Unteroffizier Gerhard Proske from Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54)

This picture show one of the pilots who flew in the shadows of the aces. He is Unteroffizier Gerhard Proske of 1.Staffel / Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54) near the tail of his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-2 “Weiße 7”, Werknummer 10411. Note Gruppe and Geschwader emblem under the cockpit. Picture taken on 1 October 1942 on Krasnowardeisk airfield. Until this day Unteroffizier Proske, who had joined I.Gruppe/JG 54 during spring of 1941, accumulated 20 claims. Some of them while flying as Katschmarek (wingman) of Gruppenkommandeur Hauptmann Erich von Selle (2 July 1941 – 14 December 1941) and Hauptmann Franz Eckerle (14 December 1941 – 14 February 1942. KIA). Gerhard Proske was awarded the Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse and Frontflugspange in Bronze. Also note the fur lined trousers. On 30 January 1944 Feldwebel Gerhard Proske (take-off 08:30 hours with Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-6 “Gelbe 1”, Werknummer 550899) was shot down by Russian fighters together with newcomer Obergefreiter Helmut Wilhelm (Fw 190 A-5 “Gelbe 2”, Werknummer 304719) during a familiarisation flight over the front area of Vitebsk-Boburisk. He was taken prisoner and return to Germany after the war. He accumulated a total 29 victory claims.

Source :
Luftwaffe im Focus - Edition No.1 2002

DKiGträger Hauptmann Walter Schaefer-Kehnert

Hauptmann der Reserve Walter Schaefer-Kehnert (born 1918) received Deutsches Kreuz in Gold in 5 December 1943 as Hauptmann der Reserve and Kommandeur II.Abteilung / Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 119 / 11.Panzer-Division "Gespenster Division" / III.Panzerkorps / 8.Armee / Heeresgruppe Süd. Schaefer-Kehnert, a reservist from the town of Kehnert on the Elbe, had been serving with his division since its inception in late 1940. A veteran ofthe Battle of France, the invasion of Yugoslavia, and the Eastern Front, he had been commissioned in 1940 as a signals officer. Wounded during the Battle for Moscow in January 1942, he was wounded again in the hip during von Manstein's abortive offensive to relieve Stalingrad in December 1942, recovering in time to take part in the Battle of Kursk and the retreat to the Dnieper. He had earned the Deutsche Kreuz in Gold (German Cross in Gold) for his repeated bravery in action, an award he referred to jokingly as the "Party Badge for the Nearsighted," because of the large swastika it bore in its center. Nevertheless, its wearers were highly respected. About the type of war in the Eastern Front, he commented: "The Russians were cruel. At the start of the Russian campaign of 1941, we had to retreat rapidly. We were unable to take our wounded with us. When we retook the area, we discovered that they had been murdered. The Russians had smashed their skulls with their pioneers' shovels. Our men were furious and didn't take any more prisoners. All the Russian soldiers were shot, even the ones who wanted to surrender. As a reprisal, the Russians naturally also decided to take no prisoners. This situation continued for several weeks until both sides realised that it was counter-productive."."The Russians, who had already been taken prisoner, were never harmed although an exception was made for the political commissars. Hitler had given an order that all commissars were to be summarily executed. Our division also received this order but with the verbal addition that it contravened the laws of war and should therefore be ignored. So we let the commissars live. I once watched our soldiers arrest a truck full of Russians. The Russian soldiers were told to surrender. One man stood up and shot himself through the head. It was the political commissar."

Source :
Book "Hell's Gate; The Battle Of The Cherkassy Pocket" by Douglas E. Nash
https://felixfeatures.photoshelter.com/image/I0000l2epcCwmOck

Danish SS-Untersturmführer Ellef Henry Rasmussen

Danish SS-Untersturmführer Ellef Henry Rasmussen photographed in 1944 on the Narva front, Estonia, just after graduating from SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz officer training school. Rasmussen joined Waffen-SS in 1940 and served in the Wiking Division. In 1943 he was assigned to the newly formed 11. SS Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, where in the final phase of the war become the commander of II./SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 24 Danmark. He took part many important campaigns and battles: Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union; Operation Blau, the advance into the Caucasus; Battle of Narva and Battle of Berlin. Ellef Henry Rasmussen wrote his autobiography with the help of an historian in danish Troskab - Dansk SS-frivillig E.H. Rasmussens erindringer 1940-45. He passed away in 2016.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/165903612932/danish-ss-untersturmf%C3%BChrer-ellef-henry-rasmussen

Oberleutnant Richard Grimm in Stalingrad

Oberleutnant Richard Grimm, one of the company commander from Pionier-Bataillon 305 / 305.Infanterie-Division, at Goroditsche, 13 October 1942. The picture was taken by Rudolf Freigang

Source :
Book "Winter Storm: The Battle for Stalingrad and the Operation to Rescue 6th Army" by Hans Wijers

Reichswehr Artillery Team

A gun team mans a 7.5cm Feldkanone (field gun) NA, during a pre-war Reichswehr exercise. Although the light artillery piece was used in World War I, it was extensively used to equip escort batteries, which were

established in 1939 to assist the attacking infantry.

Source :
Book "Sturmartillerie: Spearhead of the Infantry" by Thomas Anderson

Reichswehr MG Crew During Manoeuvre

Soldiers of the Reichswehr man a Maschinengewehr (MG) 08/15, during an exercise in the interwar years. The largescale introduction of the machine gun by all combatants before outbreak of World War I totally changed infantry warfare.

Source :
Book "Sturmartillerie: Spearhead of the Infantry" by Thomas Anderson

German Soldier Otto Lanz with his Family

German soldier Otto Lanz with his family. Otto Lanz of the 305. Infanterie-Division wrote in one of his field post letters before he went missing at Stalingrad: “Three days in the hell of Stalingrad. One has no idea what is happening there. This surpasses everything experienced so far. Every day our aviators attack; 500 to 600 have been committed. The city is continually getting smaller and the ruins are getting bigger. Now the fighting is for the big factories. Every house must have been destroyed, and often battles are fought for mounds of rubble. The artillery is smashing into it, tanks and infantry comb the streets, and this is the toughest work. Everyone who gets out of this alive may thank God.” When the 305th Infantry Division reached the northern part of Stalingrad on 13 October 1942, the battle in the city that was gradually being pulverized by aerial bombardment and artillery fire had already been raging for five weeks. Despite all efforts and sacrifices, there had been no success so far. Although the southern half of the city was almost entirely held by the Germans, the Russians clung on in the silenced industrial works in the northern part, supported and fed from the other bank of the Volga. From now on, the fight essentially was waged with assault troops. The taking of individual housing blocks again and again required time-consuming regroupments of the few remaining combat-ready assault troops.

Source :

Book "Winter Storm: The Battle for Stalingrad and the Operation to Rescue 6th Army" by Hans Wijers