Hitler's War in Pictures

A look back at some of the new photography collections - dealing with the war from the German perspective - that we have featured over the past year ...

Jul 31, 2022

Every week we feature a new or recently released book about some aspect of World War II, along with a substantial excerpt so that you can judge for yourself. But sometimes it’s hard to keep up. So periodically we’ll look back at some of the books you may have missed, or might want to see again.

The following links take you back to the original feature, where you can see more of the images from these books:

The Second World War Illustrated

October 1941. ‘The days of the Blitzkrieg were over. Here a motorcycle and sidecar *abteilung* have to drag their BMW machines across waterlogged fields.’

… the third volume from this popular series. A very diverse collection of images from all sides of the conflict. These are organised by theme - the Eastern Front, the Desert, the Pacific, etc - and provide a good overview of events mainly through the captions but with some supporting text and diagrams. Many pictures will be familiar - as the main source material is official archives - but in each volume quite a few interesting rarities have turned up. Recommended.

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Hitler’s Wolfsschanze

Hitler accompanies Field Marshal Mannheim of Finland in 1942. In the early days many of the buildings were relatively conventional - by the end of the war most would be covered by massive concrete slabs.

The remote, damp, mosquito infested compound was by all accounts not a very pleasant place to be. John Grehan draws on a wide range of sources to complete the picture - from the many important visitors who left a record of their time here, through to accounts from his secretaries and even from the food tasters who checked Hitlers food before it was passed to him.

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U-Boats at War in a 100 Objects

As can be seen, use of the external facilities was a precarious business, even in calm seas.

An excelloverview which both introduces the scope of U Boot warfare and delves into some unexpected aspects.

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Life and Death on the Eastern Front

A triumphant Adolf Hitler arrives in Ukraine in 1941 to congratulate his troops and his generals. They had conquered a vast area and were poised to take Moscow. At this stage of the war there was no denying his genuine popularity. Hitler's wartime uniform naturally mirrored his dual position as supreme political leader and military commander. Therefore, he liked to combine elements of the Nazi Party and Army uniforms. For his visit to Ukraine he wore a leather trench coat, white shirt and black tie. His field-green cap has a brown velvet band with gold piping around the top and white around the band. The cap cords are gilt gold with a black or brown peak.

With an authoritative text from Anthony Tucker-Jones this volume presents many different aspects of the German war in the east, mainly from 1941 and 1942. Very good quality reproductions can be found in the hard back edition, few of which I had seen before. Will be a ‘must have’ for students of the Eastern Front as well as of interest to many others.

Fighting in the Ukraine

Approximately 2.3 million Ukrainians were deported to Germany as labourers. Many of these Ostarbeiter (eastern workers) willingly volunteered at the beginning of the occupation hoping to escape famine and unemployment and learn a new trade. After news of their poor treatment reached Ukraine, the Germans began using force to meet their quotas with towns and villages forced to register eligible workers. A failure by individuals to report led to the torching of homes and villages or detention in concentration camps.

This was first published in 2016 but obviously has a particular resonance today. This is a very good example from the series with a wide variety of images illustrating this particular corner of the war. These are almost all from the German perspective, showing many different aspects of the Wehrmacht operating in the Ukraine - living and fighting conditions, transport, communications etc, each with a knowledgeable caption.

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The Third Reich in 100 Objects

The iconic German stick grenade is one of the 100 Objects examined.

By examining a diverse range of objects, … Pervitin, Hitler’s Mercedes, jackboots, concentration camp badges, a 1932 election poster, Wehrmacht mittens, Hitler’s grooming kit, the Tiger Tank, fragments of flak, the swastika and Mein Kampf are amongst them … the reality of life under the Nazis at peace and at war is brought to life.

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World War II Today