Photos WW2 German Forces

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Panzer II of 5th Panzer Division knocked out in Poland - 1939

 

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Two Marder III Ausf M tank destroyers, caught in the open by Allied air power on the banks of the Seine in the city of Rouen while waiting to retreat across the river. 25/26 August 1944

 

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Field Marshal Erwin Rommel watches the Italian submarine Atropos leaving Bardia at the end of a transport mission in October-November 1941

 

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These photos are part of a set held in the British IWM collection, showing various well-known German officers etc plus some everyday scenes of German soldiery - only 5 of the 98 photos have been digitized so far. They were provided to the IWM by US Army Colonel George Burling Jarrett - the Ordnance officer who amongst other exploits helped establish the armour training centre and museum at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland in the US

1 - Hitler with Mussolini at his headquarters at Rastenberg in East Prussia (the Wolf's Lair) - from left to right are Martin Bormann, Hitler, Mussolini and General Keitel (IWM MH 9241)
2 - Herman Goering at the funeral of either Ernst Udet or Werner Molders, both Luftwaffe aces. Head of the honour guard at the side of the coffin stands Adolf Galland (IWM MH 9240)
3 - General Guderian at Le Quitteur, near St Quentin in Spring 1940 (MH 9404)
4 - Generaloberst Heinz Guderian, commanding the German XIX Corps (IWM MH 9239)
5 - German infantry resting near Amiens in May 1940 (IWM MH 9403)

 

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German Sd.Kfz 10/4 half-tracks with FlaK 30 AA guns in action against ground targets.

 

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Marder II with 7.5cm (75mm) PaK 40 anti-tank gun passing through a Russian village in 1943
This photo is held by the Australian War Memorial and could be original colour (they show it as being a Wespe 105mm SPH)

 

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"Operation Barbarossa"

 

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WWII. Normandy Campaign, France. June 1944. German troops inspect an abandoned USAAF Waco CG-4 glider.

 

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13. Kompanie SS Panzer-Regiment 1 LSSAH receiving a visit of Generaloberst Heinz Guderian in his capacity as Inspector General of the Armored Forces in the Kharkov area, Ukraine, mid-April 1943

 

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Here on stand at Nuremberg is Oberkommando des Heeres (lit. army high command) chief of staff Franz Halder.
While in that post (1938 to 1942) Halder kept a diary which would later prove an important primary source and insider look on the top decisions made in the German military and the personalities within. Hitler eventually sacked Halder after a lengthy spat on strategy. He would later be arrested as a suspected traitor after the July 20th plot but avoided execution, even though other distinguished officers were killed by even less evidence.
It should be noted Halder was an enthusiastic supporter of Hitler in the 1930s, though he would later claim as early as the Sudetenland crisis that he was involved in conspiracies to depose the Nazis should things go south. In terms of crimes against peace knowledge of crimes against humanity, he was probably as guilty as Keitel and Jodl. However, because he was useful to western Allied intelligence and cooperated with prosecutors he was spared their fate at Nuremberg.
Through his post war writings, Halder played a pivotal role in fabricating the Clean Wehrmacht myth which persists to this day. He died in 1972.

 

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SS-Oberscharführer Persin and SS-Unterscharführer Ochsner of "Kampfgruppe Knittel", 1. SS-Panzer-Division 'LSSAH', SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 1, near Malmedy-Ligneuville. Kaiserbaracke Crossroads, Belgium. 18 December 1944.

 

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10th June 1945, Denmark. German POWs clearing mines. (Not really according to the Geneva Convention.)

 

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destroyed Tiger with a destroyed Panther in the background

 

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Panzerbergungtrupp Zugfuhrer Lt. Epple Strand astride one of the 29 captured Churchill Mk I tanks at Dieppe, 19 August 1942.

 

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A German soldier capturing a Soviet soldier near the Dnieper River on September 2, 1941.

 

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M1935 minesweepers in the outer harbour of Den Helder in 1941 after the German occupation of the The Netherlands.

 

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Cable layers on the Kerch Peninsula, Soviet Union, May 1942

 

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Type IX submarine U-848 under attack by four US Navy PB4Y Liberators of VB-107 and two US Army B-25 Mitchells in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, 5 Nov 1943. U-848 was sunk in this attack with all 63 men lost.

U-848 was damaged and unable to submerge.
VB-107 war history covering this attack

Lt. Baldwin on anti-submarine sweet southwest of Ascension, attacked an enemy submarine ... and crippled her so that she was unable to submerge. The plane remained in the area, homing in other planes and making strafing runs co-ordinated with the attacks of 107-B-8 and 107-B-4.

Lt. Ford, on a parallel sweep, proceeded to the scene of action and made two runs... but no damage claimed. The enemy was a 1200 ton German and the anti-aircraft fire was intense on both attacks.

Lt. Hill, took off from Ascension and proceeded to the position. The attack was made and 5 depth charges dropped, all short. The #2 engine was hit by AA fire and put out of commission...

Lt. S.K. Tayor, took off... and, upon reaching the scene, made two runs, dropping five and four depth charges respectively. Both drops were very accurate; the sub blew up and sank within five minutes. Survivors were seen in the water and life rafts dropped.

The battle lasted for five and one half hours... four Navy PB4Y's and 3 Army B-25's had attacked the enemy.

 

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Panzer IIs and motorcycle troops advancing into Poland, September 1939