The Cost of War - German Casualty Photos

Discussion in 'Axis Units' started by Paul Reed, Jan 6, 2009.

  1. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    I had a lucky find on eBay recently, or rather I should say an interesting find. A whole box load of portraits of German servicemen who died in WW2, cut from a local newspaper. They are all from one small area in Bavaria, so am presuming it is from a local newspaper in that area? The main town is Trotsberg. I haven't counted them all yet - but there appears to be at least 600 of them, possibly as many as a thousand.

    There is no way I would suggest that Germany suffered any more than anyone else, or that the losses of the Germans were more significant than the losses Germany inflicted on the various populations of Europe, but seeing something like this shows how the outcome of Hitler's actions wiped out a generation of young Germans. The impact of losses on the Eastern Front is particularly noticeable among these photos.

    In each case the name, details of the unit, plus date and place of death is shown, so I will post some examples of what is there.

    Some of the collection:

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  2. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    This is the earliest one I have found - a soldier killed in Poland in September 1939.

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  3. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Early-ish and decorated Ostfront:

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  4. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Brothers killed on the Ostfront - Kursk? :

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  5. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Kriegsmarine:

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  6. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Crete casualty:

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  7. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Luftwaffe:

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  8. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Panzer casulty, Ostfront:

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  9. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Panzer (Totenkopf?), Western Front:

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  10. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Arnhem:

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  11. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Normandy:

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    James S likes this.
  12. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    This is one of the last ones; the collection has every year of the war except 1945... perhaps no papers produced in the last months?

    Your comments etc appreciated. Will no doubt have some more to post.

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  13. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Ah, forgot these ones. First... Organisation Todt?

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  14. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    And this one, presumably an air raid "Terrorangriff"?

    Anyway, hope these are of interest?

    [​IMG]
     
  15. AndyBaldEagle

    AndyBaldEagle Very Senior Member

    A very nice find Paul. Any from Arnhem, Fallschirmjager?

    Andy
     
  16. Verrieres

    Verrieres no longer a member

  17. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Cheers Paul, always nice to put the shoe on the other foot. Makes you realise there were casualties on both sides.
     
  18. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Paul,

    An excellent collection and thanks for sharing on the forum.

    The picture No 9 I think is that of a normal Panzer crew. The collar flashes were both skulls, but different to the 'Deaths head' SS skull.
    The uniform was always black and is confusing.

    Regards
    Tom
     
  19. CROONAERT

    CROONAERT Ipsissimus

    The picture No 9 I think is that of a normal Panzer crew. The collar flashes were both skulls, but different to the 'Deaths head' SS skull.
    The uniform was always black and is confusing.



    It is. The "huzzar" totenkopf is different to the SS version and he's got the Heer "Adler und Reichs kokarde" on his feldmutze as opposed to the SS Eagle and Skull which would be found on a crewman of the SS-T.

    Dave. (Pity we can't see the pretty pink piping!:D)
     
  20. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    And this one, presumably an air raid "Terrorangriff"?

    Anyway, hope these are of interest?

    [​IMG]
    Just in relation to this the 392nd Bomber Group were involved in a raid on 11th July 1944 on the Marshalling Yards in Munich. Seemingly 19 bombers made it over the target and dropped their bombs, but no visual results of the raid were obtained. I guess we now know one of the results of that raid. Here is the link to the relevant mission profile: 11 July 1944 -- Mission #129 -- Target: Munich
     

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