Willibald Unfried Attacking with StuG

Ritterkreuzträger Unteroffizier Willibald Unfried of 9.Kompanie / Infanterie-Regiment 213 / 73.Infanterie-Division during the attack on the Soviet position near Novorossiysk, a Russian port on the Black Sea, August 1942. He is armed with a captured SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle, against the background of a StuG III Ausf.F (7,5 cm Sturmkanone 40 L/43) from Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 210. Unfried received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 March 1942 for his heroic actions as a machine-gunner during the fierce battles at Bairasch and Adzhigol.

Encountering an ever-increasing number of well-armed and protected enemy tanks caused turmoil in the German Army. The German tanks and anti-tank weapons of 1941 were barely managing to keep enemy armor at bay. Due to a lack of industrial capacity, the Germans had only two options for a quick response, either build improvised anti-tank vehicles or improve the firepower of existing designs. Following the second solution, the StuG III would be adopted for a completely new role it was initially not designed for. Its short barrel gun would be replaced with a longer 7.5 cm gun which greatly improved its overall firepower. Thanks to its relatively cheap price, slight silhouette, fully protected superstructure, and a new gun, along with well-trained and motivated crews, this created a highly deadly vehicle. The first in the line of the long barrel vehicles was the StuG III Ausf.F.

Ritterkreuzträger Unteroffizier Willibald Unfried (left) of 9.Kompanie / Infanterie-Regiment 213 / 73.Infanterie-Division during the attack on the Soviet position near Novorossiysk, a Russian port on the Black Sea, August 1942. He is armed with a captured SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle, against the background of a StuG III Ausf.F (7,5 cm Sturmkanone 40 L/43) from Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 210.

Ritterkreuzträger Unteroffizier Willibald Unfried (center) of 9.Kompanie / Infanterie-Regiment 213 / 73.Infanterie-Division during the attack on the Soviet position near Novorossiysk, a Russian port on the Black Sea, August 1942. He is armed with a captured SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle, against the background of a StuG III Ausf.F (7,5 cm Sturmkanone 40 L/43) from Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 210.

Source :
ECPAD archives (DAT 155 L.12)
https://www.facebook.com/easternfrontgallery/photos/a.333275313914287/375199003055251/?type=3&paipv=0&eav=AfYklDe_N2oQ7nZZ280CkEquhAjid8jISZ9-jbiM6ZMNpwbliK-_Yd-z4OQUf8B8rCw&_rdr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/130556552@N02/18224441548
https://www.shop.history-films.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=13
https://twitter.com/panzerdb/status/1056110882139369473?lang=fa
https://waralbum.ru/192509/