Wounded SS Soldier during the Battle of the Bulge

Image size: 1518 x 1600 pixel. 610 KB
Date: Saturday, 16 December 1944
Place: La Gleize, Stoumont, Liège, Belgium
Photographer: John Florea of LIFE Magazine

Wounded German soldier of the Waffen-SS lying on a makeshift bedding after being taken prisoner during an attack on an American fuel depot at outset of the last major German offensive on the Western Front, a.k.a. the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans achieved a total surprise attack on the morning of 16 December 1944, due to a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with Allied offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance. American forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties of any operation during the war. The battle also severely depleted Germany's armored forces, and they were largely unable to replace them. German personnel and, later, Luftwaffe aircraft (in the concluding stages of the engagement) also sustained heavy losses. The Germans had attacked a weakly defended section of the Allied line, taking advantage of heavily overcast weather conditions that grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. Fierce resistance on the northern shoulder of the offensive, around Elsenborn Ridge, and in the south, around Bastogne, blocked German access to key roads to the northwest and west that they counted on for success. Columns of armor and infantry that were supposed to advance along parallel routes found themselves on the same roads. This, and terrain that favored the defenders, threw the German advance behind schedule and allowed the Allies to reinforce the thinly placed troops. The furthest west the offensive reached was the village of Foy-Nôtre-Dame, south east of Dinant, being stopped by the British 21st Army Group on 24 December 1944. Improved weather conditions permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines, which sealed the failure of the offensive. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated to the defenses of the Siegfried Line.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge
https://www.gettyimages.ae/detail/news-photo/wounded-german-soldier-lying-on-makeshift-bedding-after-news-photo/50494163?fbclid=IwAR1SoAFMCqA_IX25BsfVt5drlt4dt6klEI85ZjpUleJzkmhJoxGh4pHHrk4

Corporal Bull Allen Carrying Wounded Soldier at Mount Tambu

Image size: 1182 x 1600 pixel. 762 KB
Date: Friday, 30 July 1943
Place: Mount Tambu, Salamaua, New Guinea
Photographer: Gordon Short

The exploits of Corporal Leslie 'Bull' Allen, of the 2/5th Australian Infantry Battalion, produced one of the most remarkable photographs of the Wau-Salamaua campaign. On 30 July 1943, during an attack by American troops on Japanese positions up Mount Tambu, Allen carried to safety twelve wounded Americans. The man he was photographed carrying had been knocked unconscious by a mortar bomb. Like many men in the veteran 17th Australian Infantry Brigade, of which the 2/5th Battalion was part, 'Bull' had earlier served in the Middle East. He had come to notice there for determination and bravery as a stretcher-bearer, recovering wounded men during battles in Libya and Syria. Later, after being sent to New Guinea, during the defence of Wau in January 1943 he had rescued men under intense fire, and was awarded the Military Medal. Born at Ballarat, Victoria, in 1918, Les had a tough childhood – he and his sister were raised in an orphanage, and at about the age of 12 the boy had to start earning a living. By the outbreak of war in September 1939, he had been in the work force, mostly farm labouring, for almost a decade. Then in April 1940, aged 21, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He was reinforcement to the 2/5th Battalion, which was training in Palestine, and was made a stretcher-bearer in 'D' Company. Les acquired the nickname of 'Bull' in Palestine. A keen sportsman, with an imposing physical stature – 5 feet 11 inches (180cm) tall, solid and strong – he would charge down the opposition while playing Aussie Rules, hence 'Bull'. He also had a wicked sense of humour and a booming voice and laugh – one of his mates recalled, 'You could hear him a mile off!' 'Bull' was thus one of the battalion's most recognisable, and one of its most popular characters. 'Bull' was revered by the men he served alongside. He was said to be one of the very few who never showed fear. The citation for his Military Medal pointed to 'courage and untiring efforts'. Bill Carty, a cameraman who later witnessed 'Bull's rescue of the Americans recalled a 'gigantic man striding up Mount Tambu like he was on a Sunday jaunt', describing Allen as 'a huge man with obvious physical and emotional strength, perhaps borne of a difficult childhood'. But this was an incomplete picture of the man. While he did not display his fears, 'Bull' was inclined to bottle them up. Shortly after his first campaign, in Libya, in early 1941, 'Bull' had been admitted to hospital suffering from 'anxiety neurosis'. After treatment and rest, he returned to his battalion, and performed admirably in Syria and then at Wau, and throughout the Wau-Salamaua campaign that followed. Time and again, he gave his all to bring in wounded men. Mount Tambu was merely another episode. The strain began to show only when 'Bull' was out of the battle area. In late 1943, at the conclusion of the Wau-Salamaua campaign, the survivors of the 17th Infantry Brigade were withdrawn to Australia for recuperation, much needed leave, and the rebuilding of their units. Allen had always been in trouble in one way or another and he exhibited a certain disdain of authority. But now, while training in Queensland, his behaviour became erratic, and he ended up punching an officer. He was court martialled, and medically discharged in September 1944. So traumatised was this decorated veteran of three campaigns by the experience of war, he retreated to an uncle's farm, having lost his power of speech, and took many months to start returning to 'normal'. It was during this time that the Army posted Leslie 'Bull' Allen a second medal, the US Silver Star, awarded for his actions on that day up Mount Tambu.

Source :
https://www.ddoughty.com/ww2-les-bull-allen.html
http://windsky.com.au/the-making-of-in-memory-of-bull-allen/

Baby Gets Burns Treated In Hiroshima

Image size: 1600 x 1209 pixel. 265 KB
Date: Thursday, 6 September 1945
Place: Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Unknown

Doctors treat a baby with severe burns after the atomic attack in a still from an Education Ministry film. Most casualties received little, if any, treatment. Food, medicine and clean water were scarce. Because of the devastation, many were left in the open and died. Photographic and film evidence, as well as written reports, were confiscated by the United States government, who feared the reaction of the public just as the Cold War required atomic testing and increased funding. This film was saved by a Japanese technician who hid it in Nippon Eiga Shinsha studio, where it was discovered in 1993. A similar written account by the first American reporter to enter the city, George Weller of the Chicago Daily News, was suppressed. Wilfred Burchett defied the ban on reporters visiting Hiroshima, traveling thirty miles by train the visit the destroyed city. Burchett's article, headlined "The Atomic Plague," was published on September 5, 1945, in the London Daily Express. Other reporters, like William L. Laurence, the Pulitzer Prize-winning science reporter for The New York Times, worked with or for the War Department and published articles refuting the idea that radiation caused large numbers of casualties. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1092

A Young SS Hitlerjugend Soldier Captured by the Canadian at Normandy

Image size: 1600 x 1530 pixel. 464 KB
Date: Wednesday, 9 August 1944
Place: Caen, Basse-Normandie, France
Photographer: Unknown

A captured Panzergrenadier of the SS-Panzer-regiment 25 / 12.SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" taken by a Canadian Intelligence Unit during the fighting for Caen. The official Public Archives of Canada caption for this photo taken a month after the activities in question, contains no information about the prisoner other than his division. Note: both allied soldiers are wearing the British P-1944 "Turtle" Mk III steel helmet, which was introduced shortly before D-Day. The Mk III helmet was much superior to the conventional "Brodie" helmet normally worn by British & Commonwealth soldiers. The soldier nearest the camera is holding a .303" Lee Enfield rifle in his right hand.. Canadians have mistreated prisoners because: In June 7th (one day after D-Day), the 25th Panzer-Grenadier Regiment under the command of SS-Standartenführer Kurt Meyer (Kurt Adolf Wilhelm Meyer, “Panzermeyer”) in conjunction with the 12th SS Panzer Regiment managed to repel the Canadians, and destroyed 28 tanks, and infantry regiment “Highlanders Nova Scotia “(born Nova Scotia Highlanders) suffered heavy losses. In this case, the loss of the German divisions were only six people! During the operation, the soldiers of 12. SS-Panzer-Division executed 20 Canadian prisoners of war in the Abbaye d’Ardenne. The "Hitler Youth" Division itself had the lowest percentage of prisoners. Of the original 21,300 men, in Gosostava 1945 it survived only 455 officers and men! The average age of the member of the Division was 17 – 18 years old!

Source:

Public Archives of Canada image

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:12SSHJPOW.jpg

http://albumwar2.com/captive-ss-man-and-canadian-soldiers/

2nd Mixed Brigade Field Hospital Surrenders on Iwo Jima

Image size: 1600 x 1233 pixel. 576 KB
Date: Thursday, 5 April 1945
Place: Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, Japan
Photographer: Unknown

Major Masaru Inaoka leads Japanese survivors into captivity. The US Army's 147th Infantry Regiment organized a systematic mop-up in April and May. An officer and ten men, Nisei who spoke Japanese, accompanied by prisoners who lent themselves to this work, broadcast invitations to surrender through loud-speakers, promising the Japanese good usage and plenty to eat and drink. These methods netted 867 more prisoners and killed another 1602. Army troops also stumbled upon the field hospital of the 2nd Mixed Brigade, located 100 feet underground on eastern Iwo Jima. A language officer appealed to the Japanese to come out. The senior medical officer, Major Inaoka, called for a vote. The ballot turned out 69 for surrender, three opposed. Of the three nays, Corporal Kyutaro Kojima immediately committed suicide. The others came out, including the two officers, Captain Iwao Noguchi and Lieutenant Hideo Ota. During the battle, Japanese defense plans for Iwo Jima had made no provision for the evacuation of any wounded. They either crawled back or were carried to aid stations behind the lines. There, they might be placed in niches in the walls of tunnels, where their comrades would look after them as best they could. Some of the Japanese bound up their wounds and remained with their units, either to fight again if physically able or else perform other work behind the lines. Repeated appeals were made for surrender. Some propaganda leaflets were dropped from planes and fired in artillery shells, but the most frequently used method was voice appeals. Language officers, Nisei Japanese-Americans and volunteer prisoners participated in this last form of persuasion. Out of 65 captured Japanese who had some contact with United States propaganda, 53 were influenced and gave themselves up as a direct result. The remaining twelve stated that fear of their own officers and fear of trickery on the part of the Marines had deterred them. These last did not surrender, but were captured under other circumstances. After the war, Captain Noguchi, beset by remorse that he had lived while so many died, later emigrated to Brazil. He was unable to accept life in Japan. 

Source:

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/10/world-war-ii-the-fall-of-imperial-japan/100175/

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1099

Adolf Hitler Visiting His Adjutant Heinrich Borgmann

Image size: 1600 x 1055 pixel. 421 KB
Date: Tuesday, 1 August 1944
Place: Karlshof hospital, Rastenburg, Ostpreußen/East Prussia
Photographer: Unknown

Adolf Hitler at the bedside of Oberstleutnant i.G. (im Generalstab) Heinrich Borgmann (5 August 1912 - 5 April 1945), his Army adjutant. He was severely injured during the asassination attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944 (known under the name Operation Valkyrie), but then recovered. He died on 5th April 1945 in Magdeburg hospital of his wounds inflicted during a dive bomber attack. Borgmann is the recipient of the coveted Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes #141 (as Oberleutnant and Chef 9.Kompanie / Infanterie-Regiment 46 / 30.Infanterie-Division / 6.Armee / Heeresgruppe B) and Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes #71 (as Hauptmann and Kommandeur III.Bataillon / Infanterie-Regiment 46 / 30.Infanterie-Division / 16.Armee / Heeresgruppe Nord). On 20 July 1944 he was standing at the end of the conference table close to von Stauffenberg's briefcase bomb. Generalmajor Rudolf Schmundt and Oberstleutnant Heinz Brandt who were standing to his left and stenographer Heinich Berger to his right were all killed by the explosion, but Borgmann survived with serious injuries. After recovering he was posted to an infantry division as an Oberst.

Source:
Fotos aus dem Führerhauptquartier - Hermann Historica München 

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

http://en.ww2awards.com/person/28598

221 Japanese Prisoners of War Approach USS Admiral C. F. Hughes

Image size: 1600 x 1301 pixel. 845 KB
Date: Tuesday, 1 May 1945
Place: Apra Harbor, Guam, Marianas
Photographer: Unknown

LCT approaches Coast Guard-manned USS Admiral C. F. Hughes (AP-124). She put in at Guam on April 30, 1945, and all her passengers disembarked. After taking another group on board, including 221 Japanese prisoners of war from a Tank Landing Craft (LCT), she stood out of Apra Harbor on May 3. The transport made a two-day stop at Pearl Harbor from May 10-12 to disembark the prisoners and then continued her voyage back to the west coast. While over 420,000 German and Italian POWs were held in American camps, only 5,000 Japanese were detained by the war's end. This was partly because of explicit and implicit orders to fight to the death, a reluctance by Americans to take prisoners, and an increasingly obvious threat to the Japanese Home Islands. Many Japanese fighting men preferred to die in combat rather than be taken prisoner. At the end of the war, when it was realized that Japan was going to lose, About 2,500 were held at Camp McCoy in Wisconsin. The rest were dispersed to Camp Huntsville, Camp Hearn and Camp Kenedy in Texas, Camp Clarinda in Iowa, and Camp Livingston in Louisiana. Camp Kenedy housed most of the Japanese POW officers. 

Source:

NARA (National Archives) Record Group 26: Records of the U.S. Coast Guard, 1785 - 2005 (ARC identifier: 355). Series: Activities, Facilities, and Personalities, compiled 1886 - 1967 (ARC identifier: 513164). NAIL Control Number: NWDNS-26-G-4669

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_further_indication_that_not_all_Japanese_fight_to_the_death_is_this_bag_of_221_Nip_prisoners_of_war._Sprawled_on..._-_NARA_-_513225.tif

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1061

Adolf Hitler Second Visit to the Victims of the 20 July 1944 Plot

Image size: 1600 x 1058 pixel. 248 KB
Date: Tuesday, 1 August 1944
Place: Karlshof hospital, Rastenburg, Ostpreußen/East Prussia
Photographer: Unknown

Adolf Hitler second visit to the victims of the 20 July 1944 assassination attempt at the Karlshof Hospital near Rastenburg (which was located some 7 kilometers away from Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze) on 1 August 1944. Hitler next to the sick-bed of Kapitän zur See Heinz Assmann, Admiral's Staff Officer in the Wehrmacht High Command, and Konteradmiral Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer, Hitler's Naval Adjutant. Heinz Assmann (15 August 1904 – 15 October 1954) was born in Stendal in the Province of Saxony and was appointed an Admiralty staff officer in the Eastern Naval Group Command in November 1938. He then served in the Naval Operations Division and as the first officer on the battleship Tirpitz from October 1942 to August 1943. He was a general staff officer at OKW from September 1943 to May 1945. After the war he provides his recollections of the many briefings for Adolf Hitler that he attended.

Source:
Fotos aus dem Führerhauptquartier - Hermann Historica München
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Assmann
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=105910&start=0

Wounded SS With StuG and Destroyed T-34

Image size: 1600 x 1155 pixel. 481 KB
Date: Tuesday, 7 October 1941
Place: Staniza-Nowopaskaja, Sea of Azov, Soviet Union
Photographer: Unknown

A Sturmgeschütz (StuG) III A of the 1.Batterie/SS-Sturmgeshütz-Abteilung "Leisbstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" (commanded by SS-Untersturmführer Georg Isecke) approaches the Soviet T-34 tank that just recently destroyed. Other Waffen-SS men are evacuating SS-Unterscharführer Martin Hermann August Bergemann (born 30 July 1920 in Berlin-Heiligensee) from 1.(Krad.-)Kompanie/SS-Aufklärungs-Abteilung "Leisbstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" after his unsuccessful attempt to destroy the tank with a mine. Several rounds fired against the tank at a range of 25 meters failed to damage it. Destruction came as a result of gasoline 'bombs' being hurled against the vehicle and setting it afire. It is possible that the damage to the track and road wheels was done by means other than gasoline bomb. Bergemann died of his wounds in the same day and then buried in Melitopol, Ukraine. This brave young warrior is listed as one of the early tank destroyer of the Wehrmacht.

Source:

Book "Waffen-SS in Action" by Norman Harms and Ron Volstad, page 15

http://www.volksbund.de/index.php?id=1775&tx_igverlustsuche_pi2[gid]=03195b53b216d97b5230c47fa55c3a8d

Wounded 7th Cavalry Tankers Receive First Aid

Image size: 1350 x 1600 pixel. 671 KB
Date: Friday, 20 October 1944
Place: Tacloban Air Field, Leyte, Philippines
Photographer: Unknown

Wounded tankers of Sixth Army, X Corps, 1st Cavalry Division, 2nd Brigade, 7th Calvary Regiment, 1st Squadron, receive first aid from a corpsman after their M4 Sherman medium tank hit a mine at the edge of Tacloban Air Field. Landing at the northern end of White Beach at 1000 Hours, 1st Squadron raced across the Cataisian Peninsula to seize the airfield, accomplishing their mission at 1600 Hours, advancing less than 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the beachhead. Engineers landed behind 1st Cavalry to immediately begin work on the airfield. 

Source:

NARA (National Archives) Identifier 513204. Record Group 26: Records of the U.S. Coast Guard, 1785 - 2005 (ARC identifier: 355). Series: Activities, Facilities, and Personalities, compiled 1886 - 1967 (ARC identifier: 513164). NAIL Control Number: NWDNS-26-G-3531 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:An_American_medium_tank_hit_a_Japanese_land_mine_in_surging_forward_to_the_Tacloban_Air_Strip_during_the_early_stages..._-_NARA_-_513204.tif

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1038

Wounded Marines Are Helped to an Aid Station by Navy Corpsmen

Image size: 1600 x 1272 pixel. 608 KB
Date: Tuesday, 20 February 1945
Place: Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, Japan
Photographer: Corporal Eugene Jones, USMC

Wounded Marines are helped to an aid station by Navy corpsmen and Marine walking wounded. From the post-battle analysis by Medical Logistic Section of Commander in Chief Pacific: "On the basis of the Army Field Medical Manual, as modified by recent experience and the most reliable evaluation of enemy potential to be gained by aerial observation and combined intelligence, it was estimated that our losses would approximate 20 percent of the forces engaged. Of these 25 percent would be killed in action, 25 percent would be returned to duty locally, and 50 percent would be evacuated. Taking into consideration civilian casualties and enemy wounded to whom we were likely to be required to furnish medical care, definite plans were formulated with regard to evacuation policy, the number of beds and ships required for hospitalization and evacuation, and the volume of medical supplies to be ordered. Each medical company and corps medical battalion had equipment for a 144-bed hospital, twice the number allotted prior to the Marianas campaign, making available approximately 3,592 beds. It was also planned by the Eighth Field Depot, scheduled to arrive about D-day-plus-10, to add to their stock a sufficient amount of cots, tents, blankets, and mess gear for another 1,500 beds. The chain of evacuation of casualties included 4 LST(H)'s or evacuation control LST's, specially equipped with medical personnel and supplies and designated to make preliminary "screening" examinations of casualties and distribute them equally among the transports and hospital ships. One LST(H) was available for each of the invasion beaches, making two for each Marine division. All ships, LVT or DUKW, that evacuated wounded from beaches were to proceed to their respective evacuation control LST(H). Those casualties unable to endure the trip to a transport or hospital ship were to be transferred immediately to an LST(H) for treatment, while less seriously wounded patients were unloaded onto a barge alongside the LST(H) and then transferred to LCVP's for further transfer to transport or hospital ship. Aboard each LST(H) were 4 surgeons and 27 corpsmen, increased on arrival at the objective by the transfer of one beach party medical section (1 medical officer and 8 corpsmen) from an APA, giving each LST(H) 5 surgeons and 35 corpsmen. At all times these beach party medical sections were on call by the Transport Squadron Commander. Two hospital ships and one APH were designated to evacuate patients to Saipan, where 1,500 beds were available, and to Guam, where there were 3,500 beds. Air evacuation of casualties to the Marianas was to begin as soon as field facilities would permit. Experience gained in the Marianas campaign had emphasized the necessity of having the casualties screened by a qualified flight surgeon to insure proper selection of patients for evacuation by air. Medical personnel and adequate medical supplies and equipment were to be aboard each plane." 

Source:

NARA (National Archives) Identifier 532362. Record Group 127: Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, 1775 - 9999 (ARC identifier: 456). Series: General Photographic File, compiled 1900 - 1941 (ARC identifier: 532359). NAIL Control Number: NWDNS-127-G-110244 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:They_did_their_part._Wounded_Marines_are_helped_to_an_aid_station_by_Navy_corpsmen_and_Marine_walking_wounded._Iwo..._-_NARA_-_532362.tif

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1037

"Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels" Watch American Wounded Rest Before Carrying Them to the Rear

Image size: 1600 x 1201 pixel. 762 KB
Date: Tuesday, 1 December 1942
Place: Coconut Grove, Buna, Oro, New Guinea
Creator: Unknown

Wounded American soldiers of the 32nd Division are carried to the rear by "fuzzy wuzzy angels" the name for Papua New Guinea natives who helped the Allies by bringing up supplies and carrying back wounded. The battle for Buna, Gona, and Sanananda was a learning process for MacArthur's command, and he relieved US Army General Edwin F. Harding on December 2, 1942, replacing him with General Robert L. Eichelberger. MacArthur famously told him, "Bob, I'm putting you in command at Buna. Relieve Harding ... I want you to remove all officers who won't fight. Relieve regimental and battalion commanders; if necessary, put sergeants in charge of battalions and corporals in charge of companies ... Bob, I want you to take Buna, or not come back alive ... And that goes for your chief of staff, too." Eichelberger reorganized the dispirited Americans, and with superior air cover from the Fifth Air Force and additional troops of the 163rd Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division, The Allies cleared the last Japanese resistance on January 22, 1943. The natives were invaluable during the Kokoda and Buna campaigns, carrying much of the supplies in and the wounded out. An Australian soldier is reported to have said: "They carried stretchers over seemingly impassable barriers, with the patient reasonably comfortable. The care they give to the patient is magnificent. If night finds the stretcher still on the track, they will find a level spot and build a shelter over the patient. They will make him as comfortable as possible fetch him water and feed him if food is available, regardless of their own needs. They sleep four each side of the stretcher and if the patient moves or requires any attention during the night, this is given instantly. These were the deeds of the 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels' – for us!" 

Source:

US Army Signal Corps, Library of Congress

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Buna1942-wounded.jpg

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8e00422/

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1023