The key, or so Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler believed, in achieving victory at this late stage of the war, was the use of his elite panzer divisions of the Waffen-SS. Hitler had lost faith in the German Wehrmacht long ago, but he still clung to the belief that his picked Waffen-SS troops would bring victory. This belief was to be shattered in the months to come. During this time the 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking was engaged in counterattacks against Soviet armored and cavalry forces following their rapid advance during the Red Army's
Operation Bagration summer offensive. Top image: SS-Panzergrenadiers belonging to SS-Kampfgruppe Mühlenkamp of the Wiking in Eastern Poland in July 1944. As the massed forces of the Red Army steamrollered their way across Poland, the German war machine began to break down. The Waffen-SS and the Wiking continued to fight on even when overrun and abandoned in isolated pockets. Credit: Sylerius. Middle image: Company commander SS-Ustuf. Gerhard Mahn of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Germania signals to his men in armoured half-tracks while a plume of smoke rises in the background as they are about to mount an attack against the Soviets. Credit: Mike Gepp. Bottom image: Commander of 5th Company of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5
Wiking SS-Ostuf. Norbert Neven du Mont's Panther tanks sweeping all before them in the vicinity of Maciejow in Poland in July 1944. Panther n°534 moves ahead into a farmyard while Gerhard Mahn's men keep their heads down in their SPW in case Soviet infantry are encountered. Hanging inside the vehicle to the right of the Grenadier are three essential pieces of field equipment familiar to every German soldier; a
Brotbeutel, Essgeschirr and
Feldflasche. Neven du Mont was KIA on July 26 1944. Credit: Authors Douglas E. Nash and Remy Spezzano: Kampfgruppe Mühlenkamp. All photos taken by acclaimed lensman SS-Uscharf. Ernst Baumann of the Germania. Baumann was captured by the Americans in 1945 and returned home from captivity in 1947. On May 14 2006, a permanent exhibition with works from his early creative period from 1925 to 1950 was opened in the mountain hotel on the Predigtstuhl near Bad Reichenhall. c. Bundesarchiv.
Through a fortuitous convergence of events, this offensive was recorded from start to finish by three photographers - Ernst Kurbjuhn and Alois Jarolim acting in an official capacity and Ernst Baumann, a staff member of SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment "Germania". The powerful and poignant images shot by Baumann reveal the eye of a truly talented artist, whereas those taken by his two SS-KB comrades demonstrate a skill level that is more indicative of their Propaganda Company photographic specialist training. Collectively, their pictures, present an intimate and dynamic visual chronicle of this military operation not seen before.
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