29 October 2013

Panoramic View of the Battle of Vyazma


Image size: 1600 x 981 pixel. 286 KB
Date: Thursday, 2 October 1941
Place: Vyazma, Smolensk Oblast, Soviet Union
Photographer: Helmut Ritgen

A distant but fascinating photograph of the fighting of 2 October 1941, which repays close study. In the right foreground is a Soviet freight train overrun on the tracks - note two locomotives, one facing forward, the other to the rear. In the background several buildings are on fire, and the sky is black with smoke from an oil dump. In the left and centre background, Panzerkampfwagen 35(t) tanks in company strength may be seen advancing under fire. Following the Battle of the Ukraine, the German High Command was ready to resume the offensive against Moscow. General Hopner's Panzer Gruppe had been sent from Leningrad and General Hoth and General Guderian's Panzer armies were ready to challenge the last of the USSR's great armies: the Thirty-Second and Third. The Panzers had no trouble breaking through. Guderian took Orel in the first week of October and Hoepner forced Konev's Western Front into the path of the infantry of Generals Kluge and Strauss. In the north of this sector Hoth broke through to the south and took Vyazma. This meant that there were two pockets and 650,000 men were trapped. After some fierce fighting the Soviet Third Army at Vyazma surrendered on the 14 October and the Thirty-Second at Bryansk surrendered on the 20 October.

Source:
Helmut Ritgen photo collection
Book "The 6th Panzer Division: 1937-45" by Oberst a.D. Helmut Ritgen
http://www.warhistory.ie/world-war-2/battle-of-vyazma-bryansk.htm

A Column of Armour from Panzer-Brigade "Koll" at Vyazma


Image size: 1600 x 1102 pixel. 412 KB
Date: Thursday, 2 October 1941
Place: Vyazma, Smolensk Oblast, Soviet Union
Photographer: Helmut Ritgen

A column of armour from Panzer-Brigade "Koll" advance through woods past a burning Soviet ammunition truck. On the right, unguarded Soviet prisoners make their way to the rear. The leading Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) bears on the driver's visor the yellow "Y" sign of 7. Panzer-Division, identifying Panzer-Regiment 25. After German forces encircled Leningrad in the north, Adolf Hitler turned his attention to the center part of the Soviet front. His Führer Directive 36 on 6 September focused German preparations on a drive against Moscow in Operation TAIFUN (TYPHOON), entrusted to Field Marshal Fedor von Bock’s Army Group Center. Bock commanded 5 field armies consisting of 14 panzer divisions, 9 panzergrenadier divisions, and 44 infantry divisions. He planned to use his armor to seize two key towns, Vyazma (some 150 miles west of Moscow) and Bryansk (220 miles southwest of Moscow) in order to open the road to the Soviet capital for his infantry. The leading German units involved were Colonel General Heinz Guderian’s 2nd Panzer Group, Colonel General Hermann Hoth’s 3rd Panzer Group, Colonel General Erich Hoepner’s 4th Panzer Group, and Colonel General Maximillian von Weich’s Second Army. To defend Moscow, the Soviets had assembled 6 armies under Colonel General Ivan Konev’s Western Front. They were backed by 4 second-echelon armies. To Konev’s immediate south were 2 additional armies of Marshal Semyon Budenny’s Reserve Front. Three more reserve armies were eventually brought forward. All the armies were badly understrength: totaling 80 divisions, they were, in fact, the equivalent of only 25 full-strength divisions. The Germans had more than twice the number of tanks (an estimated 1,000 to 479), and the Soviets had only about 360 aircraft to at least twice as many German planes. The Soviets also suffered from a shortage of trained officers, as many had been pulled out of their units in August and September to organize new formations in the rear. In addition, the Soviets had shortages in modern antitank and antiaircraft weapons. Lieutenant General Andrei Yeremenko commanded Soviet forces in the Bryansk area where the Germans planned to attack. On 2 September, Stavka (the Soviet High Command) ordered Yeremenko’s Bryansk Front to move in two different directions, toward Roslav and southwest on Starodub in an effort to halt the German advance. The Soviet effort ended in failure, necessitating a return to defensive operations by 13 September. German forces also moved into a gap of some 36 miles between the Bryansk and Southwestern Fronts. On 30 September, Guderian’s 2nd Panzer Group began an advance that carried it 50 miles the first day and 100 miles over the next three days. Guderian took the key rail junction of Orel, 150 miles in the Soviet rear, on 8 October. Two days earlier, 2nd Panzer Group had surrounded Bryansk. At the same time, von Weich’s forces moved from the west, trapping the Soviet Third, Thirteenth, and Fiftieth Armies, although some of Yeremenko’s forces escaped to the east on 25 October. To the north, meanwhile, Hoth’s 3rd Panzer Group drove into the gap between the Soviet Nineteenth and Thirtieth Armies northwest of Vyazma, while 4th Panzer Group penetrated a vulnerable area between the Reserve and Bryansk Fronts. Konev countered by sending his deputy, Lieutenant General I. V. Boldin, and his operational group of three divisions and two tank brigades to strike the flank of 3rd Panzer Group on 3–4 October, but these efforts came too late. Boldin’s force was caught in the German encirclement, along with the greater part of Konev’s Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-Fourth, and Third-Second Armies west of Vyazma. General Konstantin Rokossovsky had been sent to Vyazma with his staff to gather five reinforced divisions there for a counterattack on 6 October, only to find no Soviet divisions and German tanks already on the scene. He fled the town and soon discovered that he was between the inner and outer rings of the encirclement; he decided to break out to the northeast, picking up units along the way, including the 18th Infantry (the Home Guard Division) and an NKVD unit. These units broke out and joined Konev in Mozhaisk, 40 miles west of Moscow, where surviving elements of the Western and Reserve Fronts were forming a new 135-mile-long line to Kaluga. Lieutenant General M. F. Lukin, Nineteenth Army’s commander, also broke out of the encirclement to the east with two-plus divisions on the night of 12–13 October. The Germans were hampered by the onset of the rainy season, which turned the roads into quagmires. But Stalin’s penchant for linear defense with fronts deployed in single operational echelon had been pierced by German armor supported by artillery and Stukas, resulting in the encirclement and capture of as many as 660,000 Soviet troops, 1,242 tanks, and 5,412 artillery pieces. Vyazma surrendered on 14 October and Bryansk on 20 October. This engagement was, however, the last of the great German encirclements. When word reached Moscow of the defeat, a great many citizens took flight, necessitating the proclamation of martial law in the capital on 19 October. Konev received the blame for the defeat; he was replaced by General of the Army Georgii Zhukov, who was charged with the final defense of Moscow.

Source:
Helmut Ritgen photo collection
Book "The 6th Panzer Division: 1937-45" by Oberst a.D. Helmut Ritgen
http://junebarbarossa.devhub.com/blog/421149-battle-for-vyazma-bryansk-220-october-1941/

17 October 2013

Panther of Wiking Division at SS-Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager


Image size: 1284 x 1600 pixel. 212 KB
Date: Sunday, 14 May 1944
Place: SS-Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager, Pustków, Dębica, Poland
Photographer: Unknown

This photograph depict the vehicles and men of the Wiking Division and was taken at the SS-Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager located between Dębica and Sandomierz in Poland in early May 1944. We are able to date when this picture was taken with some certainty as several other photos taken from the same time show Muttertag (Mother's Day) cards being printing and made ready for issue to the troops. Here men of the 1.Zug (first platoon) of 6.Kompanie / SS-Panzer-regiment 5 / 5.SS-Panzer-Division "Wiking" train on their Panzerkampfwagen V Panther tanks. Both are later model Ausf.A vehicles and carry the hurried, rather scrappy camouflage common to many tanks of this company! The tank in the foreground bearing the turret number (turmnmmer) 611, while in the background 615 which indicates that this platoon at least had its full complement of tanks.

Source:
Book "Viking Summer; 5.SS-Panzer-Division in Poland 1944" by Dennis Oliver

16 October 2013

PzBefw.III of Oberst Richard Koll at the Battle of Vyazma


Image size: 1600 x 1402 pixel. 362 KB
Date: Thursday, 2 October 1941
Place: Vyazma, Smolensk Oblast, Soviet Union
Photographer: Helmut Ritgen

Photographed by Helmut Ritgen on 2 October 1941, during the breakthrough by Panzer-Brigade Koll north of Vyazma : the brigade commander's Panzerbefehlswagen III, with the white turret code 'RO6', on a typical Russian dirt road or 'rollbahn'. In front of it, a column of Phänomen Granit 25H ambulances; to the right, Soviet prisoners; and in the background, smoke rising from an oil dump bombed by German stukas. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, Vyazma became a battlefield between the Red Army and the Wehrmacht during the Battle of Moscow. It became the centre of a Red Army pocket after it was encircled by the 3rd and 4th Panzer armies. Vyazma was occupied by the German army between October 7, 1941 and March 12, 1943.


Source:
Helmut Ritgen photo collection
Book "The 6th Panzer Division: 1937-45" by Oberst a.D. Helmut Ritgen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyazma

Tanks of Panzer Brigade Koll


Image size: 1600 x 673 pixel. 236 KB
Date: October 1941
Place: Northern Russia
Photographer: Helmut Ritgen

On the endless, sun-scorched steppes of northern Russia, Skoda-built Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) and German Panzerkampfwagen II tanks of Panzer-Regiment 25 / 7.Panzer-Division. ; these were brigaded with 6. Panzer-Division tanks in "Panzer Brigade Koll", led by the commander of Panzer-Regiment 11 / 6.Panzer-Division, Oberst Richard Koll, for the battles of October 1941.During Operation Barbarossa, units of 6. and 7. Panzer Division crossed the Moscow-Volga Canal to the north of Moscow, and held a bridgehead across the canal for about a month, before having to withdraw with the onset of winter. Richard Koll, born 7 April 1897 in Koblenz, joined the Army Service, age 17, on 10 August 1914 as a Fähnrich in the 4th Telegraph Battalion and was in the fields of the first war in different Signal Regiments. He remained in the new Reichswehr and retired on 31 January 1931, reactivated to the Army Service again on 1 November 1931 as the Company Chief in the 6th Motor Transport Battalion, being a Hauptmann. He started World War II of the 11th Panzer Regiment until 1 January 1940 and became as Oberst Commander of this Regiment until 1 July 1942 and landed in the Führer Reserve to 1 September 1942, appointed to Chief of Motor Vehicle Repair Matters until 1 July 1943. Chief of Repair Matters in OKW under the General of Mechanisation in OKW until 20 November 1943, meanwhile a Generalmajor. He was detached to the 6th Division Leader Course, in Döberitz-Elsgrund to 14 December 1943 and again in the Führer Reserve OKH until 1 January 1944. Then delegated with the leadership of the 1st Panzer Division to 20 February 1944, succeeded by Oberst Werner Marcks on 18 June 1942 (Marcks died age 71, on 27 July 1967, age 71) and Koll landed for the third time, five days, in the Reserve until 25 February 1944. Following the general German retreat to the west, the  1st Panzer Division finally reached the eastern Austrian alps where they surrendered to the US Army. During early 1944 the 1st Panzer Division was attached to III Panzer Corps under General Hermann Albert Breith a brother of Friedrich Breith, a General of the Artillery, and took its place in the relief of the Korsun Cherkassy Pocket. In April 1944, as a part of Generaloberst Hans Valentin Hube's. 1. Panzer-Division. The division was trapped in the Kaments Podolsky Pocket and was involved in the breakout. In September 1944 the division was withdrawn to the Carpathian Mountains, as the Germans strove in vain to stem the Russian advance. By October the division was in Hungary and in January, 1945 it fought in Operation Konrad, the abortive attempt to relieve the encircled city of Budapest. Following the general German retreat to the west, the division finally reached the eastern Austrian alps where they surrendered to the US Army. Assigned as Chief of Wehrmacht Motor Transport Matters OKW and Plenipotentier for Motors Transport Matters in the Five Year Plan to 9 May 1945 as he landed in British captivity.   Released on 24 February 1946 he lived in Berlin, where he at the age of 66 died on 13 May 1963. Koll is buried on the Waldfriedhof Dahlem, Berlin. Close to the grave of Nazi jurist Roland Freisler who got a an Allied bomb on his head. Also buried there is Ulrich Wilhelm Graf Schwerin von Schwanenfeld.

Source:
Helmut Ritgen photo collection
Book "The 6th Panzer Division: 1937-45" by Oberst a.D. Helmut Ritgen
http://ww2gravestone.com/general/koll-richard

13 October 2013

Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.D tanks of Panzer-Abteilung 65


Image size: 1600 x 1127 pixel. 303 KB
Date: May 1941
Place: Ostpreußen, Germany
Photographer: Helmut Ritgen

Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.D tanks of Panzer-Abteilung 65 (in effect, III.Abteilung of Panzer-Regiment 11 / 6.Panzer-Division) photographed in East Prussia in May 1941 shortly before the invasion of Russia. The small turret number '421' identifies the battalion by its yellow color, the company-'4', the platoon-'2', and the platoon leader's tank-'1'. The two yellow 'Xs' on the front plate beside the driver's visor are the divisional sign of 6. Panzer-Division; this device replaced the original 'reversed Y' rune and two dots shortly before Operation Barbarossa. The national cross is in plain white outline on the 'Panzer grey' paintwork. On the nearside trackguard may be seen the shielded driving- and head-lights, the fire extinguisher, a jacking block of thick timber, barrel cleaning rods, and four jerrycans held by a retaining bar marked with the divisional sign. Note open flap of ventilation port in turret roof: ventilator fans were not yet fitted. The color photograph on this page are a selection from a remarkable - perhaps literally unique - collection taken in 1940-44 by Oberst Helmut Ritgen during his front-line service. The camera was a Leica III (Summitar f 1.2 lens). Oberst Ritgen's wife, at that time a nurse at the Paderborn military hospital, was a former employee of the Agfa company, and a keen photographer herself was able to obtain through a personal contact with the firm a supply of the new and very rare Agfa 35mm color film. The exposed films were sent back from Russia to Agfa through the Army mail service, and the processed pictures were kept in Germany by Frau Ritgen. Oberst Ritgen recalls that the excellent and sturdy Leica, which spent its time slung round his neck in a leather case, survived many hasty dives to the ground under Soviet shellfire; on one occasion he was forced to bale out of his burning PzKfw III after coming off second best in an encounter with a KV-1, but the camera continued to function well! It had no built-in exposure meter, and given the circumstances Oberst Ritgen was often limited to making a rough estimate, but it seldom let him down. It finally met its end in the stowage box of his tank near Tilly, Normandy, in June 1944 when he was serving with the Panzer-Lehr Division. He was forced to take cover under the tank when caught by a heavy naval bombardement, and a shell splinter - probably courtesy of the cruiser HMS Orion - put paid to both stowage box and camera.

Source:
Helmut Ritgen photo collection
Book "The 6th Panzer Division: 1937-45" by Oberst a.D. Helmut Ritgen


General George S. Patton's Dog “Willie" Mourns the Loss of his Master


Image size: 1600 x 1241 pixel. 561 KB
Date: January 1946
Place: Bad Nauheim, Wetteraukreis, Hesse, Germany
Photographer: Unknown

General George S. Patton’s dog “Willie,” mourns the loss of his master and friend after his death in an automobile accident in occupied Germany, 1946. General George S. Patton led U.S. armies in World War II. He was notorious for his strong opinions and inability to avoid controversies. In life he was called “Old Blood and Guts.” His death has been a subject of mystery and intrigue. Although his commanding style was domineering, some might say bullying, and he had some definite anger management issues, General Patton was a devoted dog lover. He bought the first of many Bull Terriers for his daughters just after World War I. Although Tank turned out to be totally deaf, he always somehow knew when General Patton was to arrive home and met him at the front door. He bought the famous Willie in 1944 and wrote about him: "…my bull pup . . . took to me like a duck to water. He is 15 months old, pure white except for a little lemin [sic] on his tail which to a cursory glance would seem to indicate that he had not used toilet paper..." Willie was devoted to the general and followed him everywhere. General Patton doted on Willie and even threw a birthday party for him. The general wrote in his diary on July 15th, 1944 "Willie is crazy about me and almost has a fit when I come back to camp. He snores too and is company at night.” On his encounter with General Patton and Willie, cartoonist Bill Mauldlin wrote: "Beside him, lying in a big chair was Willie, the bull terrier. If ever dog was suited to master this one was. Willie had his beloved boss's expression and lacked only the ribbons and stars. I stood in that door staring into the four meanest eyes I'd ever seen." Willie patton's dog Sadly, one day before Patton was to return to the United States in December, 1945, he was involved in an automobile accident which broke his neck and he died a few days later. Willie was sent home to live out the rest of his life as the  beloved dog of a fallen warrior with the general’s wife and daughters. This picture of Willie, a lost little dog, was taken a few days after the general’s death as preparations were made to send home his effects. A book, "Target: Patton: The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton", published in 2008, claims that General Patton was murdered to keep him from revealing secrets that would have ruined important  careers and changed history. A 12-foot high bronze statue of Patton and Willie stands today at the General Patton Memorial Museum thirty miles east of Indio, California. 

Source:
NARA FILE #: 208-PU-153C-14.WAR & CONFLICT #: 754
http://thepoodleanddogblog.typepad.com/the_poodle_and_dog_blog/2010/04/william-the-conqueror-general-pattons-famous-dog-willie.html

Concentration Camp Inmate Breaks Out in Tears in Wöbbelin


Image size: 1600 x 1273 pixel. 285 KB
Date: Friday, 4 May 1945
Place: Wöbbelin concentration camp, Ludwigslust, Germany
Photographer: Private Ralph Forney (US Army)

At the German concentration camp at Wöbbelin, many inmates were found by the U.S. Ninth Army in pitiful condition. Here one of them breaks out in tears when he finds he is not leaving with the first group to the hospital. Survivors waiting for to be evacuated from the Wöbbelin concentration camp to receive medical attention at a field hospital. Germany, May 4, 1945. Previously, On May 2, 1945, the U.S. 8th Infantry Division and the 82nd Airborne Division encountered Wöbbelin. Living conditions in the camp when the U.S. 8th Infantry and the 82nd Airborne arrived were deplorable. There was little food or water and some prisoners had resorted to cannibalism. When the units arrived, they found about 1,000 inmates dead in the camp. In the aftermath, the U.S. Army ordered the townspeople in Ludwigslust to visit the camp and bury the dead. On May 7, 1945, the 82nd Airborne Division conducted funeral services for 200 inmates in the town of Ludwigslust. Attending the ceremony were citizens of Ludwigslust, captured German officers, and several hundred members of the airborne division. The U.S. Army chaplain at the service delivered a eulogy stating that: "The crimes here committed in the name of the German people and by their acquiescence were minor compared to those to be found in concentration camps elsewhere in Germany. Here there were no gas chambers, no crematoria; these men of Holland, Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and France were simply allowed to starve to death. Within four miles of your comfortable homes 4,000 men were forced to live like animals, deprived even of the food you would give to your dogs. In three weeks 1,000 of these men were starved to death; 800 of them were buried in pits in the nearby woods. These 200 who lie before us in these graves were found piled four and five feet high in one building and lying with the sick and dying in other buildings." In accordance with a policy mandated by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, the U.S. Army in Ludwigslust ordered "all atrocity victims to be buried in a public place" with crosses placed at the graves of Christians and Stars of David on the Jewish graves, along with a stone monument to commemorate the dead.

Source:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:At_the_German_concentration_camp_at_Wobbelin.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%B6bbelin_concentration_camp
http://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/1cr79l/rescued_inmates_at_nazi_concentration_camp/

11 October 2013

British SAS Just Back From a Three Month Patrol


Image size: 1600 x 1426 pixel. 493 KB
Date: Monday, 18 January 1943
Place: North Africa
Photographer: Captain Keating from No.1 Army Film & Photography Unit

A close-up of a heavily-armed patrol of 'L' Detachment SAS in their jeeps with their twin-mounted Vickers K machine guns, just back from a three month patrol, 18 January 1943. Lieutenant Edward MacDonald sits in the wheel (foreground) with Corporal Bill Kennedy, while the driver in the second jeep is Private Malcolm Mackinnon. The crews of the jeeps are all wearing 'Arab-style' headdress (kafiyeh), as copied from the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG). The officer at the wheel of the nearest jeep has a Sykes-Fairbairn commando knife on his left hip, and insignia on his shoulder and left breast, including the operational 'SAS' wings. The jeeps all have modified radiator/condenser systems rigged, and many jerrycans of water and petrol mounted on the bonnet, sides, and in the rear of the body. The patrol leader's jeep mounts twin Vickers K .303 guns; the central jeep, twin and single Vickers guns at front and rear; and the furthest one, a .50cal. Browning - apparently an aircraft weapon - at the front and twin Vickers at the rear. Note: They are using the American-built Willys Jeeps, instead of the far less-reliable British Land Rover! The famed Special Air Service (SAS) of the British Army was formed in July 1941 by David Stirling. It was a commando force designed to operate deep behind enemy lines,something it did very successfully. Specially adapted vehicles were used in North Africa, including the famous 4×4 1/4-ton Truck, though heavily modified for its behind-the-lines role. The vehicle began appearing in July 1942. They were generally stripped down to save weight and, for operations in the hot climate,the grill was removed and a water condenser fitted. Weapons such as Lewis and Vickers K machine guns were mounted for use against ground or aerial targets.

Source:
Photograph E 21337 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 4700-32)
http://www.afv-news.com/2013/05/sas-14-ton-4x4-patrol-car/
http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205196152




04 October 2013

British gunners of the Royal Artillery examined a V2 missile


Image size: 1600 x 1103 pixel. 379 KB
Date: October 1945
Place: Cuxhaven, Niedersachsen, Germany
Photographer: Unknown

At Cuxhaven, British gunners of the Royal Artillery examined a V2 missile during a lecture on the V2 system as part of the "Operation Backfire". The V2 was a large weapon, measuring 46 feet (14 meters) in length and 11 feet 8 inches (3.5 meters) across the fins. The movable fin sections were symple vane type rudders, which steered the missile in flight once it was traveling fast enough for air flow to work against the rudder sections. For initial control at launch, there were guide vanes which sat in the exhaust stream of the rocket motor and provided pitch and roll control at low speeds during liftoff. Note that this V2 has been fitted with dollies for transport, using the narrow gauge tracks formerly used to handle ammunition for the naval weapon test center. The British chose a black and white test scheme, instead of operational camouflage. There were several color schemes applied to operational V2s. Most missiles actually used were painted in the "Gezackt" (ragged) pattern using Signal White, Earth Gray, and Olive Green. Late war missiles were painted overall Olive Green. At the end of World War II, the victorious Allies searched across Germany for technical information on German weapons, especially the advanced jet aircraft and rockets of the late war period. Virtually all completed V2 missiles had been expended or destroyed. The U.S. Army occupied the Mittelwerke underground V2 assembly plant in Nordhausen, removing enough materiel to build some 200 V2 missiles in the United States. The British managed to find enough parts to build eight complete V2s, but lacked key components and support equipment to use the V2s as intended. After searching Europe for several months, the British managed to gather the equipment needed to fire several V2 missiles. The British V2 test program was called "Operation Backfire", and was conducted in October 1945 at Altenwalde, near Cuxhaven in the British occupation zone, on the site of a naval gunnery test range. Some of the 8000 German POWs taken from missile units and the Peenemünde test facility were detailed to re-enact the preparation and firing of V2 missiles for the British Army. As the Germans wore their wartime uniforms, the photos and movies taken during "Operation Backfire" appear to be wartime German footage. Due to the secret nature of the V2 program, most of those who worked on the project knew only a small part of the whole thing. "Operation Backfire" was a learning experience for all concerned.

Sumber :
"Allied-Axis magazine" edition no.01

03 October 2013

Execution of Brave Russian Prisoners


Image size: 1600 x 1066 pixel. 470 KB
Date: Monday, 30 June 1941
Place: Lapland, Murmansk Oblast, Soviet Union
Photographer: Unknown

This picture above was taken on June 30, 1941 and shows German mountain troops from the Tyrolean Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 136 / 2.Gebirgs-Division / Gebirgskorps Norwegen extrajudicially killing Soviet POWs. Barely a week into the war, these two Soviet Prisoners, who bear their heads high and affront death, are executed on sight. They were shot a few minutes later. The remains of Soviet soldiers were lying on the tundra of the Arctic Circle more than 70 years. They were found and buried in the summer of 2013. We can known now the name of one of the Soviet soldiers after many years. He is private Sergey Korolkov, 1912 year of birth, the birthplace Kirov region, Velikoluksky area, Serezhinsky farmland, village Hmelishche, in the Soviet Army on June, 22nd, 1941.Other soldier is still unknown. There is an assumption that he is the Soviet junior officer.

Source:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=566981546670638&set=gm.179815068873006&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?228877-Eismeerfront-1941-2013