Rare photographs of the Great Patriotic War and World War II (37 photos). Photos of the Second World War
If you look closely at this military beauty, you can imagine its teeth, and the gaps filled with human meat. Yes, that’s how it was: any military beauty is human death.
(Total 45 photos)
1. Defensive line "Siegfried" on the western border of Germany. A very powerful and beautiful line. The Americans stormed the line for more than six months. We dealt with the lines much faster - it’s a well-known fact: we weren’t behind the price.
2. A German soldier with children in an occupied Soviet village. The two smallest boys are tarring cigarettes. The German, as a distinctly kind person, was embarrassed by his kindness
3. Irma Hedwig Silke, employee of the Abwehr cipher department. Beautiful perky girl. A man of any nationality would be happy. And it looks like!!! ...If I had kissed you, I would have closed my eyes.
4. German mountain rangers in the Narvik area in Norway. 1940 Brave soldiers, they really saw death. Without combat experience, we “never dreamed of” their knowledge, no matter how much we read. However, they have not changed. Maybe not for long, the new experience did not have time to settle into the changes recorded in the wrinkles, but here they are, they have survived and are looking at us from there, from their own. The easiest way to dismiss it is “fascists.” But they are fascists - secondly, or even fourthly (like the commander of "Count von Spee", who bought the lives of his people at the cost of his life) - firstly, they are people who just survived and won. And others lay down forever. And we can only borrow from this experience. And it’s good that we only borrow and not receive. Because... - it’s clear.
5. The crew of the twin-engine Messer - 110E Zerstörer after returning from a combat mission. We are happy, not because we are alive, but because we are very young.
6. Eric Hartmann himself. Eric drifted on the first flight, lost the leader, was attacked by a Soviet fighter, barely got away and finally landed the car in a field, on its belly - it ran out of fuel. He was attentive and careful, this pilot. and learned quickly. That's all. Why didn't we have these? Because we were flying on crap, and we weren’t allowed to study, only to die.
7. ...How easy it is to distinguish the best fighter even among military professionals. Find here Dietrich Hrabak, the Hauptmann who shot down 109 planes on the Eastern Front and another 16 on the Western Front, as if he had enough to remember for the rest of his life. In this photo, taken in 1941, on the tail of his car (Me 109) there are only 24 coffins - signs of victory.
8. The radio operator of the German submarine U-124 writes something in the telegram log. U-124 is a German Type IXB submarine. Such a small, very strong and deadly vessel. During 11 campaigns, she sank 46 transports with a total tonnage. 219,178 tons, and 2 warships with a total displacement of 5775 tons. The people in it were very lucky and those with whom she met were unlucky: death at sea is a cruel death. But the future for the submariners would not have been any more pleasant - their fate would have just been a little different. It’s strange that we, looking at this photo, can still say anything about them. One can only remain silent about those who survived there, behind the “100” mark, hiding from depth charges. They lived, and, oddly enough, they were saved. Others died, and their victims - well, that was the war.
9. Arrival of the German submarine U-604 at the base of the 9th submarine flotilla in Brest. The pennants on the deckhouse show the number of ships sunk - there were three. In the foreground on the right is the commander of the 9th flotilla, captain-lieutenant Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, a well-fed, cheerful man who knows his job well. Very accurate and very difficult. And - deadly.
10. Germans in a Soviet village. It's warm, but the soldiers in the cars are not relaxing. After all, they can be killed, and almost all of them were killed. Tea is not the Western Front.
12. German and dead horses. A soldier's smile is a habit of death. But how could it be otherwise when such a terrible war was going on?
15. German soldiers in the Balkans play snowballs. Beginning of 1944. In the background is a Soviet T-34-76 tank covered with snow. -Which of them needs it now? And does anyone remember now, while kicking the ball, that each of them killed?
16. Soldiers of the “Greater Germany” division sincerely support their football team. 1943-1944. Just people. This is the leaven from peaceful life
18. German units, which include captured Soviet T-34-76 tanks, are preparing for an attack during the Battle of Kursk. I posted this photo because it shows better than many that only madmen are on the thrones, and the badges on the armor indicated the polar poles. A stencil phrase, but here, stencil Soviet tanks, under other icons drawn on a stencil, are ready to go to war with their brothers with other icons from other stencils. Everything is done for a sweet soul. It is not managed by people in iron boxes, but by others, and hardly by people at all.
19. Soldiers of the SS regiment “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler” rest during a rest near the road towards Pabianice (Poland). The Scharführer on the right is armed with an MP-28 assault rifle, although it makes no difference what the soldier is armed with. The main thing is that he is a soldier and agreed to kill.
20. German paratrooper with a Flammenwerfer 41 backpack flamethrower with horizontal tanks. Summer 1944. Cruel people, terrible things they do. Is there a difference with a machine gunner or a marksman? Don't know. Perhaps the matter would have been decided by the tendency to finish off burning and rushing enemies from service weapons? So as not to suffer. After all, you must admit, it is not the duty of the flamethrower to use a tarpaulin to knock down the flames and save them. But finishing the shot is more merciful. Seems.
21. Look, what a thick-footed guy. ...A good man, a hard worker, - my wife couldn’t be happier. A tank driver means a mechanic, the family’s hope. If he survived, and most likely he did, the photo was taken in the Balkans, then after the war the modern giant of Germany rose.
22. Gunner-motorcyclist of the 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf". 1941 Totenkopf - Death's Head. The SS soldiers actually fought better than regular units. And officers of any level were not told “Mr.” Just a position: “Scharführer...”, or “Gruppenführer...” The German Social Democratic Party emphasized that it was a party of equals.
23. And they fell equally on the ice. (soldiers of the police battalion)
24. Homemade and tireless pommel of an officer’s dirk, made during a military campaign. They had time under water. They fired and - time. ...Or there are screws on top and - right away there is nothing.
25. My favorite, one of the humane generals of World War II, one of the best generals then who preserved humanity in the war, is Erwin Rommel. Whatever one may say, namely that he is a seasoned human being.
26. And also Rommel. With a knight's cross, somewhere in France. The tank stalled, and the general was right there. Rommel was famous for his unexpected trips through the troops, where even the staff rats lost him, but Erwin Rommel did not get lost and again and again overthrew the enemy defenses, being next to his soldiers.
27. Adored by them. ...Subsequently, Field Marshal General Erwin Rommel was forced to die, as he participated in the assassination attempt on Hitler and the poison he took was the price of the Gestapo abandoning his family.
28. ...At work. It was their job, just like our soldiers - the same. The teeth that were knocked out or, under fixation, also showed. War is hard work with an increased mortality rate for those involved.
29. Brave. Before the start of the Western Campaign, SS Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Security Police and SD, completed flight training and participated in air combat in France as a fighter pilot in his Messerschmitt Bf109. And after the fall of France, Heydrich made reconnaissance flights over England and Scotland on a Messerschmitt Bf110. During his service in the Air Force, Heydrich shot down three enemy aircraft (already on the Eastern Front), received the rank of major in the Luftwaffe reserve and earned the Iron Cross 2nd and 1st classes, the Pilot Observer Badge and the Fighter Badge in silver.
30. German cavalrymen in training before World War II. Showing off, 99 percent showing off, however, characterizes “their Kuban people.” This must be something common among horsemen of any tribe, to be proud and to prance. We... They... Is there a difference? Isn't the difference limited to just one direction of the gun's muzzle?
31. English soldiers captured in Dunkirk, in the city square. Later, these soldiers received assistance through the International Red Cross. The USSR abandoned the Geneva Convention, declaring its prisoners of war traitors. After the war, Soviet soldiers who survived German concentration camps ended up in our camps. Where they didn't get out. "Okay, rush about..."
32. The wedding of the SS Unterscharführer from the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler takes place in the open air (possibly an airfield), because SS men did not get married in church. Behind him are friends from his native Luftwaffe
33. A German in a captured Belgian wedge. Very, very happy to ride. Like any of us.
34. "Tiger" fell into an icy drainage ditch near Leningrad, February 19, 1943. The man doesn't seem to come to his senses. Of course, it’s just that there was no one stronger than him; there was no one within the aimed shot radius of the 88-mm cannon. And suddenly... Poor guy.
43. but, in a word, because of a few. Instead of shooting at each other, they would learn to distinguish between their people, high-ranking scoundrels. But the unfortunate poor things don't know how
44. - everyone, everyone can’t do it, equally. Just know, they are dragging each other because of the Ural or Krupp armor:
German staff officers in the field near the Fieseler Fi 156 Storch aircraft
Hungarian soldiers are interrogating a Soviet prisoner of war. The man in the cap and black jacket is presumably a policeman. On the left is a Wehrmacht officer
A column of German infantry moves down a street in Rotterdam during the Invasion of Holland
Luftwaffe air defense personnel work with a Kommandogerät 36 (Kdo. Gr. 36) stereoscopic rangefinder. The rangefinder was used to control the fire of anti-aircraft batteries equipped with Flak 18 series guns.
German soldiers and civilians celebrating May 1st in occupied Smolensk.
German soldiers and civilians celebrating May 1st in occupied Smolensk
German assault gun StuG III Ausf. G, belonging to the 210th Assault Gun Brigade (StuG-Brig. 210), moves past the positions of the 1st Marine Infantry Division (1. Marine-Infanterie-Division) in the Ceden area (currently the Polish town of Cedynia).
German tank crews repairing the engine of a Pz.Kpfw tank. IV with a short-barreled 75 mm gun.
German tank Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. H of the training tank division (Panzer-Lehr-Division), knocked out in Normandy. In front of the tank is a unitary high-explosive fragmentation round Sprgr.34 (weight 8.71 kg, explosive - ammotol) for the 75-mm KwK.40 L/48 cannon. The second shell lies on the body of the vehicle, in front of the turret.
A column of German infantry on the march on the Eastern Front. In the foreground, a soldier carries a 7.92 MG-34 machine gun on his shoulder.
Luftwaffe officers against the background of a car in Nikolsky Lane in occupied Smolensk.
Employees of the Todt organization dismantle reinforced concrete French defensive structures in the Paris area. France 1940
A girl from a village in the Belgorod region sits with a balalaika on the trunk of a fallen tree.
German soldiers rest near the Einheits-Diesel army truck.
Adolf Hitler with German generals inspects the fortifications of the West Wall (also called the Siegfried Line). With a map in hand, the commander of the border troops of the Upper Rhine, Infantry General Alfred Wäger (1883-1956), third from the right is the chief of staff of the Wehrmacht High Command, Colonel General Wilhelm Keitel (1882-1946). Second from the right is Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler (Heinrich Himmler, 1900-1945). A cameraman stands on the parapet in a raincoat.
Church of the Transfiguration in occupied Vyazma.
Pilots of the 53rd Luftwaffe Fighter Squadron (JG53) at an airfield in France. In the background are Messerschmitt Bf.109E fighters.
Artillery officers of the Wehrmacht Afrika Korps, photographed by the corps commander, Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel (Erwin Eugen Johannes Rommel).
Crew of a Swedish-made 40-mm Bofors automatic anti-aircraft gun on the cover of the Finnish Suulajarvi airfield.
Vehicles of the Hungarian army on Vorovskogo Street in occupied Belgorod. The Polish-Lithuanian Church is visible on the right.
The commander of the 6th German Army, Field Marshal General Walter von Reichenau (10/8/1884-1/17/1942) stands near his staff car. Behind him stands the commander of the 297th Infantry Division, Artillery General Max Pfeffer (06/12/1883-12/31/1955). There is a version according to which, according to the Wehrmacht General Staff officer Paul Jordan, when in the first months of the war, during the offensive, the 6th Army encountered T-34 tanks, after personally examining one of the tanks, von Reichenau told his officers : “If the Russians continue to produce these tanks, we will not win the war.”
Finnish soldiers set up camp in the forest before their group leaves. Petsamo region
A salvo of bow 406-mm main caliber guns of the American battleship Missouri (BB-63) during firing training in the Atlantic..
Pilot of the 9th Squadron of the 54th Fighter Squadron (9.JG54) Wilhelm Schilling in the cockpit of a Messerschmitt Bf.109G-2 fighter at the Krasnogvardeysk airfield.
Adolf Hitler with guests at a table in his home in Obersalzberg. Pictured from left to right: Professor Morrel, wife of Gauleiter Forster and Hitler.
A group portrait of policemen against the backdrop of a temple in an occupied Soviet village.
A Hungarian soldier near the captured Soviet heavy artillery tractor “Voroshilovets”.
A dismantled Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft in occupied Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh region
Loading ammunition into a German StuG III assault gun. In the background is an Sd.Kfz ammunition armored personnel carrier. 252 (leichte Gepanzerte Munitionskraftwagen).
Soviet prisoners of war repair the cobblestone street before a parade of Finnish troops in the center of captured Vyborg.
Two German soldiers with a single 7.92 mm MG-34 machine gun mounted on a Lafette 34 machine gun in a position in the Mediterranean
Gun crews with their 88-mm FlaK 36 anti-aircraft guns on the German artillery support ferry "Siebel" while sailing in Lahdenpohja.
A German soldier digging a trench in the Belgorod region
A damaged and burnt German Pz.Kpfw tank. V "Panther" in an Italian village south of Rome
The commander of the 6th Motorized Infantry Brigade (Schützen-Brigade 6), Major General Erhard Raus (1889 - 1956), with his staff officers.
A lieutenant and a chief lieutenant of the Wehrmacht confer in the steppe on the southern sector of the Eastern Front.
German soldiers wash off winter camouflage from an Sd.Kfz half-track armored personnel carrier. 251/1 Ausf.C "Hanomag" near a hut in Ukraine.
Luftwaffe officers walk past cars in Nikolsky Lane in occupied Smolensk. The Assumption Cathedral rises in the background.
A German motorcyclist poses with Bulgarian children from an occupied village.
An MG-34 machine gun and a Mauser rifle on German positions near an occupied Soviet village in the Belgorod region (at the time of the photo, Kursk region).
A German Pz.Kpfw tank destroyed in the valley of the Volturno River. V "Panther" with tail number "202"
Graves of German military personnel in Ukraine.
German cars near the Trinity Cathedral (Cathedral of the Life-Giving Trinity) in occupied Vyazma.
A column of captured Red Army soldiers in a destroyed village near Belgorod.
A German field kitchen is visible in the background. Next is the StuG III self-propelled gun and the Horch 901 vehicle.
Colonel General Heinz Guderian (Heinz Guderian, 1888 - 1954) and SS Hauptsturmührer Michael Wittmann
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel at Feltre airfield.
German road signs at the intersection of K. Marx and Medvedovsky (now Lenin) streets in occupied Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh region
A Wehrmacht soldier near road signs in occupied Smolensk. The domes of the Assumption Cathedral are visible behind the destroyed building.
The inscriptions on the sign on the right side of the photo: Most (to the right) and Dorogobuzh (to the left).
A German sentry and a soldier (probably the driver) near the headquarters car Mercedes-Benz 770 near the Market Square in occupied Smolensk.
In the background is a view of Cathedral Hill with the Assumption Cathedral.
A Hungarian soldier wounded on the Eastern Front rests after being bandaged.
Soviet partisan executed by the Hungarian occupiers in Stary Oskol. During the war, Stary Oskol was part of the Kursk region, and currently it is part of the Belgorod region.
A group of Soviet prisoners of war sit on logs during a break during forced labor on the Eastern Front
Portrait of a Soviet prisoner of war in a shabby overcoat
Soviet captured soldiers at a collection point on the Eastern Front.
Soviet soldiers with their hands raised surrender in a wheat field.
German soldiers in Königsberg next to an MG 151/20 aircraft cannon in the infantry version
The historical center of the German city of Nuremberg destroyed by bombing
A Finnish soldier armed with a Suomi submachine gun in the battle for the village of Povenets.
Wehrmacht mountain rangers against the background of a hunting house.
Luftwaffe sergeant near the airfield. Presumably an anti-aircraft gunner.
Jet fighter Messerschmitt Me-262A-1a from the 3rd group of the 2nd combat training squadron of the Luftwaffe (III/EJG 2).
Finnish soldiers and German rangers sail on boats along the Lutto River (Lotta, Lutto-joki) in the Petsamo region (currently Pechenga, since 1944 part of the Murmansk region).
German soldiers set up the Torn.Fu.d2 radio, an infantry backpack VHF radio manufactured by Telefunken.
Re fighter crash site. 2000 Heja of pilot István Horthy (István Horthy, 1904-1942, eldest son of the regent of Hungary Miklos Horthy) from the 1/1 fighter squadron of the Hungarian Air Force. After takeoff, the plane lost control and crashed near the airfield near the village of Alekseevka, Kursk region (now Belgorod region). The pilot died.
Citizens at the Blagoveshchensky market in Kharkov, occupied by German troops. In the foreground are artisan shoemakers repairing shoes.
Finnish troops on parade at the monument to Swedish Marshal Thorgils Knutsson in captured Vyborg
Three marines of the 1st Kriegsmarine Division (1. marine-infanterie-division) in a trench on a bridgehead in the Ceden area (currently the Polish town of Cedynia).
German pilots look at peasant oxen at one of the airfields in Bulgaria. A Junkers Ju-87 dive bomber is visible behind. On the right is a Bulgarian ground forces officer.
Equipment of the 6th German Panzer Division in East Prussia before the invasion of the USSR. In the center of the photo is the Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.D tank. An Adler 3 Gd car is visible in the background. In the foreground, parallel to the tank, stands a Horch 901 Typ 40.
A Wehrmacht officer gives the command to attack with his whistle.
German officer on the street of occupied Poltava
German soldiers during street fighting. Medium tank Pzkpfw (Panzer-Kampfwagen) III on the right
initially armed with a 37 and then a 50 mm 1/42 cannon. However, their shots turned out to be
unable to penetrate the inclined armor protection of the Soviet T-34, as a result of which
the designers re-equipped the vehicle with a 50-mm KwK 39 L/60 gun
(60 calibers versus 42) with a longer barrel, which made it possible to increase
the initial speed of the projectile.
A German staff car with a French flag on the hood, abandoned on the coast of France.
The photographs were taken on May 8, 1945 during the retreat of the 6th Wehrmacht Infantry Division in the Neustadt area at Tafelfichte in the Ore Mountains (Bohemia, modern Nové Město pod Smrkem, Czechoslovakia) and the Giant Mountains (Riesengebirge, Silesia, Czechoslovakia). The photos were taken by a German soldier who still had Agfa color film in his camera.
Retreating soldiers at a halt. The emblem of the 6th Infantry Division is visible on the cart.
Adolf Hitler and German officers walk their dogs at Rastenburg headquarters. Winter 1942-1943.
German dive bombers Junkers Ju-87 (Ju.87B-1) in flight over the English Channel.
Soviet captured soldiers butcher a horse for meat in a village in the Kursk region.
Adolf Hitler hosts a parade of German troops in Warsaw in honor of the victory over Poland. Present on the podium are Hitler, Colonel General Walter von Brauchitsch, Lieutenant General Friedrich von Kochenhausen, Colonel General Gerd von Rundstedt, Colonel General Wilhelm Keitel, General Johannes Blaskowitz and General Albert Kesselring and others.
German Horch-830R Kfz.16/1 vehicles are passing in the foreground.
German soldiers near a damaged Soviet T-34 tank in the village of Verkhne-Kumsky
A Luftwaffe Oberfeldwebel gives a coin to a gypsy girl on the island of Crete.
A German soldier inspects a Polish PZL.23 Karas bomber at Okęcie airfield
A destroyed bridge over the Seim River in Lgov, Kursk region. The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is visible in the background.
Units of the Panzer Brigade Koll enter a Soviet village near Vyazma. The column consists of Pz.35(t) tanks.
German soldiers are sorting letters - looking for items addressed to them.
German soldiers outside their dugout listen to their comrade play the accordion during a lull in the fighting in the Belgorod region
German dive bombers Junkers Ju-87 (Ju.87D) from the 7th squadron of the 1st dive bomber squadron (7.StG1) before taking off on the Eastern Front.
A column of German vehicles from the Panzer Brigade Koll tank brigade is moving along the road near Vyazma. In the foreground is the Pz.BefWg.III command tank of brigade commander Colonel Richard Koll. Phänomen Granit 25H ambulances are visible behind the tank. Along the side of the road, a group of Soviet prisoners of war is walking towards the column.
A mechanized column of the 7th German Tank Division (7. Panzer-Division) drives past a Soviet truck burning on the side of the road. In the foreground is a Pz.38(t) tank. Three Soviet prisoners of war are walking towards the column. Vyazma area.
German artillerymen fire from a 210-mm heavy field howitzer Mrs.18 (21 cm Mörser 18) at the positions of Soviet troops.
Oil leakage from the engine of the German fighter Messerschmitt Bf.110C-5 from the 7th squadron of the 2nd training squadron (7.(F)/LG 2). The photo was taken at a Greek airfield after the return of 7.(F)/LG 2 from a flight to cover the landing on Crete.
Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, commander of Army Group South, and Panzer General Hermann Breith, commander of the 3rd Panzer Corps, at a meeting at the map of military operations before Operation Citadel.
Destroyed Soviet tanks in a field near Stalingrad. Aerial photography from a German plane.
Polish prisoners of war captured during the Polish Wehrmacht campaign.
German soldiers at a collection point, captured by the Allies during the Italian campaign.
German command tank Pz.BefWg.III from the Panzer Brigade Koll tank brigade in a village near Vyazma. In the hatch of the tank's turret is the brigade commander, Colonel Richard Koll.
The Second World War(September 1, 1939 - September 2, 1945) - the war of two world military-political coalitions, which became the largest war in human history. 61 states out of 73 existing at that time (80% of the world's population) participated in it. The fighting took place on the territory of three continents and in the waters of four oceans. This is the only conflict in which nuclear weapons were used.
At the top: 1941. Belarus, a German reporter eats a cucumber offered by a peasant woman
1941. Artillerymen of the 2nd battery of the 833rd heavy artillery battalion of the Wehrmacht are preparing to fire a 600-mm self-propelled mortar “Karl” (Karl Gerät 040 Nr.III “Odin”) in the Brest area.
1941. Battle of Moscow. Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism or LVZ (638 Wehrmacht Infantry Regiment)
1941. Battle of Moscow. German soldiers dressed for the weather during battle
1941. Battle of Moscow. German soldiers captured Russian prisoners of war in a trench
1941. Waffen-SS
1941. Lieutenant Yakov Dzhugashvili among prisoners of war during the battle for Smolensk
1941. Leningrad, Colonel General Erich Hoepner and Major General Franz Landgraf
1941. Minsk, German soldiers in an occupied city
1941. Murmansk, Mountain Riflemen made a stop along the way
1941. German artillerymen inspect the remains of the heavy artillery tractor “Voroshilovets”
1941. German prisoners of war guarded by Russian soldiers
1941. German soldiers in position. Behind them in the ditch are Russian prisoners of war.
1941. Odessa, Romanian soldiers inspect captured property of the Soviet army
1941. Novgorod, awarding of German soldiers
1941. Russian soldiers inspect trophies taken from the Germans and discover potatoes in a gas mask case
1941. Red Army soldiers studying war trophies
1941. Sonderkraftfahrzeug 10 tractor and soldiers of the Reich SS division drive through the village
1941. Ukraine, Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler talks with peasants
1941. Ukraine, column of Russian prisoners of war including women
1941. Ukraine, Soviet prisoner of war before execution on charges of being an agent of the GPU
1941. Two Russian prisoners of war talk with German soldiers from the Waffen-SS
1941.Moscow, Germans in the vicinity of the city
1941.German traffic controllers
1941.Ukraine, a German soldier accepts an offered glass of milk
1942. Two German sentries on the Eastern Front
1942. Leningrad region, a column of German prisoners of war in a besieged city
1942. Leningrad region, German troops at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city
1942. Leningrad region, one of the first Pz.Kpfw. VI Tiger
1942. German troops cross the Don
1942. German soldiers clear the road after a snowfall
1942. Pechory, German officers are photographed with clergy
1942. Russia, corporal checks documents of peasant women
1942. Russia, a German gives a cigarette to a Russian prisoner of war
1942. Russia, German soldiers leave a burning village
1942. Stalingrad, the remains of a German He-111 bomber among the city ruins
1942. Terek Cossacks from self-defense units.
1942. Non-commissioned officer Helmut Kolke of the 561st Wehrmacht Brigade with the crew on his Marder II self-propelled gun, the next day he received the German Cross in gold and the Honor Buckle
1942. Leningrad region
1942. Leningrad region, Volkhov Front, a German gives a piece of bread to a child
1942. Stalingrad, a German soldier cleans a K98 Mauser during a break between battles
1943. Belgorod region, German soldiers talk with women and children
1943. Belgorod region, Russian prisoners of war
1943. A peasant woman tells Soviet intelligence officers about the location of enemy units. North of the city of Orel
1943. German soldiers have just caught a Soviet soldier
1943. Russia, two German prisoners of war
1943. Russian Cossacks in the Wehrmacht during a blessing (priests in the foreground)
1943. Sappers neutralize German anti-tank mines
1943. Snipers of the unit of senior lieutenant F.D. Lunina fire volleys at enemy aircraft
1943. Stalingrad, a column of German prisoners of war on the edge of the city
1943. Stalingrad, column of German, Romanian and Italian prisoners of war
1943. Stalingrad, German prisoners of war pass by a woman with empty buckets. There will be no luck.
1943. Stalingrad, captured German officers
1943. Ukraine, Znamenka, the driver of the Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger looks through the hatch of the car at a tank stuck in the mud on the river bank
1943.Stalingrad, city center on the day of the surrender of German troops
1944. Commander of the 4th Air Command, Luftwaffe Colonel General Otto Desloch and commander of II./StG2, Major Dr. Maxsimilian Otte (shortly before his death)
1944. Crimea, capture of German soldiers by Soviet sailors
1944. Leningrad region, column of German troops
1944. Leningrad region, German prisoners of war
1944. Moscow. Passage of 57,000 German prisoners of war on the streets of the capital.
1944. Lunch of captured German officers in Krasnogorsk special camp No. 27
1944. Romania. German units evacuated from Crimea
1945. Poland, a column of German prisoners of war crosses the bridge over the Oder towards Ukraine
Without date. Two Soviet partisans inspect a captured German MG-34 machine gun
Without date. German soldiers clean their personal weapons. One of the soldiers has a captured Soviet PPSh submachine gun
Without date. German court martial
Without date. The Germans are taking away livestock from the population.
Without date. A Luftwaffe non-commissioned officer poses with a bottle while sitting on the head of a bust of I.V. Stalin
Friends and readers of the site about the most interesting facts in the world is approaching 70th anniversary of the victory V . In 2011, it was published on our portal A series of rare photographs dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. This year we decided to supplement this series with several dozen, and maybe hundreds of interesting photographs taken during the war. In this article we publish 37 rare photographs.
Lieutenant Sergei Vasilyevich Achkasov (1919 - 03/14/1943), which carried out two air rams on the Voronezh front, against a MiG-3 fighter.
Lieutenants Pyotr Andreevich Adkin (far right) and Alexander Andreevich Guivik (second from left) with colleagues.
Leonid Utesov on the wing of a La-5F fighter, built with funds from his ensemble “Jolly Fellows”. The moment the vehicle was handed over to the troops.
Flying boat PBY-5A "Catalina" (PBY-5A Catalina) US Coast Guard for repairs in a frozen bay on Kodiak Island, Alaska.
Pilot Boris Eremin on a Yak-1B fighter with a dedicatory inscription “To the pilot of the Stalingrad Front of the Guard, Major Eremin, from the collective farmer of the Stakhanovets collective farm, comrade. Holovaty."
Pilot Semyon Sibirin congratulates his French colleague Albert Littolf on another victory.
Pilots of the separate aviation squadron "Normandy" and the 18th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment near the Yak-1B aircraft.
Aces pilots of the 9th Guards Aviation Division from the Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter G.A. Rechkalova.
Battleship Arizona (USS Arizona), sunk by Japanese aircraft on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
A London boy on the ruins of his house, where his parents died after being hit by a German V-2 rocket.
A boy of about seven years old at the site of the last battle, near the exploded Soviet T-34-85 tank. Two more of the same tanks are visible behind.
Maria Dementyevna Kucheryavaya, born in 1918, medical lieutenant. At the front from June 22, 1941. In September 1941, during the fighting on the Crimean Peninsula, she received a shell shock.
Maria Dolina, Hero of the Soviet Union, Guard captain, deputy squadron commander of the 125th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment of the 4th Guards Bomber Aviation Division.
Maria Timofeevna Shalneva (Nenakhova), a corporal of the 87th separate road maintenance battalion, regulates the movement of military equipment near the Reichstag in Berlin.
March of captured Germans across Moscow - ahead of thousands of columns of soldiers and officers are a group of 19 German generals.
Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov and General D. Eisenhower in Leningrad. D. Eisenhower's visit to Moscow and Leningrad took place in mid-August 1945 after the personal invitation of G. K. Zhukov.
Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov photographed outdoors.
Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Stepanovich Konev(1897-1973) and American General Omar Bradley (1893-1981) at a meeting in April 1945.
Marshal of the Soviet Union, commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky, getting out of the car on the street of Budapest, receives a report from a subordinate.
A medic from the 48th Medical Battalion, 2nd Armored Division, bandages a wounded German soldier.
Less than six months later, during the Soviet offensive at Stalingrad, this army would be surrounded and defeated. On February 2, 1943, the 6th Army surrendered.
Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria come with a banner to the roof of the Reichstag. Although this was not the first red banner installed on the Reichstag, it was the one that became the Victory Banner.
Japanese Intelligence Junior Lieutenant Hiro Onoda surrenders to Philippine authorities.
Junior Sergeant Konstantin Aleksandrovich Shuty(06/18/1926-12/27/2004) (left), brother of Mikhail Shutoy, with a fellow soldier, also a junior sergeant.
Junior sergeant, mortarman - Nikolai Polikarpov at a firing position near Kyiv. 1st Ukrainian Front.
The grave of an American pilot made from 12.7 mm caliber cartridges from the machine guns of his P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft. The grave was made on August 8, 1944 by a French refugee couple.
The grave of Soviet soldiers (judging by the three Soviet helmets) and the Maxim machine gun. In the background you can see more than a dozen graves - already German (the helmets on the posts are German).
A US 5th Division Marine killed by a Japanese sniper, shot in the head (a bullet hole is visible on his helmet).
An ideal German family during the Third Reich. The father serves in the police, one son (left) is in the army, the second is the leader of the Hitler Youth.
Mom accompanies her son to the front.
Inspection of personnel in German.
German soldiers undergoing a medical examination.
German soldiers are fooling around. The inscription on the soldier’s back reads “Western Front 1939.”
The first day of the war in Przemysl (today the Polish city of Przemysl) and the first invaders killed on Soviet soil (soldiers of the 101st Light Infantry Division). The city was occupied by German troops on June 22, but was liberated the next morning by Red Army units and border guards and held until June 27.
Column of German troops. Ukraine, July 1941.
German soldiers with a machine gun MG 08/15.
German soldiers load a machine gun belt.
A German soldier with his daughter (presumably).
A German machine gunner with an MG-34 machine gun, the second crew number with additional zinc cartridges is visible from behind.
A German soldier in a captured village in the USSR. One shoulder strap is missing, most likely lost.
German soldier in a doghouse.
Officers of the German army and navy go to the position of the broken Soviet armored turret battery No. 35 (BB-35) of Sevastopol.
From the report of the Political Directorate of the Black Sea Fleet dated July 22, 1942 on the results of the June battles and the evacuation of Sevastopol:
“During the most intense period, when the enemy was breaking through in large groups of tanks from the area of the Kalfa and Nikolaevka farms, most of the coastal defenses were defeated, the main blow to the group that broke through was dealt by battery No. 35, which, starting from June 30, 1942, was the last most stable point of resistance on approaches to the Chersonesos Peninsula. The personnel of the approaching units, under the cover of battery fire, have been repelling numerous enemy attacks for the last three days, ensuring evacuation by sea and air. Having completely exhausted its ammunition and fired up to 50 practical shells, the 35th battery was blown up on the night of July 1-2.”
Awarding German soldiers with Iron Crosses.
A German pilot explains to his comrades how to attack an American Liberator B-24 bomber with a Messerschmitt Bf.109. Model B-24 - with designated firing sectors for onboard machine guns
Soviet prisoner of war. For some reason the Germans are carrying it with them in the back of a truck.
Germans with a field kitchen.
The Germans slaughter a pig.
German occupiers are photographed with local residents somewhere in the USSR.
Occupied territory of the USSR. In the upper right corner of the photo you can see the Izvestia newspaper on the wall.
German officers at lunch. Somewhere in the occupied territory of the USSR.
A German patrol leads captured Soviet soldiers in disguise. Kyiv, September 1941
German machine gunner with an MG-42 light machine gun.
The Germans bring a cow into a truck, taken from the inhabitants of an occupied village somewhere in the USSR.
Rudolf Witzig - legend of the German Airborne Forces
Hero of the assault on the Belgian fort Eben-Emal, which was considered impregnable. The fort with a garrison of 1,200 people and numerous artillery was suddenly attacked on May 10, 1940 (German landing gliders landed right on the territory of the fort), blocked and capitulated within 24 hours.
German losses were 6 killed and 15 wounded out of 85 soldiers and officers who participated in the operation.
A German soldier next to the bodies of dead Red Army soldiers.
Luftwaffe employees drinking in a hangar.
Two very different German soldiers.
Group photo of German submariners on the deck of a German submarine.
A column of German StuG III assault guns on the march to the Caucasus.
German paratrooper.
Clown photo from a German barracks.
German sergeant major with an MP-38 submachine gun.
Soviet children clean the boots of German soldiers. Bialystok, November 1942
Wehrmacht sergeant major who fought in the USSR. On the sleeve is the “Crimean Shield” badge for participation in the Crimean campaign of 1941-1942. Also visible on the chest are the DRA Sports Badge for Physical Fitness (left) and the General Assault Badge (center) for personal participation in three attacks or counter-attacks within three days, or bravery or wounding in three attacks or counter-attacks.
A photograph that seems to have been specially taken to refute the widespread stereotypes among us about the powerful weapons and support of the German troops that invaded the USSR in 1941: everyone on motorcycles, armed with machine guns, against foot soldiers of the Red Army with rifles. Here, all the German soldiers are armed with rifles, walking, and several people in the background are riding on horseback. The picture is complemented by the German light tank PzKpfw I, one of the weakest tanks of that time (bulletproof armor, armament: 2 MG-13 machine guns of 7.92 mm caliber).
Another clown photo from a German barracks.
German soldiers deliver food in water-filled trenches, October 1943, Velikiye Luki region.
A captured Red Army soldier showing the Germans the commissars and communists.
A famous photograph, the controversy surrounding which continues to this day. Beginning of July 1943. A Waffen SS (SS) soldier approached Soviet soldiers, one of whom was mortally wounded. The wounded man was given first aid; his arms and legs were injured. The next moment, the SS soldier will bend over the mortally wounded man and give him water from his flask:
As often happens, there are two versions of these events. Version No. 1: the events in the photo are true and show the last sign of respect shown to a dying but not defeated enemy. Version No. 2 is a staged photo (perhaps these are shots from Deutsche Wochenschau), aiming to show the humanity of German soldiers even in relation to “subhumans”.
SS soldiers pose with a captured Red Army soldier in a trench. In the hands of the German on the right is a captured Soviet PPSh assault rifle.
Reprisal against a captured Red Army soldier.
The Germans are gluing a paper model of the Soviet KV-1 tank. The KV-2 model is waiting in the wings on the table. In the initial period of the war, German industry produced similar visual aids - “tank field guides”. During the assembly process, soldiers remember the characteristic features and silhouette of enemy equipment. The same practice was used by the British during the Battle of Britain - 1/72 scale models of German aircraft were given to farmers living on the English Channel coast and having a home telephone.
German machine gunner at lunch. An MG-42 machine gun and an M-24 grenade nearby allow you to have lunch in peace.
German soldiers finish off a wounded Soviet sniper.
German pilots drink in a train compartment.
German soldiers study the Soviet light machine gun DP-27 (Dyagterev infantry model 1927). Captured copies of the DP-27 were used by the Wehrmacht under the designation “7.62mm leichte Maschinengewehr 120(r).”
German crew inside an assault gun.
German tank PzKpfw III and its crew.
Hauptmann Hans-Ulrich Rudel, a Stuka pilot, conducts an instructional training session on how to practice attacking Soviet tanks using the 37-mm cannons of a Ju-87 dive bomber. 1943, on the eve of the Battle of Kursk.
"Mixed-caliber" employees of the German air force.
The photo shows the tragic moment when the crew of the Soviet medium tank T-34/76 was captured by the Germans. Soviet tankers rammed the German self-propelled gun Sturmgeschutz III (StuG III), as a result of the frontal impact, both vehicles were disabled
Panzergrenadiers of the SS Viking Division. Battle for Kovel (Volyn region, Ukraine). The soldier in the foreground carries an MG-42 light machine gun on his shoulder, and the soldier turned away on the left has the latest assault rifle (machine gun) StG-44 at that time. In the background is a PzKpfw V Panther tank.
Panzergrenadier of the 12th SS Division "Hitlerjugend". The photo was taken in August 1944, before the Battle of Caen.
German soldiers in a swamp near the village of Myasnoy Bor, Novgorod region.
It’s interesting that the Aryans wear Russian hats with earflaps.
A German machine gunner in all the splendor of Wehrmacht logistics: excellent uniform, shiny helmet, mounted MG-34 machine gun and with an optical(!) sight. The photo is staged, but it gives some idea of the equipment of the German troops.
Private SS police division
Soldiers of the "Germany" regiment of the German 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking".
A private German tankman drinks a strong drink.
Matthias Hetzenauer (1924-2004) with a Kar98k rifle with a 6x optical sight.
Sniper of the 3rd Mountain Division (Geb.Jg. 144/3. Gebirgs-Division). From July 1944 to May 1945 - 345 confirmed killed Red Army soldiers. Awarded the Knight's Cross with Swords and Oak Leaves. One of the most productive snipers in Germany.
A Jew surrounded by German soldiers.
German soldiers with their main trophy. And also a little soldier’s life caught in the frame.
A German tankman examines a hole left by a shell on the armor of a Tiger tank. Kursk Bulge, August 1943
A German soldier portrays a woman among her comrades.
Crew members of a German submarine pose with a recently killed polar bear.
A captured Red Army soldier shows the Germans on the map the information they are interested in.
Helmsman in the conning tower of a German submarine. The photo was most likely not taken during a military campaign or at the very beginning, since the sailor’s face was clean-shaven, and in the German submarine fleet there was a tradition of not shaving until returning from a campaign to the base. In addition, it is interesting that the sailor holds his hand on the engine telegraph, which shows the position “Stop engine” and is clearly awaiting a command from the bridge.
Luftwaffe employees. There were also Germans in the aviation and navy who were far from the Aryan ideal.
A column of Soviet prisoners is being led to work. The German soldiers guarding them are armed with sticks in addition to rifles to urge on the prisoners.
Luftwaffe singing squadron.
A German officer with a little girl in a Ukrainian village.
German dog harness.
A German provides medical assistance to a Soviet prisoner.
A German soldier shares his rations with a Russian woman and child.
A German provides medical assistance to a Soviet prisoner
Column of Soviet prisoners of war. The German guard urges those walking.
This is the first public execution in the occupied Soviet territories; on that day in Minsk, 12 Soviet underground workers who helped wounded Red Army soldiers escape from captivity were hanged on the arch of a yeast factory. The photo shows the moment of preparation for the hanging of Vladimir Shcherbatsevich. On the left is 17-year-old Maria Bruskina, who was hanged.
The execution was carried out by volunteers of the 2nd Police Auxiliary Battalion from Lithuania, commanded by Major Impulevičius.
German column of motorcyclists.
German soldiers test the strength of the gallows.
Lunch of German officers. Somewhere on the territory of the USSR.
Wehrmacht soldiers entertain their comrades
German border police officers. The personnel are armed with German MP-28 submachine guns and a Czech ZB-26/30 machine gun.
German flamethrower.
German soldiers under artillery fire. Obviously, they already have losses - pay attention to the left side of the anti-tank ditch.
A captured German shows information on a map that interests a Soviet soldier.
The German soldier, having been wounded, continued to fight until he died from a grenade explosion.
Broken German tanks and corpses of German soldiers who died near the village of Panskoye, Kursk region in a battle with the 2nd Guards Rifle Division (future 2nd Guards Motorized Rifle Taman Division).
Until December 10, 1941, the 127th Division fought heavy defensive battles northeast of the city of Tim. They were especially strong near the village of Panskoye. Having exhausted the enemy, the division went on the offensive with the goal of destroying his Tim group.
With the beginning of the counteroffensive of Soviet troops near Moscow, the division as part of the Southwestern Front captured Nikolaevka, Koshelevo, Manturovo on December 11, and then, together with the 45th and 62nd rifle divisions, launched an attack on the city of Tim.
The enemy resisted especially stubbornly near the village of Karandakovo. In conditions of a snowy winter and severe frosts, the guards cut the Tim-Shchigry road, then battles began for Tim. The Nazis turned it into a strong defense stronghold. They offered the most fierce resistance at the Sokolya Plot, Rotten line. The rapid entry of the 127th Division to this line and its breakthrough put the Tim group in a difficult position. Fearing encirclement, leaving behind the dead and military equipment, the Nazis hastily began to leave Tim.
German soldiers killed at Stalingrad. February 1943. The author's title of the photo is “I was convinced to death.”
The corpses of killed or frozen German soldiers near Stalingrad.
Germans frozen alive.
German soldiers who died in Pillau (modern Baltiysk, Kaliningrad region).
The dead crew of the German tank PzKpfw IV.
A damaged Junkers Yu-87 (Ju 87), which made an emergency landing during which it crashed. Leningrad area.
The commander of the 56th Corps, General Helmut Weidling (left), the last commander of the defense of Berlin personally appointed by Hitler, surrendered to Soviet troops on May 2, together with his staff officers, May 1945.
German pilots in Soviet captivity.
German medium tanks PzKpfw IV (T-IV) destroyed in the Bobruisk offensive operation.
The Bobruisk offensive operation of the Soviet troops took place on June 24-29, 1944. During its course, 6 German divisions were surrounded - 40 thousand soldiers and officers (according to other sources - 70 thousand). All of them were destroyed or captured. On June 29, Soviet troops took the city of Bobruisk, where the 338th German Infantry Division was defending.
A traitor executed by partisans.
A German officer captured by scouts of the 49th Guards Rifle Division.
Dead German soldier.
Captured German sailors near Kerch. 1941
A German sergeant major explains to soldiers how to use the Faustpatron.
German prisoners of war on the streets of Berlin, captured by Soviet troops.
Shocked by the death of their submarine and being in the icy waters of the Atlantic, German submariners are on the deck of an American ship.
Dead German soldiers
Dr. Joseph Goebbels congratulates a young man from the “last” German conscription on being awarded the Iron Cross in the courtyard of the Reich Chancellery. March 1945.
Soldiers of the German “last call” in the trenches. March 1945.
Burnt bodies of German soldiers dumped on the armor of the PzKpfw V "Panther" tank. An MG-42 machine gun is visible.
Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, Infantry Lieutenant General Hans Krebs, at the headquarters of the Soviet troops in Berlin. On May 1, Krebs arrived at the location of Soviet troops with the aim of involving the High Command in the negotiation process. On the same day, the general shot himself.
An SS man captured by the Allies.
A German corporal executed by partisans.
Major General Friedrich Kussin (1895-1944) was the commandant of the garrison of the city of Arnhem. On September 17, 1944, between 16 and 17 hours, at the Oosterbeek-Wolfheze road fork, his gray Citroen car was fired upon by soldiers of the 5th Platoon of the 3rd Parachute Battalion of the British. The general, his driver and orderly were killed on the spot.
Photographer Dennis Smith took this famous photo the day after Kussin's death. By this time, the body of the murdered man had been violated and scalped. In addition, insignia, awards and almost all buttons were torn off the general’s uniform.
Representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky and commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front I.D. Chernyakhovsky is interrogated by the captured commander of the 53rd Army Corps, General of the Infantry Golvintser, and the commander of the 206th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Zitger. Vitebsk area, 1944.
A German soldier, buried under the earth when an aerial bomb exploded nearby, tries to get out. He is really alive - there is a newsreel of this episode, where you can see how a soldier rakes the earth with his hand
Column of prisoners on the streets of Berlin. In the foreground are the “last hope of Germany” boys from the Hitler Youth and Volkssturm.
The graves of German soldiers are somewhere in the USSR.
A column of German prisoners walking through Moscow. 57 thousand people in columns of 600 people, 20 people at the front.
The march of German prisoners took place on July 17, 1944, demonstrating to the Soviet people, as well as to the allies who did not believe in the successes of the Red Army, the results of the defeat of German troops in Belarus. About 57,000 German soldiers and officers (including 19 generals), mostly captured in Belarus by the troops of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Belorussian Fronts, marched along the Garden Ring and other streets of Moscow.
March of captured Germans across Moscow - ahead of thousands of columns of soldiers and officers are a group of 19 German generals.
March of German prisoners through Moscow. In the photo, Germans are walking along the Crimean Bridge.
Sprinklers demonstratively wash the streets of Moscow with soap, symbolically washing away dirt from the asphalt after the passage of tens of thousands of German prisoners through Moscow.