Aragorn2002 Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 A friend of mine did sent me this link to a Polish memorial site on the Warsaw uprising in 1944 with some rather interesting pics of German soldiers in action. Some of them I've seen before, some of them are new to me. Especially the street fighting and flamethrower pics are interesting. http://wilk.wpk.p.lodz.pl/~whatfor/niemcy%20_w_powstaniu_foto.htm 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDog944 Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 Powerful photos. I was particularly struck by the one "Then and Now" photo they have there. Those types of shots always make things so much more real to me. Thanks! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandelion Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 Very interesting site, thanks. Cheers Dandelion 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn2002 Posted September 18, 2005 Author Share Posted September 18, 2005 When I saw these pictures I suddenly did regret that there are so few clear pictures (left) about the fighting in the last stage of the war in the east, especially in cities like Berlin, Königsberg, Breslau and so on. It is always difficult for me to imagine how it must have been in that stage of the war. Although most defenders of the German cities weren't nearly as well equipped as the German troops in Warsaw in August-September 1944, they did put up a fight worthy of remembering. I regret that the last stand of all those men and boys of the Wehrmacht, HJ and Volksturm hasn't been documented as well as most other battles of the war, probably because the fighting was too fierce and the whole system of PK reporters was crumbling as well and lots of other reasons. Finally this site also made me realize the courage of those Polish men and women in the sewers, I salute them. [ September 17, 2005, 10:46 PM: Message edited by: Aragorn2002 ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonC Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 The thing I noticed is how little they were relying on ordinary infantry weapons for such street fighting. There are a few pics of infantry crawling over rubble, an MP gunner checking a room or a grenade being thrown. But for the most part it is an industrial process - FTs setting fires (most of the shots of them look locally unopposed), assault guns, quad AA firing horizontally. Also the characteristic film of rubble blown into the streets, testimony that HE had been fired within tens of yards of pretty much every location. Not something one can fight against with a rifle. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn2002 Posted September 18, 2005 Author Share Posted September 18, 2005 When I saw the pictures I recalled a topic quite a while ago in which Dandelion and you, JasonC (if I'm correct) explained to me how the German tactics for street fighting developed during the war. 'Demolition teams' with explosives, blasting their way from house to house. The Germans no doubt had learned their lesson by september 1944. At the same time more or less the same sort of street fighting took place in Arnhem. Those poor Polish men and women had to learn the hard way. No, they didn't stand a chance, that's for sure. On the other hand, I wouldn't like to walk around with a tank of high explosive fuel on my back and some eager Polish snipers around... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_wittman44 Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 Aragorn2002, what do you expect? The germans would have destroyed alot of documents to stop them falling into Allied hands. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn2002 Posted September 19, 2005 Author Share Posted September 19, 2005 Perhaps, Michael, but I rather think that the lack of victories and the feeling of a nearing end made the German propaganda machine slowly coming to a standstill. Even the Wochenschau-newsreels of 1945 weren't very convincing anymore, although still inspiring to fight on. But you may be right, perhaps a lot was destroyed in the final weeks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mies Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Too bad I didn't keep up with my Polish, but the pictures tell the stories well enough I guess. Indeed the "before and after" makes it that much more real. Mies 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfish Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 You can click on a few of the photos and it will take you to other pages. For example, a third of the way down there is a pic of a Brummbar, and directly underneath a pic of a curious looking tracked vehicle, one I've never seen before. Almost like a German version of the CW universal carrier. Click on the photo and you get this 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zalgiris 1410 Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 My Polish is not so good Kingfish so what exactly is 'this'? Can some Polak please explain, thanx. Good pics Aragorn2002, very interesting indeed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiredboots Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Zalgiris,THIS was a radio guided demolition vehicle. For those interested you can google some very interesting sites on the Warsaw uprising. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mace Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 Originally posted by Kingfish: ...a pic of a curious looking tracked vehicle, one I've never seen before. Almost like a German version of the CW universal carrier. It's the borgward B IV, an armored vehicle designed for the delivery of a demolition package mounted on the front of it. Read more about it here (about half way down) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer_M Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 The small tracked vehicle is a Engineer tank Borgward IV. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exploding Monkey Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 How do you fight THAT with molotovs and bolt-action rifles?!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvidae Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 For every conquered people, the price for resistance is high to the point of being total, The germans punnished warsaw the same way that any conqueror punnishes a rebelious city, and although the conquerer will brag about his "glorious" accomplishment afterwards,,, he never admits how utterly helpless the rebels were, 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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