Showing posts with label 6 With Machine Gun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 6 With Machine Gun. Show all posts

Sunday, December 3, 2023

Heinz Harmel Huddled inside the Halftrack


Inside the Sd.Kfz.251 half-track, the men of Frundsberg Division seemed tense and were all huddled inside the armored body. Perhaps because of artillery fire falling nearby? SS-Oberscharführer Sven-Erik Olsson (chefsfunker with the Divisionskommandeur) is in the left foreground, while Eichenlaubträger SS-Oberführer Heinz Harmel (Kommandeur 10. SS-Panzer-Division "Frundsberg") looks towards the rear of the armored vehicle. DKiGträger SS-Obersturmbannführer Wilhelm Schulze (Kommandeur SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 22) is just behind the MG42. The picture was taken during the Battle of Normandy in the summer 1943. During this time, the aim of the II. SS-Panzerkorps - and the Frundsberg division subordinate to it - was to prevent the Allies from breaking out of the landing area to the east.



Another picture of SS-Oberführer Heinz Harmel (Kommandeur 10. SS-Panzer-Division "Frundsberg") with his Chefsfunker, SS-Oberscharführer Sven-Erik Olsson (left), taken at the same time frame as above. It's a myth that Olsson was a Swedish volunteer. He was a Baltic German from Estonia, with a Swedish grandfather, which is how he came to have a Swedish name. But he wasn't from Sweden, nor did he hold Swedish citizenship!


Source :
"Panzerdivision Frundsberg: Ukraine-Normandie 1944" by Stephan Cazenave
https://www.facebook.com/groups/152986901863424?multi_permalinks=1697170594111706&hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen

Friday, December 1, 2023

Heinz Harmel Practices with MG 42


SS-Oberführer Heinz Harmel (Kommandeur 10. SS-Panzer-Division "Frundsberg") practices shooting with an MG 42 submachine gun. He has a Panzervernichtungsabzeichen (Tank Destruction Badge in close combat) sewn on the top of his right sleeve. His driver and bodyguard, SS-Unterscharführer Sepp Hinterhölzl (or hinterholze) is at his side wearing a full outfit of Erbsenmuster (Pea-Dot camo). The picture was probably taken during training season in 1944.



Source :
"Panzerdivision Frundsberg: Ukraine-Normandie 1944" by Stephan Cazenave

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Willy Zimmermann with MP 40


Unteroffizier Willy Zimmermann of 6.Kompanie / Grenadier-Regiment 80 / 34.Infanterie-Division - awarded the Nahkampfspange and the ribbon bar of the Ostmedaille - sitting with MP 40 submachine gun in winter landscape. The picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Wehmeyer of Propaganda-Kompanie 697 (PK 697) on the Eastern Front in January 1944. Wilhelm "Willy" Zimmermann (21 March 1920 - 9 February 2002) received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 23 October 1944 as Feldwebel and Zugführer in the 6.Kompanie/Grenadier-Regiment 80. His additional medals and decorations: Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen (6 December 1941), Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (10 April 1942), Medaille "Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42" (22 April 1942), Eisernes Kreuz II klasse (31 July 1942), Eisernes Kreuz I klasse (3 September 1942), Verwundetenabzeichen in Silber (1 March 1943), Verwundetenabzeichen in Gold (14 September 1943), and Nahkampfsprange in Bronze (13 October 1944). His last rank was Oberfeldwebel.

Source :
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-278-0899-26,_Russland,_Soldat_mit_MP_40_im_Schnee.jpg
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/41612/Zimmermann-Willy.htm