Images Of The Wehrmacht (German Army) From WW2: Part 3

German soldiers on alert against allied aircraft at the Atlantic Wall

Filling up a Tiger tank

  

Firing mortar in Russia

Lettow-Vorbeck (right) as guest of General Günther von Kluge at army maneuvers in 1935

SOME NOTES ON LETTOW-VORBECK AND KLUGE

Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (20 March 1870 – 9 March 1964) was a German general, the commander of the German East Africa campaign in World War I. He commanded one of only two German colonial forces of that war which were not defeated. From May 1928 to July 1930 he served as a deputy in the Reichstag. Lettow-Vorbeck "distrusted [Adolf] Hitler and his movement," even though Hitler offered him the ambassadorship to Great Britain in 1935, which he "declined with frigid hauteur." During the 1960s, Charles Miller asked the nephew of a Schutztruppe officer, "I understand that von Lettow told Hitler to go fuck himself." The nephew responded, "That's right, except that I don't think he put it that politely."


After his blunt refusal, he "was kept under continual surveillance" and his home office was searched. The only rehabilitation due to his legendary standing among the populace came in 1938, when at age 68, he was named a General for Special Purposes, but was never recalled into active service.


By the end of World War II, Lettow-Vorbeck was destitute. His two sons, Rüdiger and Arnd had both been killed in action serving the German Army. His house in Bremen had been destroyed by Allied bombs, and he depended for a time on food packages from Meinertzhagen and Smuts. With the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and economic recovery, he enjoyed comfortable circumstances again.

KLUGE

Günther Adolf Ferdinand “Hans” von Kluge (30 October 1882 – 19 August 1944) was a German military leader. He was born in Posen into a Prussian military family. Kluge rose to the rank of Field Marshal in the Wehrmacht.

A leading figure of the German military resistance, Henning von Tresckow, served as his Chief of Staff of Army Group Center. Kluge was somewhat involved in the military resistance. He knew about Tresckow’s plan to shoot Hitler during a visit to Army Group Center, having been informed by his former subordinate, Georg von Boeselager, who was now serving under Tresckow. At the last moment, Kluge aborted Tresckow's plan. Boeselager later speculated that because Himmler had decided not to accompany Hitler, Kluge feared that without eliminating Himmler too, it could lead to a civil war between the SS and the Wehrmacht.

When Stauffenberg attempted to assassinate Hitler on July 20, Kluge was Oberbefehlshaber West ("Supreme Field Commander West") with his headquarters in La Roche-Guyon. The commander of the occupation troops of France, General Karl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, and his colleague Colonel Cäsar von Hofacker - a cousin of Stauffenberg - came to visit Kluge. Stülpnagel had just ordered the arrest of the SS units in Paris. Kluge had already learned that Hitler had survived the assassination attempt and refused to provide any support. "Ja - wenn das Schwein tot wäre!" ("Well - if the pig were dead!)" he said. He was recalled to Berlin for a meeting with Hitler after the coup failed; thinking that Hitler would punish him as a conspirator, he committed suicide by taking cyanide near Metz. He left Hitler a letter in which he advised Hitler to make peace and “put an end to a hopeless struggle when necessary...” Hitler reportedly handed the letter to Alfred Jodl and commented that “There are strong reasons to suspect that had not Kluge committed suicide he would have been arrested anyway."

The Wehrmacht used dogs to carry messages

And pigeons....

German signalers laying a cable

This man is very confident in Russia. 1944. Surprising.

This boy looks subdued in France. 1944

On the outskirts of Leningrad

Leningrad again

Transportation on the Russian snow. January 1942

A Romanian soldier in Southern Russia.Summer 1942

Tense and waiting for the order to attack. In Nevel, Russia. December 1942

Sdkfz 247, the company Daimler-Benz released a total of 58 units between July 1941 to January 1942 

The Sd.Kfz. 247 was an armored command car used by Germany during World War II. Ten units of the six-wheeled model were made before the war(Ausf. A) and 58 were built during the war ( four-wheeled model, the Ausf. B). The proper name was schwerer geländegängiger gepanzerter Personenkraftwagen (Heavy Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier).



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-- German soldiers: Part 1
-- German soldiers: Part 2
-- Wehrmacht: Part 4
-- Wehrmacht: Part 5 
-- Wehrmacht: Part 6 
-- Wehrmacht: Part 7
-- Wehrmacht: Part 8