German Soldiers Looking for Low-Flying Enemy Aircraft

Image size: 1600 x 1074 pixel. 545 KB
Date: 2-3 August 1944
Place: Beauchêne and Ger, Normandy, France
Photographer: Unknown

“Low flying fighter in sight!” was the original caption to this picture when it was first published in the German press in 1944. For many years it believed to have been taken in June shortly after D-Day, while this photo is actually part of a set shot by Kriegsberichter Theobald depicting men of the 84. Infanterie-Division (probably Grenadier-Regiment 1052) moving in to relieve the 116. Panzer-Division prior to Operation ‘Lüttich’, referred to in Allied sources as the 'Mortain counterattack'. This dates the set to the 2nd or 3rd of August, not June. Given the urgency of the situation, the soldiers would most probably not be allowed to stop just to indulge a photographer, so Theobald probably took advantage of a short rest stop to snap this photo near La Haute-Louverie, a small hamlet half-way between Beauchêne and Ger. Typical of German divisions formed during 1944, the 84. Infanterie-Division was a mix of decorated veterans transferred from other units and young recruits, some quite young from what we can see here. Of the first four men from the left, all veterans, three have the Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen (Infantry Assault badge) and the left-most NCO displays also a Verwundetenabzeichen (wound badge) and what seems to be the Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse (Iron Cross 2nd Class). Unknown to these men, the division would not survive the August retreat to the Seine River, being destroyed in the Falaise pocket.

Colorized by Rui Candeias.

 

Source :
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJcsRWUn-d0/

British Soldiers Going to the Front

Image size: 1600 x 1074 pixel. 362 KB
Date: Friday, 29 September 1939
Place: Somewhere in England
Photographer: Unknown

Pictured above are British soldiers from the BEF (British Expeditionary Forces) preparing to ship out to France for the newly begun Second World War, September 29th, 1939. From September 1939 to April 1940 there was a period of time known as the "Phoney War." After the outbreak of war in September 1939, France and Britain had declared war on Germany but made no real action except sending French troops to the border and British Expeditionary Forces to the Belgian, Luxembourg, German, and Italian borders. The French and British adopted a mainly defensive strategy and relied pretty much on the Maginot Line and BEF forces on the Belgian border. During this period of time the British and French began air raid drills and conscription into their armies. Britian, expecting that it's cities would be devastated by bomb attacks, began a massive evacuation of children from areas considered to be at high risk of being bombed (i.e. major cities.) Hospitals were emptied to free beds for bombing casualties. Entertainment venues were closed. The snakes in the London Zoo are even killed for fear that a bomb might free them to roam the devastated capital! When bombing failed to materialize, life went back to a relatively normal way but the Allied citizens were still weary and reluctant about a new world war as a vast majority had seen or heard of the carnage during World War I. Civilians were issued gas masks, ration cards, and other essentials in the event of a bombing or even invasion. The French sent probes over the border but this was the most aggressive action they took on the Western Front, and this would be one of their gravest mistakes. In May 1940 the Germans invaded the Low Countries and then in June they overran France.

Source :
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg2J2D3HVw4/

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/