SS Reich Soldiers Seeking Cover in Russia

On leaving the Soviet village near Yelnya, the SS-Division "Reich" troops were fired on. forcing the men to seek cover in a ditch near the road. This photograph was taken during Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The battle around Yelnya (30 August - 8 September 1941) was the first substantial reverse that the Wehrmacht had suffered during Barbarossa. Nazi propaganda presented the retreat as a planned operation. For its part, Soviet propaganda hailed the offensive as a major success and wanted to draw worldwide attention to it. Thus, the Yelnya battle was the first occasion on which foreign correspondents in the Soviet Union were allowed to visit the front. Seven of eight of them visited the area between 15 and 22 September 1941. In the words of British war correspondent Alexander Werth, the battle was built up in the Soviet Press "out of all proportion to its real or ultimate importance".

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/150187757932/on-leaving-the-soviet-village-the-das-reich
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelnya_Offensive
http://histomil.com/viewtopic.php?t=3918&start=4010

Das Reich Battles Their Way in Russia

An advance party from the Das Reich Division has encountered another Soviet defensive position during Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The men dismount from their vehicles to move forward in open formation.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/150224587347/an-advance-party-from-the-das-reich-division-has

Das Reich Soldiers During Barbarossa

A group of soldiers from the Das Reich Division stopped to consult a map and conduct a radio check during Operation Barbarossa in 1941.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/150836145637/a-group-of-soldiers-from-the-das-reich-division

Face of War

Portrait of a Totenkopf Division soldier in the battlefield during Operation Barbarossa in 1941.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/150921014022/portrait-of-a-totenkopf-division-soldier-in-the

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

Totenkopf Soldiers with Civilian

The men from the Totenkopf Division giving humanitarian aid to the poor and affected people in the Baltic states, as they push towards Leningrad during Operation Barbarossa in 1941.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/150930177887/the-men-from-the-totenkopf-division-giving

Red Army Personnel Being Searched by SS

Red Army soldiers and personnel being searched by soldiers of the Totenkopf Division in Demyansk area during Operation Barbarossa in the autumn 1941. Some of them were dressed in civilian clothes to escape captivity.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/150981836312/red-army-soldiers-and-personnel-being-searched-by

German Officer Buying Flowers in Paris

A German officer buying a bouquet featuring lily of the valley (muguet) in Paris, France on 1 May 1941, the day when the French greet each other with a small bouquet of lily of the valley, a flower that is considered a lucky charm.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/151490517482/a-german-officer-buying-a-bouquet-featuring-lily

Kriegsmarine Crew Training

Kriegsmarine Crew IX/39, meaning the men who joined the German Navy in November 1939, wearing field grey naval infantry uniforms during their initial training. Many of these activities looked rather innocuous, but anybody having gone through the process will know that they sap energy from the body, making difficult to concentrate and to aim guns accurately.

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

Gebirgs Engineer Fixing a Telephone Line

Poland 1939: One of the most important aspects of military synchronization was effective communication. Here, in this photograph, a Gebirgsjäger signalman engineer is seen fixing a telephone line so that the various commands could communicate between themselves.

Source :
Book "Hitler's Mountain Troops 1939-1945" by Ian Baxter

Gebirgsjäger Medical Stretcher Bearers

Poland 1939: Two Gebirgsjäger medical stretcher bearers are seen moving an injured comrade to one of the hastily erected field hospitals in the rear. An officer overlooks the procedure, possibly wearing the Gebirgs wind jacket.

Source :
Book "Hitler's Mountain Troops 1939-1945" by Ian Baxter

Gebirgs Pioneer Erecting a Bridge

A Gebirgsjäger pioneer unit are seen erecting a bridge equipment "C" across a river in Poland, 1939. Much of the wood obtained to construct these bridges were commandeered from lumber stocks and followed the advancing column into Poland.

Source :
Book "Hitler's Mountain Troops 1939-1945" by Ian Baxter

Gebirgs Engineers at Work

Gebirgsjäger engineers have set to work preparing ground, probably for a bridging section across a river in Poland, 1939. Many of the bridges in southern Poland were destroyed by Polish demolition teams which often hindered German movement.

Source :
Book "Hitler's Mountain Troops 1939-1945" by Ian Baxter

Unteroffizier Heimo Nussbauer in Stalingrad

 Unteroffizier Heimo Nussbaumer from Kampfgeschwader 76 (KG 76) recounts his story in Stalingrad: “Our 5th Staffel, IInd Gruppe of KG 76, was located on the field aerodrome of Tazinskaya. With our Ju 88’s, we mainly were sent out to attack big targets like the tractor factory, the big grain elevator, the ‘women’s antiaircraft’ on the Volga islands, and the ferries at night. Much later, we learned that the Russians had built a ford underwater across the Volga (I never saw one, which was completely impossible in the muddy and very restless waters!). As gunner, I not only was responsible for serving the machine guns, but also was board mechanic and target photographer. For the last task, I had a special camera with a 75mm tele lens, which could take thirteen photos per second (not a film camera). Often there was not much to be photographed in the besieged city, as a cloud of bomb explosions and shell impacts nearly continuously covered it. We only once had to attack a limited specific objective, which nearly earned us a quick ending as we could not drop the bomb (the target was not entirely in the aiming visor), and therefore the ‘coachman’ (pilot) had to recover the plane from the dive by hand, which meant it would take more than double the radius we would normally use. If the water level in the Volga had not been thirty meters below the city, we would infallibly have flown ourselves into the ground (diving speed at about 700 kilometers per hour).”

 The attack on the oil tanks on the bank of the Volga

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

Unteroffizier Heinrich Schlapp in Stalingrad

Unteroffizier Heinrich Schlapp from Artillerie-Regiment 389 / 389.Infanterie-Division recounts his story in Stalingrad: “The last large-scale German attack on 14 October 1942 finally brought us possession of the tractor factory. Up to sixty Stukas dive right in front of us. The sirens, which made a nerve-shattering noise in the dive, could be heard for hours. We could hardly breathe because of the gunpowder smoke. We gained our target: to stand on the Volga. In front of the entrance to the tractor works, where there is a memorial to its builder, Dzershinzky, and flowers grew at its feet. After the fighting died down, I picked a bunch and put the flowers as a greeting in a letter home.”

Source :

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

General der Infanterie Rudolf Schmundt

 Nice picture of Generalmajor Rudolf Schmundt as Chefadjutant des Heeres beim Führer und Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht (Chief Army Adjutant of Hitler). It was taken at the time of Hitler's secret visit to Finland, 4 June 1942.

Source :
http://sa-kuva.fi/neo#

General der Flieger Hans-Georg von Seidel

Nice picture of General der Flieger Hans-Georg von Seidel as Generalquartiermeister der Luftwaffe (General-Quartermaster of the Luftwaffe). It was taken at the time of Hitler's secret visit to Finland, 4 June 1942.

Source :
http://sa-kuva.fi/neo#

Panzergrenadiers of Totenkopf in Kharkov

The men of the Totenkopf Division in Kharkov in March 1943, just after the recapture of the city. The morale of the division had been dealt a blow when its commander, Theodor Eicke, was shot down and killed during an aerial reconnaissance on 26 February 1943. The aircraft crashed behind enemy lines, but a party from the division managed to retrieve his body. Despite his death, the Totenkopf Division continued to fight the way Eicke had taught it. As he himself said: “Hardness saves blood. In fact hardness saves more. It saves bitterness, it saves shame, it saves worry, it saves sorrow.”

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/145073172027/the-men-of-the-totenkopf-division-in-kharkov-in

Waffen-SS Troops in the Streets of Kharkov

The I. SS-Panzerkorps consisting of the Leibstandarte, Das Reich and Totenkopf Divisions under the command of SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser, rolls into the Ukrainian city of Kharkov in March 1943. Attacking from the north and west, the Waffen-SS slammed into the city’s defences and battled the Soviets in five days of intense house-to-house fighting, before Kharkov was finally taken.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/145071743877/the-i-ss-panzerkorps-consisting-of-the

Impromptu Piano Concert in Kharkov

Three Leibstandarte troopers halt their vehicles to celebrate their entry into Kharkov with an impromptu piano concert, March 1943. They wear (from left to right) the winter insulated suit, camouflage smock, and the black panzer uniform. Note the German national flag fastened over the hood of the Kübelwagen, for ground-to-air recognition.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/145023823622/three-leibstandarte-troopers-halt-their-vehicles