German and Finnish Officers at a Ferry on Lake Ladoga

Image size: 1600 x 1024 pixel. 577 KB
Date: Monday, 10 August 1942
Place: Lake Ladoga, Lahti, Finland
Photographer: Carl Gustav Rosenqvist

This interesting, original color photo by Carl Gustav Rosenqvist was taken on August 10, 1942 and shows German and Finnish high-ranking officers crossing the Ladoga lake in Finland using Siebelfähre (Siebel's Freight / Ferry Boat) owned by Einsatzstab Fähre Ost (EFO), a Luftwaffe unit in Finland. This ferry operates around the Lake Ladoga region along with Italian MTB (12. Squadriglia MAS) and German mine ships from C-Gruppe / 31.Minensuch-Flottilla. From left to right: Oberstleutnant der Reserve Friedrich-Wilhelm Siebel (Kommandeur Einsatzstab Fähre Ost); Finnish Colonel Eino Iisakki Järvinen (Commander of the Lake Ladoga Beach Brigade), and two unknown Luftwaffe officers (the one on the far right is from the Flak unit based from his waffenfarbe). Original description from SA-Kuva - Finland: "During an inspection of the German Navy (Einsatzstab Fähre Ost) in Lahti, the invited guests set out on an infantry boat from where Colonel Keller received the parade. Bay bottom, Ladoga." Please note that if it's referred to Generaloberst Alfred Keller, so the ID is wrong because it is NOT him.

Source :
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=41944&p=374911&hilit=Colonel+E.+J%C3%A4rvinen#p374911
https://wehrmachtss.blogspot.com/2018/11/perwira-jerman-dan-finlandia-di-danau.html

Coning Tower Test Using U-2330

Image size: 1600 x 1437 pixel. 666 KB
Date: Friday, 16 March 1945
Place: Germaniawerft, Hamburg, Germany
Photographer: Unknown

Beginning of March 1945, after the completion of construction, type XXIII submarine U-2330 was lowered by crane onto Slipway 8 of the Germania Shipyard. U-2330 was one of two boats used to test a conning tower variant with an inwards-facing mantle. This variant is easily recognizable by original style of balkon hydrophone array without the later sloped sides. Also clearly visible is the depth sounder opening in the keel. Commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Hans Beckmann, the submarine was attached to the 32. U-Flotille as a training boat from September 1944 until February 1945. It was subsequently assigned to the 11. U-Flotille (Bergen) as an operational boat. The U-2330 did not undertake any sorties, however, and it was scuttled by its crew in Kiel on 3 May 1945. The second Type XXIII boat seen in dock is the U-2323. Noteworthy on this boat are the many handgrip and step recesses on the side of the conning tower and the additional handgrip recesses farther up the rescue float container. The badly-bent starboard forward deflector in front of the forward dive plane may have been caused by a collision with an underwater obstacle or another submarine, or by a too-fast docking maneuver!

Source:

"U-Boot im Focus" magazine 2nd edition - 2007

U-861 at Trondheim Submarine Base

Image size: 1600 x 963 pixel. 468 KB
Date: Thursday, 19 April 1945
Place: Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway
Photographer: Unknown

Monsoon boat U-861 was in rather battered condition when it sailed into the submarine base in Trondheim, Norway, on 19 April 1945. Behind the boat lay a 13 ½ week trip home following its departure from the base in Surabaya (Java, Indonesia) on 15 January the same year. The big Type IX D2 boat had departed Kiel on its first sortie on 20 April 1944 under the command of Ritterkreuzträger (Knight’s Cross wearer) Kapitänleutnant Jürgen Oesten. Initially assign to an area of operations off the Brazilian coast and then the east coast of Africa, U-861 sank four ships totaling 22,040 GRT and damaged the 8,139 ton tanker “Daronia” before arriving at the island base of Penang (Malaysia) on 23 September 1944. By then the boat had been at sea for five months! The U-boat stayed in Penang until 1 November 1944, undergoing necessary maintenance and allowing the crew time to rest. On 1 November U-861 left Penang for Surabaya, arriving there on 5 November after a stop in Singapore. The boat remained there until it left for Germany on 15 January 1945. It carried a load of vital war materials, for example molybdenum ore, which was stowed in zinc containers in the ballast keel, and raw rubber. Armament was limited to two torpedoes for self defense. The safe return of the boat was the first priority, not the destruction of enemy shipping. This was jeopardized during the final phase of the journey when U-861 ran into pack ice south of Greenland. The resulting “sheet metal damage” was minimal, however, and thanks to the experience of the captain and crew the boat reached its destination albeit with just 800 liters of diesel in its fuel bunkers! Note the repainted area around the Panther emblem. Georg Högel’s book “Embleme, Wappen, Malings” depicts the emblem as a panther climbing a globe. According to Jürgen Oesten, the globe was never part of the emblem. Part of the word “Lekas” is visible on the conning tower. The word is Malay in origin and means “fast”.

Source:

"U-Boot im Focus" magazine 2nd edition - 2007

Italian Troops March Past Mussolini Poster in Ethiopia

Image size: 1600 x 931 pixel. 317 KB
Date: Wednesday, 1 January 1936
Place: Ethiopia
Photographer: Unknown

Italian troops march past billboard of Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini during 1936 invasion. Humiliated by a defeat at Adwa by Ethiopian troops in 1896, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was one of the few African leaders who ruled without European colonial interference. Yet, Ethiopia was heavily influenced by Italy. Fueled by the need for revenge and expansion by colonization, Mussolini sent his newly mechanized legions under the command of Comando Supremo (Itallian Army) Field Marshal Rodolfo Graziani across the Abyssinian border from Italian Somaliland and Eritrea on October 3, 1935. In 3 days Adwa was engulfed. By November Italians were 80 miles into Abyssinia. Resistance was heavy throughout the country. Graziani destroyed the Intelligentsia, and killed many Coptics in reprisal for partisan attacks. Field Marshal Pietro Badoglio (1871-1956) took command later in 1935 and immediately ordered gas attacks to quell the unrest. On May 5, 1936, the Italian army marched into the capital of Addis Ababa and Ethiopia surrendered. On June 30, 1936, Selassie, who escaped the invading Italians, spoke before the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, in protest of the attack, despite Italian attempts to interrupt his speech. "It is us today. It will be you tomorrow." he warned. The League of Nations condemned Italy's aggression and imposed minor economic sanctions in November 1935. Under the Neutrality Act, the United States stopped arms trade with both sides on October 5 and tried to limit exports of oil and other materials to normal peacetime levels on February 29, 1936. On October 9, 1935, the United States, not part of the League, refused to cooperate with any League action. The League sanctions were lifted on July 4, 1936 when Italian East Africa, Africa Orientale Italiana (AOI), was formed by Italy. in 1940, AOI was virtually isolated from Italy: the maritime transports were totally cut off, and supplies could arrive only from air, although always in dismal quantities. On March 27, 1941 the stronghold of Cheren was captured by the British troops after a strenuous defence from general Orlando Lorenzini. Eritrea was lost when the town of Massaua surrendered on April 8. The war was effectively lost on May 1941, when the Fascists at Amba Alagi under viceroy Amedeo di Savoia surrendered in face of overwhelming Allied troops. The last Italian force under General Guglielmo Nasi at Gondar surrendered on November 28, 1941.

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii107