Abandoned Königstiger of schwere Panzer-Abteilung 506

Image size: 2126 x 1663 pixel. 1.2 MB
Date: Thursday, 18 January 1945
Place: Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, Luxembourg
Photographer: Unknown

An Abandoned Panzerkampfwagen VI ausf B (SdKfz 182) Tiger II or Königstiger (Bengal Tiger) of Schwere Panzer Abteilung (Heavy Tank Battalion) 506, Sixth Panzer Army, is inspected by American soldiers of the 137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division. Note the Tiger II's 88mm (3.46 inch) locked in the recoil position, destroyed by the retreating crew. The 35th Infantry Division was rushed into the area to stop the German offensive around December 20, 1944. On December 28, the Division had fought their way to Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, near Bastogne, attempting to relieve the 101st Airborne Division and elements of the 10th Armored Division. By December 31 the 137th Infantry had lost two companies captured by the 1st SS Panzer Division, attempting to retake the village after Bastogne's relief. The 137th had lost 200 men killed or captured. On January 10, the 137th retook Villers. The 506th was the only Heer (Regular Army) unit equipped with the Tiger II, as opposed to the Waffen SS Abteilungs in operation in Belgium. The unit had only operated Tiger tanks, and for the Ardennes Offensive, a fourth company, Schwere Panzer Abteilung Hummel, was attached operating Panzerkampfwagen IV ausf E Tiger Is. On January 17, 1944, as the Sixth Panzer Army retreated from American breakthroughs around Bastogne, the 506th was forced to abandon two Tiger IIs and one Tiger I. While individually superior to any Allied tank, the Tiger II consumed considerable resources and was yet another tank type that a strained German quartermaster corps had to supply with fuel, ammunition, and spare parts. The Tiger II had a range of only 90 miles (145 kilometers). In its rush to combat it suffered from mechanical reliability defects; most Americans saw abandoned, not destroyed, Tiger IIs. This was a blessing for the Americans, whose M4 Sherman medium tanks and M10 Wolverine tank destroyers, both armed with 3-inch guns, could not penetrate the 180mm (7 inch) thick frontal armor. Only the M36 Jackson, with a high velocity 90mm gun, could stop a Tiger II, and only at a range within that of the German tank. All of the American tanks and tank destroyers had armor that was easily defeated by the Tiger II's 88mm KwK 43 L/71 main gun. The Americans counted on their superiority in artillery and air power to destroy Tigers.


Source :
https://ardennes-breakthrough-association.com/tiger-ii-03-abteilung-506/
https://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii0149

SS NCO Ferdinand Breitfelder with Captured British Weapon

 

Image size: 2048 x 1362 pixel. 687 KB
Date: Saturday, 22 July 1944
Place: Montenegrin-Serbian border, Yugoslavia
Photographer: Kriegsberichter Ernst-Alexander Zwilling

SS-Hauptscharführer Ferdinand Breitfelder examines a captured British submachine gun in the company of Albanian soldiers from the battle group SS-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 21 shortly after the arrival of a companies of recruits from the SS-Skanderbeg Division to help I.Bataillon / SS-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 14, on 22 July 1944. A few days later, unit of Breitfelder would be surrounded by Tito's partisans, and he himself will be mortally wounded on the heights south of Andrijevica and will die from the consequences of his wounds in early August 1944. This picture itself was taken by veteran Kriegsberichter Ernst-Alexander Zwilling during "Unternehmen Draufgänger" (Operation Daredevil), a German Wehrmacht military operation against the Yugoslav Partisans at the Montenegrin-Serbian border area, aimed at breaking the Partisan foothold on the Lim river which was a potential penetration point into Serbia.

Source :
ECPAD Archives
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Draufg%C3%A4nger
https://www.facebook.com/groups/691098008051629/permalink/1025552444606182/?__cft__[0]=AZWtYgzBGoVpbdLbEaNS_viXPahYJmbQ2Rq0CpE0NBNpbGnJu7zX21dthnKGAn0vsXoM1-tXJP1xl4ReP2u9oYr666tMisoyZqDyCSliHUcZnjTWnToQWU_ZgODos7-L5n-gbSt9Q5Wle7lTHy0qijhE&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
https://reibert.info/threads/21-ja-gornaja-divizija-ss-skanderbeg-21-waffen-gebirgs-division-der-ss-skanderbeg-alb-nr-1.281809/

Jagdtiger Abandoned in Neustadt

Image size: 1600 x 1035 pixel. 563 KB
Date: Friday, 23 March 1945
Place: Landauer Strasse, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Photographer: Unknown
 

Panzerjäger Tiger Ausf.B mit 12,8cm PaK 44 L/55 "Jagdtiger"(Sd.Kfz.186) Nr. 331 of schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 653 after she was abandoned in Landauer Strasse in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse. The vehicles are shown here being examined by American soldiers from the 10th Armored Division, on 23 March 1945. Leutnant Kasper Geoggler commanded the Jagdtiger No.331, also the third Kampfgruppe from 3.Kompanie / sPzJg.Abt.653. Geoggler had nerves of steel, and was very keen to prove himself. He was awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold (German Cross in Gold) on 10 May 1943 whilst fighting on the Eastern Front. He had already had several kills to his credit with his Jagdtiger. In 22 March 1945, Geoggler had three Jagdtigers including his own placed into a good position north of Neustadt with a commmanding view of the approach roads to the town. From camouflage postions, the three Jagdtigers engaged in U.S. tank column; the first and last vehicles were shot up followed by the rest. The Shermans and M10 tank destroyer returned fire. Two Jagdtigers - Geoggler's and another, No.323 - were hit ten times between them. They withdrew into Neustadt. After the battle, 25 US tanks were claimed destroyed, while none of the Jagdtiger crew suffered any serious injuries! The thick sloping-armor had done its job.

Source:

http://ww2colorfarbe.blogspot.com/2015/01/jagdtiger-no331-of-leutnant-kasper.html

Adolf Hitler Inspecting Gustav

Image size: 1600 x 1233 pixel. 601 KB
Date: Sunday, 4 April 1943
Place: Reichswerke Hermann Göring, Linz, Germany

Photographer: Walter Frentz

This picture was taken by Walter Frentz in 4 April 1943 at Reichswerke Hermann Göring, Linz (Germany), when Hitler visited the Eisenbahngeschütz 80 cm Kanone Schwerer Gustav. FLTR: Generalleutnant Walter Buhle (Chef vom Heeresstab im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), Ingenieur Erich Müller (Wehrwirtschaftsführer), Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (Chef des Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), Reichsleiter Martin Bormann (Stabsleiter im Amt des Stellvertreters des Führers), Adolf Hitler (Führer und Reichskanzler), Prof.Dr.-Ing.Albert Speer (Reichsminister für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion), and SS-Gruppenführer Julius Schaub (not visible in this picture, Chefadjutant des Führers Adolf Hitler). Schwerer Gustav (Heavy Gustaf or Great Gustaf) was the name of a German 80 cm K (E) railway gun. It was developed in the late 1930s by Krupp as siege artillery for the explicit purpose of destroying the main forts of the French Maginot Line, the strongest fortifications then in existence. The fully assembled gun weighed nearly 1,350 tonnes, and could fire shells weighing seven tonnes to a range of 47 kilometres (29 mi). The gun was designed in preparation for the Battle of France, but was not ready for action when the battle began, and in any case the Wehrmacht's Blitzkrieg offensive through Belgium rapidly outflanked and isolated the Maginot Line's World War I-era static defenses, forcing them to surrender uneventfully and making their destruction unnecessary. Gustav was later employed in the Soviet Union at the siege of Sevastopol during Operation Barbarossa, where among other things, it destroyed a munitions depot buried in the bedrock under a bay. The gun was moved to Leningrad, and may have been intended to be used in the Warsaw Uprising like other German heavy siege pieces, but the rebellion was crushed before it could be prepared to fire. Gustav was destroyed near the end of the war in 1945 to avoid capture by the Red Army. It was the largest-calibre rifled weapon ever used in combat, the heaviest mobile artillery piece ever built in terms of overall weight, and fired the heaviest shells of any artillery piece. It is only surpassed in calibre by the British Mallet's Mortar and the American Little David mortar (both 36 inch; 914 mm).


Source:

http://elektra.bsb-muenchen.de/servlet/Top/frames/hitsframe#bildarc

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

Adolf Hitler Inspecting Dora

Image size: 1600 x 1133 pixel. 387 KB
Date: Friday, 19 March 1943
Place: Rügenwalde, Pomerania, Germany
Photographer: Walter Frentz

On 18-19 March 1943 Hitler visited the town of Rügenwalde/Pomerania (Germany) to see the 80 cm. Eisenbahngeschütz "Dora", the largest gun in the world. While Hitler was there the gun fired two granates. This picture was taken in 19 March 1943 by Walter Frentz and shows, from left to right: General der Artillerie Alfred Jodl (Chef Wehrmacht-Führungsamt), SS-Oberführer Prof. Dr.-Ing. e.h. mult. Ferdinand Porsche (Vorsitzender der Panzerkommission), Generaloberst Heinz Guderian (Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen), Generalleutnant Walter Buhle (Chef vom Heeresstab im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), Adolf Hitler (Führer und Reichskanzler), Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (Chef des Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), Hauptdienstleiter Dipl.-Ing. Karl-Otto Saur (Staatssekretär im Reichsministerium für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion), and SS-Gruppenführer Julius Schaub (Chefadjutant des Führers Adolf Hitler). Dora was the second giant railway gun to be produced by Germany. It was deployed briefly against Stalingrad, where the gun arrived at its emplacement 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) to the west of the city sometime in mid-August 1942. It was ready to fire on 13 September. It was quickly withdrawn when Soviet encirclement threatened. When the Germans began their long retreat they took Dora with them. Dora was broken up before the end of the war, being discovered in the west by American troops some time after the discovery of Schwerer Gustav.


Source:
http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/heavy-gustav-hitler-generals-inspecting-largest-caliber-rifled-weapon-ever-used-combat/

Messerschmitt Bf 109 of LG 2 Belly Landed at Liege

Image size: 1600 x 1038 pixel. 589 KB
Date: May 1940
Place: Luik, Liege, Belgium
Photographer: Unknown

Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 “black 2”, Werknummer 703 of 2.(J)/Lehrgeschwader 2. Picture taken in the area of Luik/Liege, soon after the beginning of the offensive in the West on May 10th 1940. This could be the Bf 109 of Unteroffizier Friedrich Möller who, after returning from a mission, had to belly land his aircraft due to lack of fuel on May 10th 1940. The “Emil” carries the standard 1940 camouflage and the “tophat” emblem of 2.(J)/LG 2. The aircraft was delivered to the Erla factory in Leipzig on June 3rd with 23% damage. After being repaired the Bf 109 was flown by Hauptmann Josef Fözö, Gruppenkommandeur of II.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 51, in the autumn of 1940.

Source:

Luftwaffe im Focus - Edition No.1 2002

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

Panther Ausf G Abandoned in the Ardennes

Image size: 1600 x 1200 pixel. 507 KB
Date: Wednesday, 27 December 1944
Place: Grandmenil, Manhay, Belgium
Photographer: Unknown

Panzerkampfwagen V Panther ausf G abandoned during the Ardennes Offensive. This Panther, Fahrgestellnummer (Hull Number) 121163, was built at Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg Aktiengesellschaft (MAN AG, a public company) in Kassel in October 1944. Shipped to the Western Front, it joined the planned panzers strength for "Wacht Am Rein." Panthers made up the bulk of the tank strength; seven panzer divisions were assigned to the attack. Decription from Robert H. Mabes Company M, 289th: The next morning there was a shooting from the basements. We asked for support of a tank who started shooting at it. The Germans weren’t gone, they sat in the basements. After the shelling, the Germans gave up and surrendered. I do not know how I was able to grab my camera, but I took pictures while they were surrendering. Later, the developed film was stolen and I have only a few photos. The next day we caught chickens and scheduled them. On December 27 the mess sergeant rode through the village, screaming from his jeep that Christmas dinner was to be prepared. He ran into a mine and there goes our dinner. 10.00: There were about 180 prisoners and there were about 100 Germans slain. The Germans lost many vehicles in the immediate vicinity of Grandmenil: three tanks near the roadblocks north of the village, a Mark III tank, two half-tracks and fifteen Mark IV tanks. The prisoners were reinforcements from the 2nd SS Panzer Das Reich, which had defended the village. On American side were 137 deaths, including 7 officers. In the morning of December 27 the Americans had to hold Grandmenil at all cost. A period of defensive organization followed, which lasted until the battalion was transferred. This was on January 4, 1945 Company I just put a defense on the edge of the village in an arc connected to the Grandmenil-Manhay Highway, (on the left of it.) to the Y-junction (Route de Bomal) 500 meters further away. The platoon discovered that they had dug in on an American anti-tank minefield that was nowhere mentioned. They moved to the front to the edge of Grandmenil. Compagnie I dug in at an arc connected on the right highway to a point north of the cemetery. Company K groove is on a slope, where they had sight of the north west positions. They were affiliated with Company I and L on the flanks. There was made a complete minefield around the village. The mines weren’t buried and were later recovered when the Allied counter-offensive began in January 1945. Daisy Chains (interlinked anti-tank mines, which can be laid rapidly on the road) were placed on all roads and country lanes entering the village. In the minefield, double rolls of barbed wire (concertina) were placed. Also much time was spent to detect American buried mines, which were distributed over the fields and the caused injuries. Cattle and horses caused continuously explosions because they walked through the village. The animals were kept in the cemetery and they were cared for daily. Needless to say that the battalion enjoyed the milk and as an occasional steak. The Germans had defended Grandmenil at all cost. After their departure, they did not mak any attempt to recapture the village again. Occasionally there was artillery or mortars shot at. But the enemy had other plans to capture the important road to Erezée. The above suggests that the Germans had no more interest in Grandmenil. But: the Germans wanted a detour and recapture Erezée and Grandmenil. What followed was the, so called, “Sad Sack affair”.

Source:

http://www.grandmenil.com/grandmenil-wednesday-december-27-1944/

American Soldier Inspects Panther Ausf A

Image size: 1600 x 1060 pixel. 351 KB
Date: Monday, 21 August 1944
Place: Falaise, Calvados Department, Basse-Normandie, France
Photographer: Unknown

A knocked out Panzerkampfwagen V ausf A Panther is investigated by an American soldier. The tank "brewed up" and burned, causing the Zimmerit anti-magnetic paste (to prevent magnetic mines from being attached) to crack and burn off. There were 576 Panthers available to the Germans in Normandy between the landings on June 6 and August 25, 1944. Over 400 were destroyed, mostly by concentrated artillery fire and air attacks. As the remains of the German 7. and 15. Armee were constricted to pass through the area of Falaise in August 1944, fighter-bombers (German: Jager-Bombern or "jabos") of the British Royal Air Force and the Americna 9th Air Force, mostly Hawker Tempests and Typhoons and Republic P-47 Thunderbolts armed with rockets, attacked the retreating Axis columns that were now forced to travel in the open daylight. While thousands of Germans escaped, hundreds of vehicles and artillery pieces and tens of thousands of men were killed. The rockets, while inaccurate, had the firepower of a broadside of a naval cruiser, causing devastating damage. Even the 80mm front hull armor of the Panther, which could not be breached by any Allied main tank gun, would crack under a hit from a airborne rocket. The Allies' air superiority was the chief means of dealing with the Panther; the number of Panthers and their superior armor and firepower took a heavy toll of American tanks. 37% of the Allied Shermans were casualties; the expected loss rate was 7%. The 3rd Armored Division alone lost 1,100 Shermans destroyed or damaged out of service in 1944-1945, a loss rate of 580%. The ausf A made up the majority of Panthers in Normandy. Benefitting from the inauspicious combat debut of the Panther at the Battle of Kursk, the ausf A had a machine gun for defense against infantry, and more reliable mechanics than the ausf D that preceeded it. Still, the Panther required more maintenance than the American Sherman, which also greatly outnumbered it. 6,000 Panthers were produced against 50,000 Shermans and 50,000 T-34s. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii0138

Soviet BT-5 Tanks Knocked Out During the Winter War

Image size: 1600 x 1092 pixel. 705 KB
Date: Monday, 1 January 1940
Place: Oulu, Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland
Photographer: Unknown

Knocked out Soviet BT-5 fast tanks (Bystrokhodny tank) are inspected by Finnish troops. The BT-5 was a derivative of the American Walter Christie designs, and was in production from 1933-1934. It mounted a high velocity 45mm gun and a ball mount machine gun. While the BT-5 outclassed its Japanese opponents in the Manchurian border clashes in August 1939, the Finns relied on highly mobile ski troops armed with British Boys 13.9mm (.55 inch) antitank rifles (called the 14mm pst kiv/37 in Finnish service) and captured Soviet weapons could maneuver around the tanks, which were unable to leave the few passable roads. The outnumbered Finns broke up the larger Soviet formations, seeding confusion and fear. These smaller groups (called "Motti" by the Finns) would then be cut off from assistance and annihilated. the Finns focused on the logistics columns, field kitchens and supplies, immobilizing the combat formations. During the Battle of Suomussalmi, the Finnish 9th Division of 6,000 men cut off the Soviet 163rd Infantry Division of 25,000 men and destroyed it. The Soviet 44th Ukrainian Motorized Infantry Division was sent to reinforce the 163rd, but on the Raate Road the Finns set up an ambush, cutting off units of the 44th and destroying them in turn. 

Source:

SA-KUVA 

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii0051