Photos WW2 German Forces

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Ukraine.- German soldiers during training on the "Raketenpanzerbüchse 43" ("Ofenrohr" / "Panzerschreck") in the spring of 1944; KBZ South Ukraine. / Photos by war correspondent Gerhard Gronefeld
German soldiers with gas masks and fireproof poncho from the Narva task force during the demonstration of the Panzerschreck 43 (early version without protective shield).
Panzerschreck (lit. "tank fright", "tank's fright" or "tank's bane") was the popular name for the Raketenpanzerbüchse 54 ("Rocket Anti-armor Rifle Model 54", abbreviated to RPzB 54), an 88 mm reusable anti-tank rocket launcher developed by Nazi Germany in World War II. Another earlier, official name was Ofenrohr ("stove pipe").
The Panzerschreck was designed as a lightweight infantry anti-tank weapon and was an enlarged copy of the American Bazooka. The weapon was shoulder-launched and fired a fin-stabilized rocket with a shaped-charge warhead. It was made in smaller numbers than the Panzerfaust, which was a light, disposable anti-tank weapon that used a system not unlike those of recoilless rifles.

 

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Soviet Union, 1944.- Panzer VI "Tiger I" and Sturmgeschütz III with light camouflage / winter camouflage and side skirts of an unknown German Panzer-Division in front of a small village / Photos by war correspondent Böhmer

 

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Soviet Union, 1944. - A dive bomber (Stuka) Ju 87 D-5 (S7 + AC) of III./StG 3 from "Sturzkampfgeschwader 3" is serviced by ground personnel on a snow-covered airfield. / Photos by war correspondent Richard Kamm
Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 (StG 3 / Dive Bomber Wing 3) was a Dive bomber wing in the German Luftwaffe during World War II and operated the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka.
The wing was activated on 9 July 1940 using personnel from German medium bomber and other dive-bomber units. StG 3 was one of the few dive bomber units created during the war.
StG 3 fought its first campaign in the Battle of Britain a short time after formation. In 1941 it served in the Balkans Campaign and then some groups served on the Eastern Front, from 1943, until disbanded.
The wing operated through most of the North African Campaign and some of its units fought to destruction there. StG 3 also served in the Battle of the Mediterranean and spearheaded the last German campaign-sized victory in the Dodecanese campaign in autumn 1943.
The wing redesignated to Schlachtgeschwader 3 (Battle Wing) on 18 October 1943.
Formation:
The Luftwaffe possessed several dive-bomber wings equipped with the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka in mid-1940; the Ju 87 having proved its effectiveness. StG 1, StG 2 and StG 77 were most experienced. A fourth wing, aside from smaller units such as StG 5, 76 and 151, was formed to increase dive bomber capability and organisation.
A Stabsstaffel (command staffel) was formed from Stab./KG 28 (Kampfgeschwader 28 / Bomber Wing 28) at Dinard, France on 9 July 1940. According to strength reports, the command staff had four Dornier Do 17Z, one Do 17M, and two Heinkel He 111H aircraft all previously operated by KG 28. There is no mention of any Ju 87s with the Stab./StG 3 in 1940. By 13 August 1940 StG 3 had been subordinated to Fliegerkorps IV under Luftflotte 3. The command unit was relocated to Brètigny, south of Paris. Oberst Karl Angerstein became the wing's first commanding officer (Geschwaderkommodore) but was replaced on 27 July by Oberstleutnant Hermann Edert.
I./StG 3 was formed near Barly, southwest of Arras. The strength of the group is unknown, but the experienced Major Walter Sigel as commanding officer (Gruppekommandeur). II./StG 3 was formed from I./StG 1 at either El Agheila or Agedabia on 13 January 1942. Hauptmann Kurt Kuhlmey commanded the group. The same day III./StG 3 was formed at San Pancrazio, Italy by renaming II./StG 2. Major Walter Enneccerus became commanding officer.
IV.(Erg)/StG 3 was created in August 1941 at Würzburg as an Ergänzungsstaffel/StG 3. The unit provided six to eight weeks of operational experience to crews fresh out of flight school. It was expanded to two staffeln. The group was based in Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia. In 1943 it was involved in Bandenbekämpfung operations in the Balkans.

 

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Soviet Union, 1944. - A Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-4 of the II./JG 54 is serviced by ground personnel on a snow-covered airfield. / Photo by war correspondent Richard Kamm
Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54) was a Luftwaffe fighter wing during the Second World War. JG 54 flew most of its missions on the Eastern Front where it claimed more than 9,600 aircraft shot down. It was the second-highest scoring wing in the Luftwaffe after JG 52 (+10,000 victories). Notable pilot aces (Experten) that flew with JG 54 included Walter Nowotny, Otto Kittel, Hans-Ekkehard Bob, Max-Hellmuth Ostermann, Hugo Broch and Hannes Trautloft.
JG 54 participated in the Invasion of Poland in 1939, and the Battle of Britain and invasion of the Balkans in 1940. The unit was transferred to the Eastern Front in the spring of 1941 in preparation for the invasion of the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. It remained there for the rest of the Second World War. JG 54 first flew Bf 109Fs before changing to the more powerful Fw 190.

 

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Hungary 1945.German ambulance

 

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Soldiers of the 26th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht (26. Infanterie-Division) carry an officer - platoon commander with multiple shrapnel wounds.

 

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German tanks in formation in a Caucasus valley with infantry in the foreground, September 1942

 

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Eastern Front. July 1943 - Celebration / honor on the occasion of the 800th enemy flight of Hauptmann Georg Dörffel, Dörffel with flowers in front of his Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter plane / Photos by war correspondent Jütte
Major Alfred Druschel opposite him, in the background cameraman filming

 

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Soviet Union, near Vitebsk, 1944.- Panzer VI "Tiger I" of a Schwere Panzer-Abteilung crossing the Loewe Bridge in front of a village / Photos by war correspondent Wehmeyer
The "Loewe-Brücke" with a memorial plaque was built in honor of Major Loewe by the Elbe construction management (bridge construction team 5 & 6).
In honor of Major Loewe / bearer of oak leaves / commander of a heavy tank division

 

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WWII. North African Campaign. A British Army CMP Ford F15 under new management.

 

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Soviet Union, on Lake Ladoga.- Panzer VI "Tiger I" on the march, 1943 / photos by war correspondent Zwirner
"Tiger" forward! During the heavy defensive battles south of Lake Ladoga, the "Tiger" tank brings relief to the hard-fighting infantry time and again. So shows u.B. the march of "Tiger" tanks to a focal point of the battle.
PK.-Aufn.-Kriegsber .: Zwirner-Atlantic 3.9.1943

 

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Soviet Union.- Panzer VI "Tiger I" with white winter camouflage of the Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503 in the winter of 1943/44 / Photo by war correspondent Marnowitz
A German heavy tank battalion (German: "schwere Panzerabteilung", short: "s PzAbt") was a battalion-sized World War II tank unit of the German Army (1935–1945), equipped with Tiger I, and later Tiger II, heavy tanks. Originally intended to fight on the offensive during breakthrough operations, the German late-war realities required it to be used in a defensive posture by providing heavy fire support and counter-attacking enemy armored breakthroughs, often organised into ad hoc Kampfgruppen.
The German heavy tank battalions destroyed the total number of 9,850 enemy tanks for the loss of only 1,715 of their own, a kill/loss ratio of 5.74. The 1,715 German losses also include non-combat tank write-offs.
Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503:
History:
Heavy Panzer Division 503 was set up on May 4, 1942 as the first of ten independent heavy Tiger divisions with two companies in Neuruppin, Putlos, Fallingbostel and Döllersheim. The division was set up with personnel from Panzer Regiments 5 and 6.
On December 30, 1942, east and west of the lower Don and on the Manych, she had to pass her baptism of fire. It was upgraded to full strength in February 1943, with three companies and 45 Tiger tanks it took part in the defensive battle in the Donets region and in the Mius-Donets position in March and April 1943.
Then she was moved to the Kharkov area, where the department fought on the front lines at the Citadel operation. After the fighting as part of the 8th Army on the Dnieper, near Kiev and in southern Ukraine, In association with the Bäke heavy tank regiment, it opened the Cherkassy pocket and thus enabled the German units to break out of this pocket.
The tank department was deployed at Tarnopol from March to mid-April 1944, after which it went back to Germany to refresh. Here the 1st Company was converted to the Tiger II (King Tiger) as the first unit of the German Wehrmacht.
In June 1944 she was transferred to the invasion front in Normandy (Operation Overlord), where the division fought until August near Caen, Cagny and east of the Orne. After renewed refreshment in Paderborn, they joined the defensive battles in Hungary (Operation Horty), the battles in the Budapest area, on Lake Balaton, the Danube, the Carpathian Mountains and north of Vienna.
In its 36-month existence, the department was deployed at the front for a total of 25 months and destroyed around 2,000 enemy tanks by the time it surrendered. The Tiger Division 503 had such successful gunmen and tank commanders as Sergeant Kurt Knispel, Oberfähnrich Rondorf and Feldwebel Heinz Gärtner in its ranks.
The heavy tank department 503 was renamed on December 21, 1944 to the heavy tank department "Feldherrnhalle".

 

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On July 1st 1944 General Friedrich Wiese took command of the Wehrmacht Forces in southern France.

 

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Estonian Waffen SS troops hunting for partisans near the city of Pskov, 1943

 

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Soviet Union, 1944.- Panzer VI "Tiger I" and Sturmgeschütz III with light camouflage / winter camouflage and side skirts of an unknown German Panzer-Division in front of a small village / Photos by war correspondent Böhmer

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top image is in this book - but my Russian is not that good

Последнее наступление Гитлера - Васильченко А. - 2008

ru.djvu.online

@AND - page 66 - does it give any further information - thanks

 

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top image is in this book - but my Russian is not that good

Последнее наступление Гитлера - Васильченко А. - 2008

ru.djvu.online

@AND - page 66 - does it give any further information - thanks

The book is about lake Balaton battle, last major german offensive operation in the war (febrary-march 1945).

However this photo is in the part about events before Balaton operation, operation Konrad during january 1945.
Caption of the photo: Оften tanks were need to fight their way through the forests.