Photos WW2 German Forces

Dead soldier crushed by tank tracks near Cologne, 1945
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Tiger II with zimmerit of the schwere Panzer Abteilung 503. Tank number 231, Budapest Hungary 1944
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Sturmgeschütz III Ausf. G crew observe the results of their marksmanship on the Eastern Front, a burnt out T-34-76 Model 1942
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Panzer IV Ausf. H with Zimmerit protection of 5./SS-Pz.Rgt. 9, 9th SS Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen" passes a small Galician village. The turret number of the Panzer IV Ausf H is masked by the open Schürzen. Several tanks of this company bore a baptismal name painted at the base of the gun: "York".
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This archaic-looking vehicle, abandoned in the courtyard of Berlin's Reichkanzerlei, is a "Polizei-Sonderwagen Benz/21 um 1921" originally deployed by Ordnungspolizeien by the Reich's internal security forces.
Such vehicles, although long since obsolete, were pressed into service as a part of the last-ditch defence of the city.
(LIFE / Vandivert)

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The detritus of war.

This scene of devastation is Oberwallestrasse in Berlin which was the scene of bitter fighting in the closing days of the battle for control of the city.

The length of this narrow street is littered with rubble and wrecked vehicles...a scene replicated right across the city in May 1945.

At the bottom right appears to be the skeletal remains of a half-track.

Bottom left is an abandoned 15cm SiG 33.

Note the discarded jerrycans strewn across the ground.

(LIFE / Vandivert)

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oung German soldiers captured near the town of Le Gast during the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. / Photo by Frank Scherschel
Most likely, these guys are from the 156th Panzergrenadier Regiment of the 116th Panzer Division "Der Windhund".
The 116th Panzer Division, also known as the "Windhund (Greyhound) Division", was a German armoured formation that saw combat during World War II.
History:
The 116th Division was constituted in the Rhineland and Westphaliaareas of western Germany in March 1944 from the remnants of the 16th Panzergrenadier Division, and the 179th Reserve Panzer Division. The 16th had suffered heavy casualties in combat on the Eastern Front near Stalingrad, and the 179th was a second-line formation that had been on occupation duty in France since 1943.
Western Front:
In 1944, it participated in opposing the Normandy landings, the Battle of Normandy, and was later trapped in the Falaise Pocketfollowing Operation Cobra.
Along with the 2nd SS Panzer Division, it was responsible for holding the pocket open to allow German troops to escape. It managed to escape, although with only 600 infantry and 12 tanks intact. In October, it fought against American forces in the Battle of Aachen, with the town falling to the Americans on 21 October. It was moved to Düsseldorf for refitting. On 8 November, the division repulsed an attack from the U.S. 28th Infantry Division in the Hürtgen Forest during the larger Battle of Hürtgen Forest, recapturing the town of Schmidt, thus providing the name to the 28th of the "Bloody Bucket Division".
The 116th then participated in the failed "Wacht am Rhein" Operation in the Ardennes. On 10 December, before the offensive, it was partly refitted, with 26 Panzer IV and 43 Panther tanks and 25 Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyers (of which 13 were combat ready). However, it was still missing much of its organic transport. Initially stalled by the resistance and then poor bridges in attacks to cross the Our River at Luetzkampen and Ouren, it back-tracked to march through Belgium from Dasburg to Houffalize. The division then fought its way as the middle spearhead of the advance on the Meuse from Samree to La Roche. It was then involved in heavy fighting at Hotton and Verdenne, where it was turned back at its furthest advance in the Ardennes.
At later delayed Allied forces allowing other German units to retreat, before being withdrawn over the Rhine in March. It then opposed the U.S. Ninth Army's advance across the Rhine, thus stopping the planned Allied breakthrough as well as opposing Operation Varsity's airborne landings. With 2,800 men and 10 tanks against 50,000 Allied troops and supporting tanks, the division faced the U.S. 30th, the U.S. 35th, the U.S. 84th, the 4th Canadian and the U.S. 8th Armored Divisions. On 16 April 1945, the majority of the division was forced to surrender to the U.S. Ninth Army, having been trapped in the Ruhr Pocket. Remnants of the division continued to fight in the Harz mountains until 30 April, surrendering only after all of their resources had been exhausted.

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Battleship Tirpitz at anchor in the Norwegian Fjords.
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Tirpitz, camouflaged at her moorings in the Flekkefjord , Norway
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Battleship Bismarck at anchorage in Bergen just before it set out for the Atlantic.
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