1944 German Football Championship Final

 

The 1944 German football championship, the 37th edition of the competition, was won by Dresdner SC, the club defending its 1943 title by defeating Luftwaffe team LSV Hamburg in the final, which were held on 18 June 1944.

The final years of the German Championship during the war saw many military teams compete in the championship, Luftwaffe teams, Luftwaffensportvereine, short LSV, and, Wehrmacht teams, Wehrmachtssportvereine, short WSV, became very competitive.

Dresden's Helmut Schön, who would later coach Germany to the 1974 FIFA World Cup, became the top scorer of the 1944 championship with 14 goals, the second-highest individual amount of any player in the history of the competition from 1903 to 1963.

It was the last edition of the tournament during the Second World War, with the competition not being held again until 1948. The thirty-one 1943–44 Gauliga champions, two more than in the previous season, competed in a single-leg knock out competition to determine the national champion.

Dresdner SC became the last club to be awarded the Viktoria, the annual trophy for the German champions from 1903 to 1944. The trophy disappeared during the final stages of the war, did not resurface until after the German reunification and was put on display at the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt until 2015, when it was moved to the new Deutsches Fußballmuseum in Dortmund.


Source :
Die Deutsche Wochenschau No. 720 - 21 June 1944
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-DzDJmt5F8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944_German_football_championship

Happy German Soldiers in Yugoslavia

German soldiers, confident of success shortly before the end of combats, in Yugoslavia during Operation Marita, 14 April 1941. The Axis victory was swift. As early as 14 April the Yugoslav high command had decided to seek an armistice and authorised the army and army group commanders to negotiate local ceasefires. That day the commanders of the 2nd and 5th Armies asked the Germans for terms, but were rejected. Only unconditional surrender could form the basis for negotiations they were told. That evening, the high command sent an emissary to the headquarters of the Panzergruppe 1 to ask for armistice, and in response General Ewald von Kleist sent the commander of the 2nd Army, Maximilian von Weichs, to Belgrade to negotiate terms. He arrived on the afternoon of 15 April and drew up an armistice based on unconditional surrender. This picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Artur Grimm and first published in SIGNAL magazine.

 
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Yugoslavia
https://id.pinterest.com/pin/352969689554597002/

General Knochenhauer during Führergeburtstag

Private picture of General der Kavallerie Wilhelm Knochenhauer (right, Kommandierender General X. Armeekorps) posing with two NSDAP officials during Führergeburtstag (Hitler Birthday) celebration, 20 April 1937. The picture was possibly taken in Hamburg.

Source :
https://www.kometmilitaria.com/product-page/private-picture-general-der-kavallerie-wilhelm-knochenhauer

Heer Soldiers Before Langres 1940

Only 62 km to Langres, France, summer of 1940.

Source :
https://clio-historia.livejournal.com/380042.html

German Soldiers Enjoying Music through Gramophone

Similar to the scene in the movie "Saving Private Ryan", this photo - which was taken by Kriegsberichter Geller from PK (Propaganda-Kompanie) 694 - shows German soldiers from the panzer and infantry units enjoying the music from a gramophone, amidst the ruins of war-damaged buildings on the Eastern Front. There is no exact information which unit they came from, but most likely they were part of 1. Panzerarmee / Heeresgruppe A whom are celebrating the fall of Rostov to the Germans on July 23, 1942. Obviously this photo was not taken in Stalingrad as some sources claim. - including Bundesarchiv - because in July the German troops had not yet arrived in the "City of Hell".

Source :
Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-218-0524-32
http://wehrmachtss.blogspot.com/2021/10/prajurit-jerman-menikmati-musik-dari.html

Trip to the Zoo

German Heer soldier visiting zoo with his woman. He may have soon learned that camels spit - but what man among us wouldn’t do almost anything to impress such a a lovely and well-dressed Fräulein!

Source :
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/forum/wehrmacht-era-militaria/photos-and-paper-items-forum/12559428-trip-to-the-zoo

Group of Wehrmacht Soldiers Gathered Together

A privately made photograph of a group of Wehrmacht soldiers gathered together. The group of soldiers are laughing. Notice that at least 15 soldiers have wire attached on their helmets for camouflage purposes.

Source :
https://www.ea-militaria.com/wehrmacht-group-photograph-drahtung-helmets.html

Ferntrauung (Proxy Wedding)

 

Ferntrauung (proxy wedding) in North Africa, 30 April 1942. The Battalion commander lead the ceremony. Photo by Kriegsberichter Otto

Marriage by proxy is one more than a hundred-year-old family law institution, common to the legal systems of many states. Obviously it consists of a marriage in which one of the spouses, who is absent, is replaced by a third party for the issuance of consent; This third party acts as a proxy through a special power that has been legally granted by the absent spouse.

A Law of November 4, 1939 regulated this institution for the Wehrmacht members in campaign. The family book and an affidavit on the Aryan ancestry of the bride and the corresponding civil registry data were required. Over time, a mere written statement was enough.

The ceremony for the bride took place in the office of the civil registry with the presence of two witnesses and was called “Stahlhelmtrauung” or “steel helmet wedding”, since a steel helmet was placed to symbolize the presence of the absent contractor.

The ceremony for the groom took place before an officer of his unit and in the presence of comrades of the contracting party, who acted as witnesses.

Ferntrauung (proxy wedding) in North Africa, 30 April 1942. The comrades share in the joy of the young husband. Photo by Kriegsberichter Otto.

Ferntrauung (proxy wedding) in North Africa, 30 April 1942. The newly wed shows his comrades the bride's picture. Photo by Kriegsberichter Otto.

Source :
https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/history-research-third-reich-ww2/knights-cross-next-queen-elizabeth-764957-2/#post2072546

Generalmajor Wilhelm Rupprecht in the Inauguration Ceremony

 

Generalmajor Wilhelm "Willy" Rupprecht (3rd from left, Kommandeur 327. Infanterie-Division) in the inauguration of Besancon Stadium. Doubs, France, 1941.

Source :

https://crainsmilitaria.com/index.php?route=common/home

Wedding of Alois Dotter from LSSAH

Wedding of SS-Unterscharführer Alois Dotter from LSSAH (Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler)

Source :
https://germanmilitaryrelics.com/index.php/papers-books-photos/german-ss-lah-cufflinks-honor-gift-wedding-gift-wwii-ss-lah-manschettenknopfe-ehrengeschenk-hochzeitsgeschenk-2-wk.html

Fun at Wilhelmshaven Naval Barracks

The Reichsmarine barracks in Wilhelmshaven around the time when Hitler came to power.‘Lord Muck’, lounging on the chair and being serenaded, claimed he was too hard worked to clean his locker properly prior to an inspection, so his mates are giving him a hand to make sure that the offending piece of furniture is spotless. Some punishment was called for and coping with a wet wooden locker was not terribly congenial because the offender could not lock his clothes away until it had dried out again. Consequently he was confined to barracks for a brief period while the rest of the ‘charmen’ had a run in town.

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

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

Puppies of SS Soldier

During Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941, a Das Reich Division member makes new friends: two puppies!

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/150000281492/during-operation-barbarossa-in-the-summer-of-1941

German Soldier Greeted by Civilian

A German soldier from Heeresgruppe Nord (Army Group North) is lifted aloft by a deliriously happy population of Riga on 2 July 1941, following the Latvian capital’s liberation from the hated Soviet occupation.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/150922853087/5sswiking-a-german-soldier-from-heeresgruppe

DKiGträger SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Matzke

SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm "Willi" Matzke (born in 28 January 1918) received Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 23 April 1944 as SS-Obersturmführer and Chef 3.Kompanie / I.Abteilung / SS-Panzer-Regiment 2 / 2.SS-Panzer-Division "Das Reich". He would became the commander of I. Abteilung in 26 July 1944 replacing SS-Sturmbannführer Rudolf Enseling. Matzke survived the war.

SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Matzke (Chef 3.Kompanie / I.Abteilung / SS-Panzer-Regiment 2 / 2.SS-Panzer-Division "Das Reich") ride a donkey in a company celebration held in May 1944 (possibly to celebrate the company's commander awarding of Deutsches Kreuz in Gold a couple of days before). A few words about the photo: On that day, there were a lot of wine for all soldiers, especially a few officers looked a bit too much in their glasses, and so the young comrades took the drunken officer (Matzke) on a donkey and go around! A lot of pictures were taken from this scene, but on the next day the order was given to the company to deliver all taken negatives. This picture is the very last one that survived the action! One thing for sure: It stands under punishment if pictures like this were ever seen after the action, and it's understandable, because such pictures takes the officer in question.

Source :
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=7690&hilit=wilhelm+matzke
http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=726113

Gebirgsjäger Enjoy their Ration

Inside one of the mountain troop log-cabins, soldiers enjoy their rations. Inside these quarters, the Gebirgs often had plenty of provisions in order to sustain them on the battlefield. During arctic weather, the troops were well insulated from the terrors of the winter, especially on the Ostfront.