German Units
Barbarossa – Panzer Divisions
The first weeks of Barbarossa saw the Panzers make rapid advances and Soviet forces taking heavy losses, outshining the German achievements of 1940. However, problems soon surfaced. The lack of a suitable road network slowed down the German follow-up infantry and supplies, with the result that the Panzers failed to complete the encirclement of the enemy. The infantry took longer…
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THE “TIP AND RUN” RAIDS
The Luftwaffe Raids: Jaboeinsätz Fighter bomber sortie; two aircraft or more Störangriff Nuisance raid; single bomber or two fighters; Pirateinsätz Attack by single bomber in bad weather. Taken by Leutnant Leopold Wenger from the cockpit of his Fw 190, this remarkable series of images shows a “Tip and Run” raid…
Sickle Cut through France I
Knights of our times . . . Tank units, mobile, fast and hard hitting, and directed by wireless from headquarters, attack the enemy. This armoured machine paves the way to victory, flattening and crushing all obstacles and spitting out destruction. Signal, 1940 Although Britain and France had declared war on…
Sickle Cut through France II
There was no armoured division in the BEF, but the British did have almost 450 tanks in France, including about 150 A10 and A13 Cruisers and 75 of the heavy A12 Mark II Matildas, which proved virtually impenetrable to the German PaKs (Panzerabwehrkanone – anti-tank guns) because of their 75…
Sickle Cut through France III
The 7th Panzer, one of the two armoured divisions in Hoth’s Panzerkorps, had been able to skirt much of the forest and reached the river near Dinant on the afternoon of the 12th, finding when they got there that the retreating French cavalry had blown up all the bridges. The…
Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen
Twenty Arado Ar 234 Bs were produced and delivered by the end of June 1944. The only notable use of the plane in the bomber role was during the Ardennes offensive in winter 1944-45, and the most spectacular operational bombing mission was the repeated attacks by Ar 234 B-2s flown…
Retreat Back to Poland Summer 1944 I
By 1 July 1944 Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model was certain the most easterly line he could try to hold was between Baranovichi and Molodechno. He expected some advantage from earthworks and trenches left there from World War I, but told Hitler he would need several divisions from Army Group North to…