ϟϟ-Standarte „Kurt Eggers“

Waffen-SS Grenadier with MG 34

SS-Kriegsberichter Wiegand

SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers was a Waffen-SS War Correspondent formation taking many famous photographs of all Waffen-SS divisions in the field. Many of Kurt Eggers photographers, movie cameramen, writers, broadcaster and recorders were multilingual foreign volunteers often accompanying advance units instead of relying on the typical posed battle shots and the relative safety of the rear units. The reporters generally served with several different Waffen-SS formations during the war. Non-Germans most often served with their own national SS formations, but were sometimes detached to cover a particular campaign and report specifically for their own domestic press. The reporters were equipped with still and movie cameras and operated in the same areas as the front line troops, armies and army groups. Usually they were professional photographers by trade before they joined the Waffen-SS. One of the most common cameras that were used was the Leica, as it was one of the best cameras of its time. They were all fully trained Waffen-SS combat soldiers. The honor title Kurt Eggers refers to the former editor of the SS magazine Das Schwarze Korps who was killed on August 13 1943 while reporting on SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Wiking's battles near Kharkov. Left image: a classic photo of a Waffen-SS soldier wearing the well known Platanentarn smock on the Eastern Front. c. Bundesarchiv. Right image: the Totenkopf war correspondent SS-KB Wiegand with a Leitz Hektor lens during Unternehmen Zitadelle at the Kursk salient. Credit: Johannes Dorn. U.S. NARA.