Image size: 1600 x 1075 pixel. 370 KB
Date: Friday, 16 October 1942
Place: Stalingrad, Stalingrad Oblast, Soviet Union
Photographer: Kriegsberichter Kurt Heine
Hauptmann (note missing pips on his right shoulder!) Dipl.-Ing. Wilhelm Traub, Kommandeur of Pionier-Bataillon 305/305.Infanterie-Division, take cover among the rubble of the gun factory "Barrikady", Stalingrad, before Operation Hubertus (9-12 November 1942). Note the 1938 Soviet Amoeba camouflage cover (green base) of the officer's helmet, of little use in an urban environment, and the captured Russian PPSh-41 (Pistolet-Pulemyot Shpagina) sub machine gun, an excellent weapon that remained in use well after the end of the war. The few remaining parts of Krasnaya Barrikady (Red Barricades) ordnance factory was defended by shattered units of Russian 138th, 308th, and parts of 244th Rifle Division. They held less than 10% of that factory. At the time of the attack, Pionier Bataillons 305 had been already fighting for weeks in Stalingrad and they were down to more or less company sized battlegroups! Wilhelm Traub (Dipl. Ing.) was born on the 14th November 1895 in Helmstedt. He was the much loved Bataillonsführer of Pi.Btl.305 which he took command of on the 16th October 1942. He started the war with Pi.Btl.22 were he would climb through the ranks to Hauptmann. Missing in action 5th January 1943 and posthumously promoted to Major in 1944.
Source:
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2012/09/album-foto-pertempuran-stalingrad.html
http://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/archives/barchpic/search/_1358010608/?search[view]=detail&search[focus]=6
http://www.stalingrad.net/german-hq/operation-hubertus/hubertus.htm
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/btl305#announcements/detail/974100094305481282
http://waralbum.ru/25218/
