Captured US Truck of the Afrikakorps

Captured American Ford 3T truck armed by the Germans with a Flak gun 20mm on the back of the truck. Mareth area, Tunisia, March 1942.

Source :
ECPAD Archive

88 Flak Guns Towed by Sd.Kfz.7

The 8,8-cm-Flak 36 / 37 anti-aircraft gun is towed by Krass-Maffei's 8-ton Sd.Kfz 7 tractor. This tool was effective weapons against air and ground targets. 1st Battery of the 33rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment (1./Flak-Rgt.33 (gem.mot.)) Arrived in Cyrenaica on February 10-11, 1941 from France. The 33rd regiment was formed on October 1, 1939 in Hull as part of five batteries with 20 guns. In North Africa, the regiment included three 8,8-cm batteries guns and three batteries of light 2-cm guns Flak 38. During the French campaign in the Battle of Arras, one of the 8,8-cm batteries destroyed five heavy British Matilda tanks, which determined his future fate. 8,8-cm guns became the most important anti-tank weapon in the African campaign. Their shells with an initial speed of 810 m / s could penetrate at a distance of 500 m 110 mm armor mounted at an angle of 60 degrees. This was enough to penetrate 78 mm of the frontal armor of British tanks Matilda from a distance of 1,5 km. They themselves remained outside the reach of their guns, which also had no high-explosive shells.

Source :
https://en.topwar.ru/135723-rommel-v-afrike.html
https://warshistory.ru/raznoe-2/rommelya-formula-10.html

First Axis POWs at Tobruk

 

Men of the Australian 9th Infantry Division guard Italians and some of the first German prisoners to be taken during the war in North Africa, after Rommel's first unsuccessful assault on Tobruk, 17 April 1941. If we are talking about Heer Division, it was the 5. leitche-Division during the 1st Siege of Tobruk that was on 10-14 April 1941. However, on the 2nd Siege of Tobruk from 30 April to 7 May 1941 it was a mix between the elements of the 5.leichte-Division and the newly arrived 15. Panzer-Division (except for Panzer-Regiment 8 that was not involved yet). BTW, if someone asking: Why are their heads bowed? It is actually a basic techniek of not to look your captors in their eyes, state only your name and number. Look what happened at Malmedy: at the Nuremberg Trials the SS Soldiers stated in their defense that the American POW’s looked at them tauntingly almost staring them down ... we all know how that ended for the Americans!

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4981605118546865&set=gm.2563691697254982
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205205791

Flak Vehicle of 19. Flak-Division in North Africa

 

A Horch 108 modified with a 20mm Flak 30 anti aircraft gun. The four-leaf clover symbol is belong to 19. Flak-Division. This is the quintessential symbol of good luck in Germany, is of Christian origin. According to Christian legend, when Eve was driven out of the Garden of Eden she took a four-leaf clover with her – to remember the good times in paradise by later on. So market gardens grow millions of potted clover plants for gift-givers at New Year’s. But hardliners say they’re cheating. To really bring good luck your four-leaf clover has to be found in the wild - where exemplars are very few and far between. So whoever does find them must be quite fortunate indeed – in which case good luck comes full circle.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=689595875035925&set=gm.2564221030535382

Bio of Oberst (Luftwaffe) Wilhelm Meyer

 

 

Bruno Wilhelm Ernst Meyer (born 7 May 1897 - died 30 June 1970 at Bad Ems, Rhein-Lahn-Kreis, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
09.10.39 Major in Flak-Regiment 13, appointed Kommandeur III.Abteilung (Scheinwerfer) / Flak-Regiment 43
06.07.40 Major and Kommandeur III.Abteilung (Scheinwerfer) / Flak-Regiment 36 (or III.Abteilung (Scheinwerfer) / Flak-Regiment 241?) (to 23.04.41).
23.04.41 appointed provisional Kommandeur Flakscheinwerfer-Regiment 3
00.08.41 Oberstleutnant and Kommandeur Ausbildungsgruppe (scheinwerfer) / Luftgau-Feldartillerieschule III (and 01.42)
00.11.42 Kommandeur Feldartillerieschule (Mitte) 12 (to 01.07.43)
01.01.43 promoted to Oberst
01.07.43 Kommandeur Feldartillerieschule (Mitte) 16 (to 25.11.43)
25.11.43 Kommandeur Flak-Rgt. 136 (to 04.45)

Source :
Dorothy Hardee photo collection (the granddaughter of Wilhelm Meyer)
"Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries: Section L-R" by Henry L. deZeng IV and Douglas G. Stankey

Panzergrenadiers in Action

Original period postcard of the 'Unsere Wehrmacht' series: "Panzergrenadiere gehen in Stellung"

Source :
https://www.kometmilitaria.com/product-page/postcard-postkarte-panzergrenadiere-gehen-in-stellug

German Flak 88

One of the most well-known guns of World War II was the 8.8 cm Flak 36 anti-aircraft gun, often referred to as the “Eighty-eight” or German “Acht-acht“. It had its origins in World War 1, but the versions that saw action during WW2 were developed in the 1920’s and 30’s. During the Spanish Civil War, it was discovered that the gun was very effective against vehicles, tanks and other ground targets. It was mobile, but required an Sd.Kfz.7 half-track tractor to pull it. It could fire a 9.4 kilo grenade to an altitude of 9900 meters, posing a serious threat to Allied bombers. Used as an anti-tank gun, it could knock out most tanks at a range of up to 2 kilometers. The 8.8 cm gun was also the basis for the main gun of the Tiger tank, one of the most feared tanks of World War II. In the photo, eight of the 11-man crew are visible. Flak batteries were operated by the Luftwaffe, and the stationary batteries defending German cities were often crewed by boys aged 15-16 years old. One of many ironies of the war was that many of the crews serving these powerful guns weren’t old enough to buy a beer.

Source :
Björn Hellqvist photo collection
https://ww2inphotos.wordpress.com/2017/07/31/acht-acht/

SS Recruits Manhandling an 88mm Flak Gun in Training

SS recruits manhandling an 88mm Flak gun and ammunition limber as part of their training programme. The 8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41 (commonly called the eighty-eight) was a German 88 mm anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery gun from World War II. It was widely used by Germany throughout the war, and was one of the most recognized German weapons of that conflict. Development of the original model led to a wide variety of guns.

SS Recruits in Anti-Aircraft Training

SS recruits undergoing anti-aircraft training on a four-barrelled rapid fire gun (2 cm Flakvierling 38). Even as the Flak 30 was entering service, the Luftwaffe and Heer (Army} branches of the Wehrmacht had doubts about its effectiveness, given the ever-increasing speeds of low-altitude fighter-bombers and attack aircraft. The Army in particular felt the proper solution was the introduction of the 37 mm caliber weapons they had been developing since the 1920s, which had a rate of fire about the same as the Flak 38, but fired a round with almost eight times the weight. This not only made the rounds deadlier on impact, but their higher energy and ballistic coefficient allowed them to travel to much longer distances, allowing the gun to engage targets at longer ranges. This meant it could keep enemy aircraft under fire over longer time spans.

U-Boat AA Guns in Action

U-415 was commissioned by Kapitänleutnant Kurt Neide and commanded by him until the end of June 1943. This was when the anti-aircraft guns were strengthened and Oberleutnant zur See Herbert Warner, author of the book 'Iron Coffins', took over. This picture shows how the 20mm anti-aircraft guns were aimed and shot. Although these guns were ineffective against large, fast-flying and armoured aircraft, their operation was relatively easy, but the gunners were not provided with protection against bullets from the aircraft.