira-dan_5529.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_Ademeit

Bio of Admiral Theodor Krancke

Theodor Krancke, born March 30, 1893, in Magdeburg, joined the German navy in April 1912. During World War I serving on in the IX Torpedo Boat Flotilla, attached to von Hipper’s battlecruisers, he participated in the Battle of Jutland. From 1927 to 1929, he was the torpedo officer on the pre-dreadnought battleship Schleswig-Holstein.

When World War II began, this successful Kriegsmarine officer gave up running the Naval Academy to take part in naval operations. As chief naval advisor to Admiral Raeder, he oversaw planning of the 1940 invasions of Norway and Denmark. Two months later, he was given command of the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. In late October 1940, he began a successful 5-1/2 month North Atlantic raid, capturing three merchant ships and sinking a total of 13 merchant vessels and the auxiliary cruiser HMS Jervis Bay. In June 1941, he was appointed head of the Quartermaster Division of the Kriegsmarine, and a year later promoted to naval advisor at OKW.

On April 20, 1943, he was appointed Marinegruppenkommando West on the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. Von Rundstedt’s naval counterpart, he commanded all naval surface units and coastal batteries in the Western Theatre, and as such directly answerable only to Dönitz and OKM. Krancke always remained at odds with Rommel’s naval advisor, Admiral Ruge, refusing to understand why a naval officer was attached to an army command. Ruge, in turn, resented the undertone that he should be at sea or a lackey on some naval staff.

Krancke felt that when the invasion came, it would probably be somewhere between Boulogne and Cherbourg. On June 4th, he departed for Bordeaux to wind up some mining operations in the Bay of Biscay. Because the weather was scheduled to be bad for the next few days, and because he felt a landing at this time would not occur because the tides were wrong, he suspended minelaying operations and naval patrols to the order.

When D-Day began, Krancke rushed back to his headquarters in Paris but could do little to remove the huge Allied fleet parked off Normandy’s coast.

Krancke, an ardent Nazi, had a major hand in suppressing the anti-Hitler coup attempt in Paris on July 20, 1944. When he found out that the military governor had arrested several of the SS and Gestapo, he threatened to march into Paris and go to the prison with a thousand marines to free them.

He was later given command of Naval Group Norway, which he held until April 1945. After the surrender, he remained in command, overseeing the removal of minefields and the dismantling of German naval defences in Norway. Captured by the British on August 27th, he was released on October 3, 1947, and retired to his home near Hamburg.

He died on June 18, 1973.

Source :
https://www.casematepublishing.co.uk/blog/2019/05/23/countdown-to-d-day-krancke/
http://thirdreichcolorpictures.blogspot.com/2010/08/admiral-theodor-krancke.html

German Funker with Radio

 

German funker (radio operator) in action. The radio is possibly a Torn. Fu. b1. From color slide group of II.Abteilung / Artillerie-Regiment 63, Serie 5, frame 5.

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10224301088748339&set=gm.1799301070255308

Burial of Russian Civilian

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.

Source :
Bundesarchiv Bild 169-0339

German Horse-Drawn 150mm Feldhaubitze 18

German horse-drawn 15cm gun marching into enemy territory, 1940. Though almost invisible, the gun barrel has a muzzle cover with a red reflector. From a Farbdias group of a (later) ZKO officer. A fantastic photograph on many levels that would grace any book on World War II - also rare in that it shows German troops in relaxed mode. Don't forget the small details, such as the steam still coming off the horses! It maybe the only colour photograph to show the 150mm Feldhaubitze 18 in horse.

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10224447831776823&set=gm.1821186171400131

German Soldier Eating in a Tent

After a long march there is another opportunity to do personal hygiene and have something to eat. Soldier of a propaganda company eating in front of a tent. The picture was taken in the Eastern Front, 1941/42.

Source :
Bundesarchiv Bild 169-0144

Wreckage of Ju 52 and Fallschirmjäger Graves

The wreck of a crash-landed Junkers Ju 52 on the Maleme airfield with the grave of two Fallschirmjäger. At 08:00 on 20 May 1941, German paratroopers, jumping out of dozens of Junkers Ju 52 aircraft, landed near Maleme Airfield and the town of Chania. The 21st, 22nd and 23rd New Zealand battalions held Maleme Airfield and the vicinity. The Germans suffered many casualties in the first hours of the invasion: a company of III Battalion, 1st Assault Regiment lost 112 killed out of 126 men, and 400 of 600 men in III Battalion were killed on the first day. Most of the parachutists were engaged by New Zealanders defending the airfield and by Greek forces near Chania. Many gliders following the paratroops were hit by mortar fire seconds after landing, and the New Zealand and Greek defenders almost annihilated the glider troops who landed safely. Some paratroopers and gliders missed their objectives near both airfields and set up defensive positions to the west of Maleme Airfield and in "Prison Valley" near Chania. Both forces were contained and failed to take the airfields, but the defenders had to deploy to face them. Towards the evening of 20 May, the Germans slowly pushed the New Zealanders back from Hill 107, which overlooked the airfield.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete

Exhausted Motorcyclists Sleeping

 

Exhausted motorcyclists of Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 5 taking a nap in Greece, 1941. Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 5 (armored recce batallion 5) of the German 2. Panzer-Division invades Greece. Their Kupferbraun (copper brown) Waffenfarbe (branch color) of the Aufklärer / Kradschützen is evident in this photo.

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10224431956859960&set=gm.1818746084977473

Polish Armored Train "Danuta"

Poland, near Łowicz, September 1939. Damaged Polish armored train No. 11 "Danuta" captured by German troops. The Danuta was built in Poznań in 1919. In August 1920, the train participated in the Battle for Warsaw, as part of the Polish 1st Army. In 1924, the Danuta was assigned to the armoured train training unit located in Jabłonna, Legionowo County. Like most other Polish armoured trains, the Danuta was modernised in the early 1930s by receiving a Ti3 type locomotive, additional guns and AA machine guns. After the Polish Army was mobilised in 1939, the train was assigned to the Poznań Army. In the first days of the war, the Danuta supported various Polish infantry units. On 4 September, the train was bombed by the Luftwaffe, but received only minor damage. Next the train participated in the Battle of the Bzura. On 16 September, the train helped to halt the advance of the German 24. Infanterie-Division and tried to withdraw towards the Polish 16 Infantry Division, but was ambushed by the German anti-tank artillery. The damage received in the ambush and the fact that the train's ammunition supplies were almost depleted forced the commander of the train, Captain Korobowicz, to order the train to be blown up, together with the assaulting German infantry, to prevent German capture. Out of the tanks used to scout on and off the rails, five tankettes TKS were evacuated successfully and two FT-17 tanks blown up.

Source :
Bundesarchiv B 206 Bild-GD-52
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danuta_(armoured_train)

Artillerie-Regiment 213 on the March in Poland

Artillerie-Regiment 213 on the march with drawn units on a country road in Poland, September-October 1939. The regiment is a part of 213. Infanterie-Division. During the Invasion of Poland, the 213th Infantry Division served in the reserves of Heeresgruppe Süd (Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt). It did not play a significant role in the Poland campaign. After the campaign, the division served under XXXV. Armeekorps.

Source :
Bundesarchiv B 206 Bild-GD-06
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/213th_Security_Division_(Wehrmacht)

Bio of Generalleutnant René de l'Homme de Courbière

Generalleutnant René de l'Homme de Courbière
Born: 24 Jan 1887 in Sanskow, District Stolp, Pomerania (Pommern)
Died: 07 May 1946 in Wildeshausen, Oldenburg

Promotions:
Fähnrich (18 Nov 1904); Leutnant (18 Jun 1905); Oberleutnant (05 Jun 1914); Hauptmann (16 Jun 1915); Major (01 Apr 1928); Oberstleutnant (01 Feb 1933); Oberst (01 Mar 1935); Generalmajor (01 Apr 1938); Generalleutnant (01 Jun 1940)

Career:
Entered Army Service (14 Apr 1904)
Fahnenjunker in the 9th Grenadier-Regiment (14 Apr 1904-10 Dec 1915)
Detached to MG-Training-Course (01 Jan 1913-31 Mar 1913)
Company-Leader with the Infantry Replacement Troops in Warsaw (10 Dec 1915-27 Mar 1916)
Company-Leader with the MG-Instruction-Course in Döberitz (27 Mar 1916-24 Oct 1916)
Hauptmann with the Staff of the 9th Grenadier-Regiment (24 Oct 1916-31 Jul 1917)
Staff-Officer with the Staff of the 9th Grenadier-Regiment (31 Jul 1917-14 Jan 1919)
Company-Leader in the 9th Grenadier-Regiment (14 Jan 1919-01 Oct 1919)
Transferred into the 3rd Reichswehr-Infantry-Regiment (01 Oct 1919-01 Oct 1920)
Company-Chief in the 4th Infantry-Regiment (01 Oct 1920-01 Jun 1926)
Hauptmann with the Staff of I. Battalion of the 4th Infantry-Regiment (01 Jun 1926-01 Apr 1927)
Transferred to the Staff of the 2nd Division (01 Apr 1927-01 May 1927)
Transferred to the Staff of the Training-Battalion of the 4th Infantry-Regiment (01 May 1927-01 May 1928)
Company-Chief in the 4th Infantry-Regiment (01 May 1928-01 Oct 1928)
Transferred to the Staff of the 4th Infantry-Regiment (01 Oct 1928-01 Mar 1929)
Transferred to the Staff of the 2nd Division (01 Mar 1929-04 Mar 1932)
Detached to Course for Infantry Arms (28 May 1929-21 Jun 1929)
Commander of the Training-Battalion of the 5th Infantry-Regiment (04 Mar 1932-01 Oct 1934)
Transferred to the Staff of Artillery-Leader I (01 Oct 1934-15 Oct 1935)
Transferred to the Staff of the 1st Division (15 Oct 1935-06 Oct 1936)
Commander of the 96th Infantry-Regiment (06 Oct 1936-10 Nov 1938)
Landwehr-Commander Glogau (10 Nov 1938-26 Aug 1939)
Commander of the 213th Infantry-Division (26 Aug 1939-15 Mar 1940)
Commander of the 213th Security-Division (15 Mar 1940-12 Aug 1942)
Commander of the 153rd Field-Training-Division (15 Jan 1943-08 Jun 1943)
Führer-Reserve OKH (08 Jun 1943-08 Sep 1943)
Delegated with the Temporary Leadership of Division 432 (08 Sep 1943-15 Oct 1943)
Führer-Reserve OKH (15 Oct 1943-01 Nov 1943)
Commander of Landesschützen-Division 410 (01 Nov 1943-20 Dec 1943)
Führer-Reserve OKH (20 Dec 1943-10 Jan 1944)
Commander of the 338th Infantry-Division (10 Jan 1944-18 Sep 1944)
Führer-Reserve OKH (18 Sep 1944-19 Jan 1945)
Commander of the Catch-Staff in Military-District VIII (19 Jan 1945-05 Mar 1945)
Commander of the Catch-Staff with Army High Command 4 (05 Mar 1945-29 Mar 1945)
Taken ill, in Hospital (29 Mar 1945-00 Jan 1946)
In Captivity (00 Jan 1946-24 Feb 1946)
Released (24 Feb 1946)

Awards & Decorations:
- Deutsches Kreuz in Gold: am 23.11.1944 als Generalleutnant und Kommandeur der 338. Infanterie-Division
- 1914 EK I
- 1914 EK II
- Kgl. Bayer. Militär-Verdienstorden IV. Klasse mit Schwertern
- Hamburgisches Hanseatenkreuz
- Fürstl. Lippisches Kriegsverdienstkreuz
- Verwundetenabzeichen, 1918 in Schwarz
- Ehrenritter des Kgl. Preuss. Johanniter-Orden
- Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
- Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis I. Klasse
- Spange zum EK II
- Spange zum EK I

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
http://www.geocities.ws/orion47.geo/WEHRMACHT/HEER/Generalleutnant/HOMME_RENE.html

Pilot and Navigator of Heinkel He 111

Pilot (right) and navigator in the cockpit of the German bomber Heinkel (Heinkel He-111). The pilot is Major Eduard Zimmer (last rank Oberst), Gruppenkommandeur IV.Gruppe / Kampfgeschwader 100. The picture itself was taken around 1942 in the Eastern Front by Michael Sobotta.

Source :
https://www.bpk-bildagentur.de/shop
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=168491
https://waralbum.ru/381725/

A Naval Air Station Boneyard Shortly After World War II

A Naval Air Station boneyard shortly after the end of the war contains numerous catapult-launched OS2U Kingfishers (foreground), along with JM-1 (B-26) target tugs in yellow, and a R4D (C-47) transport.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-K-14588
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=71258

Navy Flight Nurses Walk from Their Douglas R5D

In Spring 1945, a group of Navy flight nurses walk from their Douglas R5D (C-54) transport. They are, from left to right: Lt. JG Lydia Masserine, Lt. Stella Makar, Lt. JG Dorothy Wood, Lt. JG Hope Toone, Lt. JG Mae Hanson, and Ens. Winnifred Jennings.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-K-5446
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

U.S. Marine Paratroopers in Maneuvers

U.S. Marine Paratroopers in training. A rare Douglas DC-5 aircraft in the background. It was operated by the USMC as the R3D-2s. Only 12 built. This photo itself is maneuvers in Australia.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4581299928623451&set=gm.1809759462542802

Celebration in Liberated Paris

Celebration in Paris after the French capital was liberated in August 1944

After more than four years of Nazi occupation, Paris is liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division on 25 August 1944. German resistance was light, and General Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison, defied an order by Adolf Hitler to blow up Paris’ landmarks and burn the city to the ground before its liberation. Choltitz signed a formal surrender that afternoon, and on August 26, Free French General Charles de Gaulle led a joyous liberation march down the Champs d’Elysees.

Paris fell to Nazi Germany on June 14, 1940, one month after the German Wehrmacht stormed into France. Eight days later, France signed an armistice with the Germans, and a puppet French state was set up with its capital at Vichy. Elsewhere, however, General Charles de Gaulle and the Free French kept fighting, and the Resistance sprang up in occupied France to resist Nazi and Vichy rule.

The French 2nd Armored Division was formed in London in late 1943 with the express purpose of leading the liberation of Paris during the Allied invasion of France. In August 1944, the division arrived at Normandy under the command of General Jacques-Philippe Leclerc and was attached to General George S. Patton’s 3rd U.S. Army. By August 18, Allied forces were near Paris, and workers in the city went on strike as Resistance fighters emerged from hiding and began attacking German forces and fortifications.

At his headquarters two miles inland from the Normandy coast, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower had a dilemma. Allied planners had concluded that the liberation of Paris should be delayed so as to not divert valuable resources away from important operations elsewhere. The city could be encircled and then liberated at a later date.

On August 21, Eisenhower met with de Gaulle and told him of his plans to bypass Paris. De Gaulle urged him to reconsider, assuring him that Paris could be reclaimed without difficulty. The French general also warned that the powerful communist faction of the Resistance might succeed in liberating Paris, thereby threatening the re-establishment of a democratic government. De Gaulle politely told Eisenhower that if his advance against Paris was not ordered, he would send Leclerc’s 2nd Armored Division into the city himself.

On August 22, Eisenhower agreed to proceed with the liberation of Paris. The next day, the 2nd Armored Division advanced on the city from the north and the 4th Infantry Division from the south. Meanwhile, in Paris, the forces of German General Dietrich von Choltitz were fighting the Resistance and completing their defenses around the city. Hitler had ordered Paris defended to the last man, and demanded that the city not fall into Allied hands except as “a field of ruins.” Choltitz dutifully began laying explosives under Paris’ bridges and many of its landmarks, but disobeyed an order to commence the destruction. He did not want to go down in history as the man who had destroyed the “City of Light”—Europe’s most celebrated city.

The 2nd Armored Division ran into heavy German artillery, taking heavy casualties, but on August 24 managed to cross the Seine and reach the Paris suburbs. There, they were greeted by enthusiastic civilians who besieged them with flowers, kisses, and wine. Later that day, Leclerc learned that the 4th Infantry Division was poised to beat him into Paris proper, and he ordered his exhausted men forward in a final burst of energy. Just before midnight on August 24, the 2nd Armored Division reached the Hótel de Ville in the heart of Paris.

German resistance melted away during the night. Most of the 20,000 troops surrendered or fled, and those that fought were quickly overcome. On the morning of August 25, the 2nd Armored Division swept clear the western half of Paris while the 4th Infantry Division cleared the eastern part. Paris was liberated.

In the early afternoon, Choltitz was arrested in his headquarters by French troops. Shortly after, he signed a document formally surrendering Paris to de Gaulle’s provisional government. De Gaulle himself arrived in the city later that afternoon. On August 26, de Gaulle and Leclerc led a triumphant liberation march down the Champs d’Elysees. Scattered gunfire from a rooftop disrupted the parade, but the identity of the snipers was not determined.

De Gaulle headed two successive French provisional governments until 1946, when he resigned over constitutional disagreements. From 1958 to 1969, he served as French president under the Fifth Republic.

Source :
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/paris-liberated

German standards at the Moscow Victory Parade of 1945

The LSSAH standard staff at the parade (first from left)

At the Moscow Victory Parade of 24 June 1945, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, there were a total of 201 German cavalry standards and combat banners, majority being from the Wehrmacht. Carried by a battalion of Soviet soldiers from the Separate Operational Purpose Division of the NKVD, they were thrown to the steps of Lenin's Mausoleum under drumroll during the march past of the ground column. Around twenty standards at the parade were not Nazi and belonged to previous German units (in 1944 Adolf Hitler ordered to move all military unit standards to museums to prevent their capture in a battle). All the rest were made in 1935. Among them was the standard staff of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH); its banner had been found separately and was not brought to the parade. The staff was carried in a prominent place on the right of the front rank of the first column of soldiers. It has been incorrectly called Hitler's personal standard which went missing during the war. After the parade additional color shots were made showing the flags of various Nazi organizations being thrown to the ground. The shots were added to the official video of the parade.

The standards were selected from a pool of about 900 standards and banners shipped to Moscow from Berlin and Dresden. Some of them were collected by SMERSH trophy teams in May 1945 and some were taken from museums. The show of contempt to the standards at the parade was proposed by Joseph Stalin, stemming from the old custom of "disdain not for the enemy, but for his defied military distinctions" in the troops of Alexander Suvorov. In order to not touch the standards themselves the soldiers wore gloves. The following list is based on the list of standards approved by Colonel Peredelsky on 21 June 1945. It includes 138 battalion, 36 Division and 26 regimental standards. The standard staff of LSSAH was approved separately from the list. All standards are now housed in the Central Armed Forces Museum of Moscow.

 Battalion standards
Number     Military unit
1     3rd Battalion of the 57th Infantry Regiment
2     2nd Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment
3     1st Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment
4     3rd Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment
5     2nd Battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment
6     1st Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment
7     1st Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment
8     3rd Battalion of the 106th Infantry Regiment
9     1st Battalion of the 49th Infantry Regiment
10     2nd Battalion of the 83th Infantry Regiment
11     2nd Battalion of the 81st Infantry Regiment
12     1st Battalion of the 84th Infantry Regiment
13     2nd Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment
14     3rd Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment
15     9th Tank Battalion
16     1st Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment
17     2nd Battalion of the 43rd Infantry Regiment
18     3rd Battalion of the 44th Infantry Regiment
19     1st Battalion of the 22nd Infantry Regiment
20     4th Battalion of the 61st Infantry Regiment
21     1st Battalion of the 36th Infantry Regiment
22     1st Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment
23     2nd Battalion of the 51st Infantry Regiment
24     2nd Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment
25     1st Battalion of the 57th Infantry Regiment
26     2nd Battalion of the 38th Infantry Regiment
27     1st Battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment
28     3rd Battalion of the 43rd Infantry Regiment
29     2nd Battalion of the 88th Infantry Regiment
30     2nd Battalion of the 44th Infantry Regiment
31     1st Battalion of the 106th Infantry Regiment
32     3rd Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment
33     2nd Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment
34     1st Battalion of the 51st Infantry Regiment
35     3rd Battalion of the 88th Infantry Regiment
36     3rd Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment
37     1st Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment
38     2nd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment
39     2nd Battalion of the 36th Infantry Regiment
40     3rd Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment
41     3rd Battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment
42     1st Battalion of the 83rd Infantry Regiment
43     3rd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment
44     2nd Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment
45     3rd Battalion of the 33rd Fusilier Regiment
46     3rd Battalion of the 22nd Infantry Regiment
47     3rd Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment
48     2nd Battalion of the 22nd Infantry Regiment
49     2nd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment
50     2nd Battalion of the 49th Infantry Regiment
51     3rd Battalion of the 84th Infantry Regiment
52     1st Battalion of the 59th Infantry Regiment
53     1st Battalion of the 88th Infantry Regiment
54     2nd Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment
55     3rd Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment
56     2nd Battalion of the 84th Infantry Regiment
57     1st Battalion of the 81st Infantry Regiment
58     1st Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment
59     2nd Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment
60     2nd Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment
61     1st Battalion of the 43rd Infantry Regiment
62     2nd Battalion of the 59th Infantry Regiment
63     1st Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment
64     1st Battalion of the 38th Infantry Regiment
65     3rd Battalion of the 51st Infantry Regiment
66     2nd Battalion of the 57th Infantry Regiment
67     3rd Battalion of the 49th Infantry Regiment
68     3rd Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment
69     1st Battalion of the 6th Rifle Regiment
70     2nd Battalion of the 71st Infantry Regiment
71     3rd Battalion of the 71st Infantry Regiment
72     2nd Battalion of the 15th Reconnaissance Regiment
73     2nd Battalion of the 14th Infantry Regiment
74     1st Battalion of the 2nd Tank Regiment
75     1st Battalion of the 21st Reconnaissance Regiment
76     77th Tank Communication Battalion
77     2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Rifle Regiment
78     29th Combat Engineer Battalion
79     41st Communication Battalion
80     1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Rifle Regiment
81     48th Communication Battalion
82     2nd Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment
83     15th Communication Battalion
84     Jäger Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment
85     21st Communication Battalion
86     1st Battalion of the 71st Infantry Regiment
87     48th Combat Engineer Battalion
88     18th Communication Battalion
89     15th Machine Gun Battalion
90     37th Communication Battalion
91     1st Battalion of the 68th Combat Engineer Regiment
92     2nd Battalion of the 7th Reserve Regiment
93     58th Combat Engineer Battalion
94     4th Reconnaissance Unit
95     59th Machine Gun Battalion
96     9th Reconnaissance Unit
97     2nd Battalion of the 116th Reserve Regiment
98     9th Vehicle Transport Battalion
99     1st Bicycle Infantry Battalion
100     29th Communication Battalion
101     2nd Battalion of the 68th Combat Engineer Regiment
102     1st Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment
103     1st Battalion of the 31st Tank Regiment
104     2nd Battalion of the 15th Combat Engineer Regiment
105     1st Battalion of the 27th Tank Regiment
106     2nd Battalion of the unnumbered infantry regiment
107     2nd Battalion of the 6th Rifle Cavalry Regiment
108     38th Machine Gun Battalion
109     1st Battalion of the 14th unknown unit
110     28th Communication Battalion
111     1st Rifle Motorcycle Battalion
112     11th Communication Battalion
113     1st Battalion of the 1st Tank Brigade
114     1st Battalion of the 13th Infantry Regiment
115     2nd Battalion of the 1st Tank Regiment
116     41st Combat Engineer Battalion
117     9th Machine Gun Battalion
118     2nd Battalion of the 2nd Tank Regiment
119     1st Battalion of the 15th Tank Regiment
120     2nd Battalion of the 13th Infantry Regiment
121     1st Reconnaissance Unit
122     29th Reconnaissance Unit
123     1st Communication Battalion
124     8th Communication Battalion
125     11th Combat Engineer Battalion
126     3rd Battalion of the 11th Reserve Regiment
127     31st Machine Gun Battalion
128     21st Combat Engineer Battalion
129     1st Combat Engineer Battalion
130     18th Combat Engineer Battalion
131     28th Combat Engineer Battalion
132     15th Combat Engineer Battalion
133     1st Vehicle Transport Battalion
134     8th Vehicle Transport Battalion
135     8th Combat Engineer Battalion
136     1st Jäger Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment
137     1st Battalion of the 10th Infantry Regiment
138     67th Tank Battalion


 Regimental standards
Number     Military unit
176     5th Cuirassier Regiment
177     8th Cavalry Regiment
178     3rd Grenadier Horst Wessel
179     1st Dragoon Regiment
180     10th Uhlan Regiment
181     3rd Cavalry Regiment
182     12th Light Cavalry Regiment
183     10th Infantry Cavalry Regiment
184     9th Infantry Cavalry Regiment
185     4th Hussar Regiment
186     11th Infantry Cavalry Regiment
187     8th Heavy Dragoon Regiment
188     8th Uhlan Cavalry Regiment
189     1st Cuirassier Regiment
190     4th Hussar Regiment
191     4th Uhlan Regiment
192     1st Cavalry Regiment
193     10th Dragoon Regiment
194     1st Uhlan Cavalry Regiment
195     4th Cavalry Regiment
196     1st Cavalry Regiment
197     2nd Cavalry Regiment
198     2nd Uhlan Regiment
199     6th Hussar Regiment
200     4th Cavalry Regiment
201     17th Artillery Regiment


 Division standards
Number     Military unit
139     3rd Division of the 8th Artillery Regiment
140     1st Division of the 9th Artillery Regiment
141     1st Artillery Instrumental Reconnaissance Division
142     2nd Division of the 18th Artillery Regiment
143     18th Artillery Instrumental Reconnaissance Division
144     2nd Division of the 37th Artillery Regiment
145     2nd Division of the 78th Artillery Regiment
146     2nd Division of the 28th Artillery Regiment
147     21st Anti-Tank Division
148     1st Division of the 54th Artillery Regiment
149     1st Division of the 44th Artillery Regiment
150     1st Division of the 45th Artillery Regiment
151     1st Division of the 28th Artillery Regiment
152     2nd Division of the 47th Artillery Regiment
153     28th Artillery Instrumental Reconnaissance Division
154     2nd Division of the 21st Artillery Regiment
155     3rd Division of the 65th Artillery Regiment
156     2nd Division of the 64th Artillery Regiment
157     2nd Division of the 8th Artillery Regiment
158     3rd Division of the 9th Artillery Regiment
159     1st Division of the 8th Artillery Regiment
160     3rd Division of the 21st Artillery Regiment
161     11th Anti-Tank Division
162     2nd Division of the 9th Artillery Regiment
163     15th Anti-Tank Division
164     1st Division of the 116th Artillery Regiment
165     1st Division of the 15th Artillery Regiment
166     3rd Division of the 1st Artillery Regiment
167     37th Anti-Tank Division
168     2nd Division of the 44th Artillery Regiment
169     1st Division of the 57th Artillery Regiment
170     9th Anti-Tank Division
171     1st Battalion of the 13th Motorized Rifle Regiment
172     42nd Division
173     41st Combat Engineer Battalion
174     3rd Jäger Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment
175     1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (without banner)

Source :
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/List_of_German_standards_at_the_Moscow_Victory_Parade_of_1945

US Army Combat Engineers Salvaging Steel

 

Combat Engineers of the US Army salvage steel to be used in building bridges for Allied armies from the Fallersleben Factory, which has been turned from a "peoples' car" factory to V-1 production. The VW factory had Cellars originally to be used for support equipment and storage. After allied bombing the undamaged areas were used to manufacture the Wing assemblers for the Fi156 V-1s ("repurposing" is what we call it nowadays!).

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4369889033097876&set=gm.1781015942083821

The XPB2M-1 Prototype for the Martin Mars Flying Boat

The XPB2M-1 prototype for the Martin Mars flying boat sits on the ground at the Martin Aircraft Factory, Martin State Airport in Baltimore, Maryland ,in late 1942 with a Piper J-3 Cub parked on its right wing to convey its massive size. The Martin JRM Mars is a large, four-engined cargo transport flying boat designed and built by the Martin Company for the United States Navy during World War II. It was the largest Allied flying boat to enter production, although only seven were built. The United States Navy contracted the development of the XPB2M-1 Mars in 1938 as a long-range ocean patrol flying boat, which later entered production as the JRM Mars long-range transport. Four of the surviving aircraft were later converted for civilian use to firefighting water bombers. Two of the aircraft still remain based at Sproat Lake just outside of Port Alberni, British Columbia, although neither are operational.

Source :
From the collection of the National Air and Space Museum Archives, HGC-1073
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_JRM_Mars
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Black Rosie the Riveter

A riveter works on a wing panel of a Vultee A-31 Vengance dive bomber at Vultee’s Nashville, Tennessee, plant in February 1943.

Rosie the Riveter—the steely-eyed World War II heroine with her red bandanna, blue coveralls and flexed bicep—stands as one of America’s most indelible military images. Positioned under the maxim “We Can Do It,” the “Rosie” image has come to broadly represent the steadfast American working woman, and more specifically, the millions of female laborers who kept the factories and offices of the U.S. defense industries humming.

What the iconic Rosie image doesn’t convey is the diversity of that work force—specifically the more than half-million “Black Rosies” who worked alongside their white counterparts in the war effort. Coming from throughout the United States, these “Black Rosies” worked tirelessly—in shipyards and factories, along railroads, inside administrative offices and elsewhere—to fight both the foreign enemy of authoritarianism abroad and the familiar enemy of racism at home. For decades, they received little historical recognition or acknowledgement.

Like the Great War before it, World War II had required participating nations’ entire populations to contribute to the war effort. Once the U.S. entered the conflict in 1941 and millions of American men were enlisted into the military, the government had to rely on American women to fill domestic war-related roles. At the peak of the wartime industrial production, some 2 million women worked in war-related industries.

For African American women, becoming a Rosie was not only an opportunity to aid in the war effort, but also a chance for economic empowerment. Already on the move as part of the Great Migration, they sought to leave behind dead-end, often demeaning work as domestics and sharecroppers.

“Black people were leaving the south anyway and fanning out across the country,” says Gregory S. Cooke, director of Invisible Warriors, a documentary on the Black Rosies. “The war gave the women a more pointed motivation for leaving and an opportunity to make money in ways Black women had never dreamed before.”

At first, finding war-related work proved difficult for many prospective Black Rosies, as many employers—almost always white men—refused to hire Black women.

“The war represented this incredible opportunity, but Black women really had to rally and fight for the opportunity to even be considered,” says Dr. Maureen Honey, author of Bitter Fruit: African American Women in World War II and emeritus professor of women's and gender studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. “Many employers held out, attempting to only hire white women or white men, until they were forced to do otherwise.”

That coercion came in the summer of 1941 when activists Mary McLeod Bethune and A. Phillip Randolph brought the widespread hiring discrimination to President Franklin Roosevelt, prompting the Commander-in-Chief to sign Executive Order 8802 banning racial discrimination in the defense industry. The order boosted Black women's entry into the war effort; of the 1 million African Americans who entered paid service for the first time following 8802’s signing, 600,000 were women.

The roles Black Rosies played in the war effort ran the gamut. They worked in factories as sheet metal workers and munitions and explosive assemblers; in navy yards as shipbuilders and along assembly lines as electricians. They were administrators, welders, railroad conductors and more.

“It was work that you were proud of,” says Ruth Wilson, a 98-year-old Black Rosie living in Philadelphia.

During the war, Mrs. Wilson left her job as a domestic and became a sheet metal worker at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where she worked on the yard’s dry dock assembling ship bulkheads. “It made me feel good because my husband was over there in Europe fighting, and here I was doing my part,” Ms. Wilson said. Plus, she said, “I made more money!”

Industrial labor was just part of the wartime employment picture, says Dr. Honey: “All kinds of labor was highly valued and seen as ‘war jobs.’" Black Rosies worked in critical roles outside of the manual labor force, as computer scientists and clerk typists and in the fields as farmers, mining precious cotton needed for the bed linens and uniforms of American troops abroad.

Yet, despite their importance, Black Rosies still faced biting racism and sexism on the home front.

Both Black and white women were routinely paid 10 to 15 cents an hour lower than their male counterparts, despite equal pay regulations. Across the nation, Black workers received fewer benefits and were barred from controlling any union activities, with the shipbuilder’s union blocking Black people from membership altogether. And at Wagner Electric, a factory in St. Louis, despite a diverse workforce composed of 64 percent white women and 24 percent Black men, no Black women were hired.

“These struggles were a part of the Double V campaign,” says Dr. Honey, denoting the slogan used during World War II highlighting the struggle on two fronts that Black Americans found themselves fighting—for victory over freedom overseas and for victory over oppression at home.

Willie Mae Govan, another Rosie and one of three Black women who worked making gunpowder for the E.I. DuPont Corporation in Childersburg, Alabama, was nearly brought to tears when describing the sexual harassment she endured at the hands of male white bosses at her plant. This all while working a particularly dangerous job, which Ms. Govan believes contributed to frequent and intense migraine headaches for much of her life.

Bernice Bowman, who worked at the U.S. General Accounting Office as a clerk typist, says despite frequent promotions for her white coworkers, she was never offered a chance for advancement.

“The thing is, Black people, we were used to discrimination,” says Mrs. Wilson. “So we just did our best to ignore it and kept pushing on.”

In 1945, in a written report compiled at the end of the war, Kathryn Blood, a researcher or the Department of Labor studying the wartime contributions of Black women, wrote the following about the Black Rosies:

“The contribution [of Black women] is one which this nation would be unwise to forget or evaluate falsely.”

But for decades, the efforts of Black Rosies went largely unrecognized—until African American historians, playwrights and filmmakers like Mr. Cooke began, in the 21st century, shedding light on their contributions.

“These women, I truly believe, are some of the most significant women of the 20th century,” says Mr. Cooke.

“At the time, we didn’t really think about it as wanting recognition,” says Mrs. Wilson. “But now it does feel nice to know that the work we did is being remembered.”

Source :
From the collection of Library of Congress 1a35371u
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
https://www.history.com/news/black-rosie-the-riveters-wwii-homefront-great-migration

Bio of Konteradmiral Erich Bey

Erich Bey (23 March 1898 – 26 December 1943) joined the Kaiserliche Marine on 13 June 1916 and served in its destroyer arm. Following the end of World War I, he stayed in the navy and continued his career with the rise of the Nazi Party in power in Germany. By the start of World War II was a Fregattenkapitän (frigate captain).

Bey led the 4th Destroyer Flotilla, consisting of the destroyers Z11 Bernd von Arnim, Z12 Erich Giese and Z13 Erich Koellner, as part of Kommodore Friedrich Bonte's force that carried General Eduard Dietl's mountain troops for the occupation of Narvik during the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940. In the following Battles of Narvik on 10 April and 13 April, Bey distinguished himself by leading a small group of destroyers in a brave though doomed action against a superior Royal Navy force that included the battleship HMS Warspite.

Bey was awarded with the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 9 May 1940. The next day he was promoted to Captain and appointed commander of the German destroyer force (Führer der Zerstörer), succeeding Commodore Bonte, who had been killed on 10 April in the first Battle of Narvik. Bey then commanded the destroyer screen protecting the ships of the Brest Group (Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Prinz Eugen) during Operation Cerberus (the “Channel Dash”) in February 1942. Of the three, Scharnhorst suffered extensive damage, having struck a naval mine laid off the Dover Straits.

Promoted to Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral), on Christmas Day, 25 December 1943, Bey led a task force consisting of the battleship Scharnhorst and the destroyers Z29, Z30, Z33, Z34 and Z38 out of Alta Fjord in Operation Ostfront. The first and only surface sortie ordered by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, Bey's objective was to intercept the Allied Convoy JW 55B en route to Murmansk.

Bey's initial force of Scharnhorst and five destroyers was superior to the convoy's escorting British cruisers and destroyers in terms of firepower. However, Bey's flagship was outmatched by Admiral Bruce Fraser's battleship HMS Duke of York which led another Royal Navy fleet shadowing the convoy. Scharnhorst was expected to use her speed to avoid an engagement with Duke of York.

Poor weather, heavy seas and inadequate Luftwaffe reconnaissance prevented Bey from initially locating the convoy, so he detached his destroyers to fan out and assist in the search. However, the storm meant that Bey's destroyers ending up playing no part in the battle. Bey guessed correctly and Scharnhorst then managed to locate the convoy by herself. In the first engagement of the ensuing Battle of North Cape, while trading fire with the British convoy's screening cruisers, Scharnhorst's radar was destroyed, rendering her blind. Scharnhorst was then caught by the more powerful HMS Duke of York and suffered critical damage before being sunk after several torpedo hits from British cruisers. Of Scharnhorst's crew of 1,968, Royal Navy vessels fished 36 men alive from the icy sea, not one of them an officer.

Decorations & Awards:
- Ritterkreuz (7): am 09.05.1940 als Kapitän zur See und Chef 4. Zerstörerflottille
- 1914 EK II
- Hamburgisches Hanseatenkreuz
- Kgl. Preuss. Rettungsmedaille am Bande
- Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
- Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis II. Klasse
- Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938
- Medaille zur Erinnerung an die Heimkehr des Memellandes
- 1939 EK I: 20.11.1939
- Spange zum EK II: 16.10.1939
- Zerstörer-Kriegsabzeichen: 00.10.1940
- Narvikschild: 1940
- im Wehrmachtbericht genannt: 27.12.1943

Source :
http://www.geocities.ws/orion47.geo/WEHRMACHT/KRIEGSMARINE/Konteradmirals/BEY_ERICH.html
http://www.historicalwarmilitariaforum.com/topic/6937-ritterkreuztr%C3%A4ger-photos-in-color-thread/?page=9&tab=comments#comment-36914

U.S. Tank Men Enjoying Italian Grapes

 

Three battle-wearied tank men enjoy Italian grapes in the vicinity of Fauglia, Italy, August 21, 1944. The trio are, left to right, Corporal Jerome J. Lackman, Private First Class Everett L. Idell, and Sergeantt Peter DeWispelaere of the U.S. First Tank Battalion, First Armored Division, Fifth Army.

Source :
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/three-battle-wearied-tank-men-enjoy-italian-grapes-in-the-news-photo/176655161

M-8 Greyhound before Boarding an LST

 

U.S. M-8 Greyhound tanks of the 36th Division of the 5th Army lined up just before boarding an LST (Landing Ship, Tank) at a port of embarkation in Italy, 1944. Men in the front vehicle are: Bottom, left to right: Private Carl Rowens and Private Roy P. Thrasher; Top left to right: Private Nicholas J. Saviano and Private Frank E. Sherman. It is the full dope on the Ford Motor Company's M8 Greyhound Armored Car as it was presented to the olive-clad readers of YANK MAGAZINE in the summer of 1944: "Armored Car, M8, 6x6: the Army's latest combat vehicle, is a six-wheeled, eight-ton armored job that can hit high speeds over practically any type of terrain. It mounts a 37-mm cannon and a .30-caliber machine gun in a hand-operated traversable turret..." Although the M8 was originally envisioned as a tank killer, it was soon understood that its 37 mm gun was not up to the job. It first saw combat in 1943 in both theaters.

Source :
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/greyhound-tanks-of-the-36th-division-of-the-5th-army-lined-news-photo/103354634
http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/article-summary/M8_Greyhound_Armored_Car_of_WW2#.YN2pJX4xXcs