The advance continued with village after village having to be cleared of Soviet defenders. The Wehrmacht and the SS constantly fought offensive battles. Subsequently, they then defended themselves, then went on to counterattacks. Hand grenades and MG 42 machine guns were their weapons of choice for close-quarter combat with Soviet infantry. The II.SS-Panzerkorps zone of battle, contrary to the impression given in many accounts, was approximately 15 kilometers wide, with SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Totenkopf on the left flank, Leibstandarte SS in the center and Das Reich on the right flank. The South Tyrol-born war correspondent SS-Obersturmführer Friedrich Zschäckel's contact sheets from Operation
Citadel reveal numerous groups of Soviet POWs awaiting transport to the rear and an uncertain fate in captivity. Many, however, died during the death marches from the front lines or under inhumane conditions in German prisoner-of-war camps and concentration camps. Top image: an SS-Untersturmführer of the Leibstandarte SS and veteran from the Battle of the Crimea with two Wehrmacht officers before their next assault on Soviet positions during Citadel. Photo taken by war correspondent SS-Unterscharführer Max Büschel. Credit: OTL Marwan. U.S. National Archives. Middle image: an early model of the Tiger tank accompanied by supporting panzergrenadiers entering a burning village and driving the enemy out. Credit: Rui Manuel Candeias. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: Waffen-SS MG gunners in camo smocks stride through a burned-out Soviet village in the summer of 1943. Photo taken by SS-Kriegsberichter Obermüller who served with Wiking and bandit-fighting 8.SS-Kavallerie-Division. Note: some sources identify this image as being from Demyansk showing the Danish machine-gunner SS-Rottenführer Kaj Buchardt in the center. Waffen-SS volunteer Buchardt survived the war and died in 2009. Credit: Doug Banks. Commons: Bundesarchiv.
I absolutely love this site. Reading the articles and watching the photos makes history come alive. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteP.S. the mentioned SS photographer Friedrich Zschäckel, who had Italian citizenship, was sentenced to death in absentia for evading service in the Italo-Abyssinian War 1935-1937. He was later pardoned by both Mussolini, and Hitler.
Greetings from a life-long WW2 buff.