Norwegian Soldiers on the Leningrad Front

Two Norwegian soldiers from the Den Norske Legion photographed on the Leningrad Front with a MG 34 (Maschinengewehr 34) machine gun mounted on an anti-aircraft tripod, summer of 1942. In the light-machine gun role, it was used with a bipod and weighed only 12.1 kg (26.7 lb). In the medium-machine gun role, it could be mounted on one of two tripods, a smaller one weighing 6.75 kg (14.9 lb), the larger 23.6 kg (52.0 lb). The larger tripod, the MG 34 Lafette, included a number of features, such as a telescopic sight and special sighting equipment for indirect fire. The legs could be extended to allow it to be used in the anti-aircraft role, and when lowered, it could be placed to allow the gun to be fired "remotely" while it swept an arc in front of the mounting with fire, or aimed through a periscope attached to the tripod. Mounted to the Lafette the effective range of the MG 34 could be extended out to 3,500 meters when fired indirectly.

Norwegian Kriegsberichter SS-Oberscharführer Oskar Bang in the Leningrad Front

Norwegian war correspondent SS-Oberscharführer Oskar Bang (born in 9 April 1916) holding a film camera on the Leningrad Front with the Den Norske Legion in the summer of 1942. Note the collar tab representing a Norwegian lion holding an axe.

SS-Sturmbannführer Jonas Lie Photographed in 1943

SS-Sturmbannführer Jonas Lie photographed in 1943 in Waffen-SS officer uniform. Lie had served with the Leibstandarte Division in 1941 and had received the Iron Cross Second Class. A tough, ambitious man (and best-selling mystery writer in his spare time!), he was second-in-command of the Den Norske Legion in 1942-1943 during the fighting on Leningrad Front.