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| Commanding officer of SS-Panzer-Regiment 12 Hitlerjugend |
These famous photographs of the 12.SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend were taken by the eminent SS-Kriegsberichter Wilfried Woscidlo. They were taken just before these young volunteers of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 were moving out from Rots on June 9 1944. In the 1.Bataillon 65 percent were under 18 years old. Only 3 percent were over 25. Top image: in the foreground stands the 18-year-old SS-Sturmmann Otto Funk in a Italian pattern camouflage smock. He was involved in heavy fighting in and around the French town of Caen in the summer 1944. A total of 2,600 British tons of bombs reduced Caen to rubble and caused many civilian casualties. In the summer of 1944 there was extremely violent fighting in these ruins. Otto Funk was the ammo-carrier of MG gunner SS-Schütze Klaus Schuh. The pressure of combat, battle fatigue, is shown on the faces of these young SS volunteers of the Hitlerjugend. Many of these World War II photographs capture something special. It may be calm before the storm, it may be a moment of horror, or it may show a simple humanity often lost in the fray of battle. Credit: Whitedeath. Bottom image: SS-Hauptsturmführer
Rudolf von Ribbentrop, son of the Nazi diplomat and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, sits in the sidecar of a motorcycle after paying a visit to survivors of SS-Hauptscharführer Wilhelm Boigk's 3rd platoon of the 15th Kompanie. The motorcycle is driven by the commanding officer of SS-Panzer-Regiment 12 SS-Obersturmbannführer
Max Wünsche. Rudolf von Ribbentrop is born on May 10 1921 in Wiesbaden and is still alive in 2011. Scan: Stuttgarter Illustrierte Nr 25 (1944). Commons: Bundesarchiv.
Another truly historic piece! A picture that tells more than a thousand words. I really enjoy studying and learning about the Waffen SS. I have come to appreciate this site for the knowledge and information that has been provided here.
ReplyDeleteThe Panthers of 3rd Kompanie SS Panzer Regiment 12 with the accompanying infantry of 15th kompanie SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 25 planned to use the embankment on their right (North) as cover to move towards Norrey and speed was stressed as the highest priority by Wunsche. The Panthers quickly left most of the infantry in the dust and began to take accurate 6 pounder fire as they passed the linesman's cottage and crested the hill. They had planned on this, angeling appropriately and keeping their speed up, but they hadn't counted on was a squad of Sherman's including a number of fireflies who had, by chance, taken a detour on their way to their defensive position, placing them a couple hundred meters away at the Panthers 2 to 3 O'clock. The fire from the 6 pounders and machine guns in Norrey was hard enough but with the Shermans in perfect ambush position, the 3rd Kompanie's Panthers began to brew up with horrifically burned crew members hurling themselves out of their machines anyway they could. It was about this time that the accompanying infantry of 15/25 showed up behind the Panthers to support them when it was became apparent things had gone horribly wrong. As the attack began to fail, the naval artillery from Allied ships off-shore began to fall amongst the length of the rail embankment. A retreat was ordered and a few of the 12 original Panthers were able to fall back and the wounded crewmen and panzergrenadiers crawled along the embankment back towards the cover of the underpass and the road back to Rots. It was just after this disaster that these famous photos were taken.
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