Among the lucky ones. German soldiers who were taken prisoner in Russia. They lived to see another day
Starving pathetic men in Stalingrad. They were once part of the invincible German Army
STALINGRAD. Russian soldiers
Street fighting in Stalingrad
One of the aces of Luftwaffe. KLAUS MIETUSCH
MIETUSCH, THE ACE
Klaus Mietusch (5 August 1918 – 17 September 1944) was a German Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Klaus Mietusch claimed 75 victories in 452 combat missions. Klaus Mietusch was shot down on 17 September 1944 and was posthumously awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross on 18 November 1944.
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West of Stalingrad. Kotelnikovo. During World War II, the town served as a base for the German troops of Field Marshall Erich von Manstein during the Battle of Stalingrad. A Red Army counteroffensive liberated the town on December 29, 1942.
An American gun fires
British commandoes
Americans and Russians meet on the Elbe
American women soldiers smartly salute a Russian lady soldier. Berlin 1945
Americans, a Briton and a Frenchman jointly patrol Vienna. 1945
SS men watchful at Narva in Estonia expecting the Russian tide. 1944
THE END OF BRITISH BATTLESHIP BARHAM.
HMS Barham (pennant number 04) was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the Royal Navy named after Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, built at the John Brown shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland, and launched in 1914. She was sunk by the German submarine U-331 in 1941
The ship tilts over.....
....and explodes
VIDEO: SINKING AND END OF BATTLESHIP BARHAM
Japanese marines in action during WW2
Japanese fire mortar
Japanese paratroopers
A Japanese anti-aircraft gun in action
WHY THE GERMANS HATED THE RUSSIAN WEATHER. Rains created an awful slush of mud in which the German war machine got stuck. Russia did not have good roads. This was one of the reasons for Germany's defeat in Russia.
Oops!
God!
A Russian road today. Imagine what the German army went through moving through Russia during WW2!
A German paratrooper with a FG-42 machine gun.
WHAT WAS THE FG-42 MACHINE GUN?
A German soldier with a machine gun. 1941-42
Japanese soldiers with a machine gun
Japanese soldiers have a bite to eat during flight
Japanese await American bombers
A German keeps watch
This man has tonights dinner in mind. Soldier with a boar
Japanese take rest
Russian soldiers fire at desperate German defences. Breslau. March 1945
HISTORY OF BRESLAU
American soldiers in action
The huge Messerschmitt Me 323 D-1 in North Africa
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A Russian woman gives a German POW a drink of water near Kiev
THE DEATH OF A B-17
An American B-17 faces a lot of German flak
Bang! A hit!
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the then-United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry outperformed both competitors and more than met the Air Corps' expectations. Although Boeing lost the contract because the prototype crashed, the Air Corps was so impressed with Boeing's design that they ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances.
The B-17 was primarily employed by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in the daylight precision strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and military targets. The United States Eighth Air Force based at Thorpe Abbotts airfield in England and the Fifteenth Air Force based in Italy complemented the RAF Bomber Command's nighttime area bombing in Operation Pointblank to help secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe in preparation for Operation Overlord. The B-17 also participated to a lesser extent in the War in the Pacific where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields.
From its pre-war inception, the USAAC (later USAAF) touted the aircraft as a strategic weapon; it was a potent, high-flying, long-range bomber that was able to defend itself, and to return home despite extensive battle damage. It quickly took on mythic proportions, and widely circulated stories and photos of B-17s surviving battle damage increased its iconic status With a service ceiling greater than any of its Allied contemporaries, the B-17 established itself as an effective weapons system, dropping more bombs than any other U.S. aircraft in World War II. Of the 1.5 million metric tons of bombs dropped on Germany by U.S. aircraft, 640,000 tons were dropped from B-17s
VIDEO: B 17, FLYING FORTRESS
German paratroopers before jumping
HMS Barham (pennant number 04) was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the Royal Navy named after Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, built at the John Brown shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland, and launched in 1914. She was sunk by the German submarine U-331 in 1941
VIDEO: SINKING AND END OF BATTLESHIP BARHAM
WHAT WAS THE FG-42 MACHINE GUN?
The FG 42 (German: Fallschirmjägergewehr 42 or "paratrooper rifle 42") was a selective fire battle rifle produced in Nazi Germany during World War II. The weapon was developed specifically for the use with Fallschirmjäger airborne infantry in 1942 and was used in very limited numbers until the end of the war.
It combined the characteristics and firepower of a light machine gun in a lightweight form no larger than the standard-issue Kar 98k bolt-action rifle. Considered one of the most advanced weapon designs of World War II, the FG 42 influenced post-war small arms development and ultimately helped to shape the modern assault rifle concept.
VIDEO: FG-42
HISTORY OF BRESLAU
For most of World War II, the fighting did not affect Breslau. In 1941 the remnants of pre-war Polish minority in the city, as well as Polish slave labourers organised resistance group called Olimp. As the war lengthened, refugees from bombed-out German cities, and later refugees from farther east, swelled the population to nearly one million., including 51,000 forced labourers in 1944, and 9876 Allied PoWs, at the end of 1944 an additional 30,000-60,000 Poles were moved into the city after Germans crushed the Warsaw Uprising In February 1945 the Soviet Red Army approached the city. Gauleiter Karl Hanke declared the city a Festung (fortress) to be held at all costs. Hanke finally lifted a ban on the evacuation of women and children when it was almost too late. During his poorly organised evacuation in January 1945, 18,000 people froze to death in icy snowstorms and −20 °C (−4 °F) weather. By the end of the Siege of Breslau, half the city had been destroyed. An estimated 40,000 civilians lay dead in the ruins of homes and factories. After a siege of nearly three months, Hanke surrendered on 6 May 1945, just before the end of the war.
Might pleased with themselves. Germans after they were decorated. All in vain, though.
France 1940. Germans look at a French tank. The tank looks ancient compared to the German tanks. No wonder France fell so quickly.
Japanese soldiers protect the train
Move a bit, young man! Where are your manners? The Russian woman seems to be saying.
River Spree flows quietly through a devastated Berlin. April 1945. A Russian soldier peers cautiously
American soldiers keep a watch. A German or French town?
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1 Comment:
Actually the French Tanks were far Superior then the German Tanks at Dunkirk but the French were led by an incompetent General Maurice Gamelin.
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