Rare Unseen Images From WW2: Part 2

It was 1941. Whole of Europe had fallen. Almost whole of Europe. Russia was still fighting. But the scenario was grim. The German war machine was moving rapidly into Russia. If Russia fell it was good bye to British and American hopes of ever defeating Nazi Germany. It was at a time this that Britain and America started giving arms and supplies to Russia. In the picture Matilda tanks are being loaded onto a ship at a British port to be sent to Russia.

 The scene is the African desert. A British desert patrol prepares to leave

Meanwhile a German patrol too leaves for the desert

Many Indians fought in the British army during WW2. Here a group of Indian Sikh soldiers examine a captured German tank

Bang! With a pilot like this you don't need Japanese Kamikaze pilots! Lucky the plane did not explode.

American soldiers in action at Iwo Jima. In the background is Mt. Suribachi

Winter 1941. German forces inch towards Moscow.

A rare picture. german showgirls entertaining the soldiers on board the destroyer Tirpitz. Norway. 1942-43. Not unlike Vietnam.

German tanks of the 16th Panzer division move towards Stalingrad. "Into the valley of death, rode the six hundred"

German soldier with the MG 34 machinegun

American soldiers involved in street fighting in Germany. They have reason to be wary. One of them have been hit. See the guy lying by the cart?

German soldiers in Russia. October 1941 

THIS IS WHERE THE GERMAN GOLD WAS HIDDEN. The Merkers Salt Mines.  
"... In addition to paper money and gold bullion, there were French, American and British gold coins. Also, many chests full of precious objects such as silver or gold cigarette cases, watches, spoons, forks, cups, dental crowns, and other fixes. Since the trunks had no labels or markings, I think, here simply pour objects made of precious metals, obtained by criminal means. General Eisenhower was joking in that spirit that he was disappointed the lack of a chest full of diamonds ... "
From Patton's biography

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The Nuremberg War tribunal. The bad guys.
First row: Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Walter Funk, Hjalmar Schacht.
Second row: Karl Doenitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur von Schirach, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Franz von Papen, Artur Seyss-Inquart, Albert Speer, Konstantin von Neurath, Hans Fritzsche.

Vienna. 1945. A French, British, Russian and two American soldiers socialise. See the arrogant pose of the Russian. They had played a crucial, indispensable part in defeating Germany.

Boys will be boys! Even if they are from the Wehrmacht! German soldiers in a SD.KFZ.250


WHAT WAS A SD.KFZ.250?

The Sd.Kfz. 250 was a light armoured halftrack, very similar in appearance to the larger Hanomag-designed Sd.Kfz. 251, and built by the DEMAG firm, for use by Nazi Germany in World War II.

Compared to U.S. halftracks, the SdKfz 250 series was less mobile, with unpowered front wheels. However, its tracks made it far more mobile than the armoured cars it replaced, and it was a popular vehicle. Most variants were open-topped and had a single access door in the rear.

The Sd. Kfz 250 was adopted in 1939 to supplement the standard halftrack. Production delays meant the first 250 did not appear until mid-1941.

Grave of a German soldier in Russia

Japanese soldiers look at a captured tortoise with glee. Tonight's dinner? Ughhh!

Indian soldiers in the British army captured by the Japanese. Time: Unknown. Location: Unknown.

British soldier involved in street fighting against the Japanese

Germans in the Caucasus. September 1942


SEE PART 1 of Rare Unseen Images
SEE PART 3: Rare Unseen Images From WW2