Heer Recruits Marching

Recruits of the 1. Zug (1st platoon) of some unknown company marching, commanded by Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant) Förster. This is probably in 1940 or 1941, as Förster wears a Wound Badge on his uniform, indicating that he has participated in the campaigns in Poland and/or France. The soldiers wear Drillich linen fatigue uniforms in a mix of off-white and olive green items. Learning to march was one of the first things that new recruits were taught. To function as a unit, follow orders, and build up stamina were some of the goals. Later the soldiers were able to march up to 40 km (25 miles) in a day, as the bulk of the divisions weren’t motorized. Those marching boots would see many kilometers…

Source :
Björn Hellqvist photo collection
https://ww2inphotos.wordpress.com/2017/07/page/1/

Two Luftwaffe Instructors with Their Charges During Training

Two Luftwaffe instructors with their charges during initial training. The recruits are wearing white denim clothing, which was popular both on land and for general work aboard ships. The trucks on which they are sitting were quite common at the time. They were used on building sites, quarries and other places where heavy loads had to be moved. The tracks were often laid temporarily along the roads to overcome the problem of carrying heavy loads over soft ground or rough cobblestones. Heavy loads were still moved by horses and carts until some time after World War II. Lorries composed only a tiny fraction of the traffic on roads, many of which were unsurfaced tracks - even the more busy highways were covered with bumpy cobblestones. The vast majority of modern, tarmac surfaces did not appear on the continent of Europe until long after the war.

Source :
Book "Wolfpacks At War: The U-Boat Experience In WWII" by Jak Mallmann Showell