The First Arrival of German Delegation to Montgomery's Headquarter

Image size: 1600 x 1598 pixel. 527 KB
Date: Thursday, 3 May 1945
Place: Lüneburger Heide, Hamburg, Germany
Photographer: Captain E.G. Malindine

The first arrival of the German delegation to the headquarters of the British 21st Army Group in the Lüneburger Heide (Luneburg Heath), east of Hamburg, to discuss a ceasefire on May 3, 1945. The Germans offer to surrender the Heeresgruppe Vistula - who was surrounded by Soviet troops - to the Allies, was rejected by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (Commander of the 21st Army Group), because he wanted the unconditional surrender of German troops in the north-west Germany, as well as in the Netherlands and Denmark. The German delegation replied that they were not given the power to determine this, and had to negotiate it first with their leader, Großadmiral Karl Dönitz (the successor to Hitler who committed suicide a few days earlier). Finally Montgomery allowed them to return home, and gave 24 hours for the answers to be given. This photo was taken by Captain E.G. Malindine (British No. 5 Army Film and Photographic Unit) and shows Marshal Montgomery standing second from the left, while the German delegation starts with their leader Generaladmiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine) who holding the document in the middle, followed to the right as follow: General der Infanterie Eberhard Kinzel (Chef des Generalstabes Operationsstab Nord), Konteradmiral Gerhard Wagner (Admiral z.b.V. Beim Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine), and Major i.G. Hans Jochen Friedel (half visible, Stabsoffizier Operationsstab Nord).

Source :
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2010/01/killed-in-action-pictures-koleksi-foto_12.html
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timeloberg_%E2%80%93_030545.jpg

General John Crocker with Soviet Delegation

Image size: 1600 x 1165 pixel. 584 KB
Date: Friday, 28 July 1944
Place: Somewhere in France
Photographer: Unknown

Lieutenant-General John Crocker (left, Commanding Officer of British I Corps) with members of a visiting Soviet delegation, 28 July 1944. Crocker (4 January 1896 - 9 March 1963) was not much of a talker and he was a lousy self-promoter because of it. Yet he was one of the most important British soldiers of the Second World War, commanding a corps in North Africa and subsequently being assigned “the most ambitious, the most difficult and the most important task” of any Allied corps commander during Operation Overlord. His influence was not limited to the period of the war either. He was intimately involved with the development of British armoured forces during the 1920s and 1930s, and after the war he oversaw the production of the doctrine and training publications that would guide the British Army for much of the Cold War. He also served as Commander-in-Chief Middle East Land Forces, and he finished his career as Adjutant-General to the Forces. Field Marshal Montgomery would have preferred it if Crocker had retired as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), but in 1949 Prime Minister Clement Atlee chose Sir William Slim for the post instead.

Source :
"Corps Commanders: Five British and Canadian Generals at War, 1939-45" by Douglas E. Delaney

General Leese Speaking with Canadian NCO in Italy

Image size: 1600 x 1442 pixel. 443 KB
Date: Friday, 8 September 1944
Place: Somewhere in Italy
Photographer: Unknown

Eighth Army Commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese speaking with Regimental Sergeant Major G.D. Gilpin, 1st Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, Italy, 8 September 1944. The vehicle is a Humber Super Snipe staff car, "The Old Faithful" of Monty (Census No. M239459). The running boards are already deleted. Leese commanded the Eighth Army at the fourth and final battle of Monte Cassino in May 1944 (when the bulk of the Eighth Army was switched in secret from the Adriatic coast to Cassino to strike a joint blow with the U.S. Fifth Army under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, who Leese disliked working alongside) and for Operation Olive on the Gothic Line later in 1944. His rank of lieutenant general was made permanent in July 1944. The 1st Field Regiment itself landed in Sicily in July 1943 and in Italy in September 1943, providing field artillery support for the 1st Canadian Infantry Division. In March 1945 the regiment moved with the 1st Canadian Corps to North West Europe where it served until the end of the war.24 The overseas regiment was disbanded on 25 August 1945.

Source :
"Corps Commanders: Five British and Canadian Generals at War, 1939-45" by Douglas E. Delaney
http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/his/ol-lo/vol-tom-3/par1/art/1rcha-eng.asp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Leese

John Crocker and Rod Keller in Normandy

Image size: 1600 x 1314 pixel. 630 KB
Date: Sunday, 25 June 1944
Place: Normandy, Northern France
Photographer: Unknown

Lieutenant-General John Crocker (right) speaking with the troubled commander of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, Major-General Rod Keller, 25 June 1944. Ten days after this photo was taken, Crocker - the Commanding General of the British I Corps - recommended that Keller be relieved of his command. Major-General Keller himself was popular with his troops, who appreciated his manners and outspoken language; however, a drinking problem and several breaches of security measures before D-Day cost him the support of both his superior officers and his own staff. During the first month ashore in Normandy, it was noted he was "jumpy and high strung". His immediate superiors in I British Corps and 2nd British Army considered him unfit to command the division, but Lieutenant General Guy Simonds, who was scheduled to command II Canadian Corps upon its activation in Normandy, held off on making a decision about his relief, even refusing a resignation by Keller who himself admitted to the strain. During the Battle for Caen, Keller handled Operation Windsor poorly, sending a reinforced brigade in to handle a divisional operation and delegating the planning to one of his brigadiers. Keller was also reportedly shell-shy by August, and rumours began to spread among the division that "Keller was yeller." Despite the continued complaints from above and below, Simonds, and General Harry Crerar, another of his admirers, refused to relieve him. Fate intervened when he was wounded by friendly fire on 8 August 1944. US bombers accidentally carpet bombed his divisional headquarters during Operation Totalize. Keller received no further active military command. He died ten years later, in 1954, while visiting Normandy

Source :
"Corps Commanders: Five British and Canadian Generals at War, 1939-45" by Douglas E. Delaney
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Keller

Maneuvers of British Armored Division

Image size: 1106 x 1600 pixel. 531 KB
Date: Tuesday, 29 September 1942
Place: Malton, Yorkshire, England
Photographer: Unknown

Malton in Yorkshire, 29 September 1942. Maneuvers of the 42nd Armored Division. On the right is General Sir Bernard Paget (Commander of the Territorial Forces), who takes the top of the two pieces with his greenish color and brown pants of the Battledress. On the left is Sir Anthony Eden (Minister of Foreign Affairs), who takes the complete set of two pieces and has inserted the underside of the jacket inside the pants. British soldiers usually wear the two piece suit of work (Two piece denim overalls), as it serves as an instruction suit work, a combat uniform in summer, or can be worn over the Battledress in winter. The colors vary from a very light brown to a whitish greenish hue. The Denim Tank Suit itself is a whole plethora of color that varies from green to yellowish-green. This suit began to deliver from 1944 onwards, so what the officer wear in this picture is the two pieces, except the one on the right that carries the Battledress jacket. Denim Overalls is defined by Jean Bouchery in the book "The British Soldier" volume one.

Source :

http://ww2colorfarbe.blogspot.com/2019/01/maneuvers-of-british-armored-division.html

Award Ceremony For Russian Generals by Montgomery at Brandenburg Gate

Image size: 1600 x 1086 pixel. 349 KB
Date: Thursday, 12 July 1945
Place: Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany
Photographer: Unknown

British Field Marshal Sir Bernard "Monty" Montgomery (17 November 1887 - 24 March 1976) decorates Soviet generals at the Hindenburg Platz near Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, 12 July 1945. The Deputy Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army, Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov (1 December 1896 - 18 June 1974), the Commander of the British 21st Army Group, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossovsky (21 December 1896 - 3 August 1968) and General of the Army Vasily Sokolovsky (21 July 1897 - 10 May 1968) of the Red Army leave the Brandenburg Gate after the ceremony. Zhukov (Commander of 1st Belorussian Front), on Montgomerys left, was presented with the sash of the Knight Grand Cross of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (G.C.B.), while Rokossovsky (Commander of 2nd Belorussian Front), on Montgomery right, was made a Knight Commander of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (K.C.B.). Sokolovsky (Deputy Commander of 1st Belorussian Front), in the background between Montgomery and Rokossovsky was made a Knight Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (K.B.E.). The same was Colonel General Mikhail Malinin (28 December 1893 - 24 January 1960) who is standing just behind Rokossovsky. As citizens of the UK or the Commenwealth, the four generals would have been entitled to wear the title "Sir" in front of their names. So they only had the right to put the K.B.E., etc. after their name, as the Austrian pianist Alfred Brendl. The British King's Company of the Grenadier Guards formed the guard of honor and tanks of the King's 8th Royal Irish Hussars were drawn up on either side. The ceremony was held in front of a banner proclaiming "Glory to the Soviet forces who planted the flag of victory over Berlin." Note the British officer on the far left having a hearty laugh!

Source:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=201010 
http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/14738-berlin-may-1945-picture/
http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205189188 
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1945/jul45/f12jul45.htm

http://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Allies_at_the_Brandenburg_Gate,_1945.jpg

General Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma Surrender to Bernard Montgomery

Image size: 1600 x 1304 pixel. 513 KB
Date: Wednesday, 4 November 1942
Place: Tel el Mampsra, El Alamein, Egypt
Photographer: Unknown

General der Panzertruppe Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma (Kommandierender General Deutsche Afrika Korps) saluting his captor following his surrender to Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery (Commander of the British Eighth Army). On 4 November 1942, von Thoma was captured by the British at the hill of Tel el Mampsra, west of El Alamein, Egypt. With his tank hit several times and on fire, von Thoma dismounted and stood quietly amongst a sea of burning tanks and the German dead scattered around the small hill where he was taken prisoner by Captain Grant Allen Singer of the 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own), nickname "Bakers Light Bobs". Rommel later opined that von Thoma was probably seeking his death in battle while other staff officers quietly speculated that he went to the front to deliberately surrender, though there is really no evidence on this point one way or the other (Von Thoma was captured following his command of the defence of a hill feature in which his force was reduced to a collection of smouldering scrap). Back to the picture: glum though they look, it appears that in the same evening Monty and von Thoma went on to enjoy dinner together at Monty headquarters and discuss the battle.  B.H. Liddell Hart later recorded Von Thoma's shocked reaction to Montgomery's level of knowledge of the German situation and dispositions (derived, no doubt, from Ultra intercepts!): "I was staggered at the exactness of his knowledge… He seemed to know as much about our position as I did myself." Von Thoma was then taken to the Pyramids of Giza by his captors when he expressed regret that he would leave Egypt without seeing them. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill - who apparently developed a great respect for Von Thoma during his period of captivity - is said to have commented, "I sympathise with General von Thoma... Defeated, in captivity, and dinner with Montgomery !" BTW, the captor of Von Thoma, Captain Singer (born in 1915), would died in the following day (5 November 1942) during the Second Battle of El Alamein (read the news HERE).

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Ritter_von_Thoma

http://www.stanford.edu/group/auden/cgi-bin/auden/individual.php?pid=I4181&ged=auden-bicknell.ged&view=preview

http://ww2gravestone.com/general/thoma-wilhelm-ritter-von

http://www.ww2incolor.com/german/vonthomamonty.html