Adopting a philosophical attitude toward the situation, this unidentified SS-Unterscharführer of the Leibstandarte SS reaches out to pluck a handful of flowers while awaiting the resumption of hostilities. Spring has arrived. Nature's rebirth reminded me of this photo, a unique moment of peace among the chaos of war, and proof that even the most battle hardened soldier can succumb to the most simple example of Nature's glory. The photo was taken by SS-Kriegsberichter Max Büschel in Ukraine in the spring of 1943. The fate of the pictured soldier is unknown. The talented photographer Büschel himself survived the war and managed to evade captivity when the 1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS surrendered to American forces in Austria in May 1945. He made his way back to his family in Berlin, but was apparently murdered when the Soviet occupational forces found him out as a member of the Leibstandarte SS. U.S. NARA. Bottom image: three SS-Panzer officers in front of their Tiger tank in Kharkov in the spring of 1943. Officers from left to right are SS-Untersturmführer Helmut “Bubi” Wendorff, KIA on Aug. 14 1944 west of Mézières in Normandy, at the time of his death he had been credited with 84 tank kills, SS-Obersturmführer Waldemar Schütz, survived the war and died on Sept. 9 1999 in Raubling in Bayern and the tank ace SS-Untersturmführer
Michael Wittmann, KIA on Aug. 8 1944 in Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil in Normandy, at the time of his death he had been credited with 138 tank kills and 132 anti-tank gun kills. Wittmann became a cult figure after the war thanks to his accomplishments as a panzer ace as part of the portrayal of the Waffen-SS in popular culture. c. Bundesarchiv.
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