Fighting in Ukraine

A Photographer at War

David Mitchelhill-Green

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781473848665
• eBook ISBN: 9781473848672
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

This WWII pictorial history shares the personal images captured by a German photographer and soldier who fought on the Eastern Front.
The outcome of the Second World War was decided on the Eastern Front. Denied a swift victory over Stalin's Red Army, Hitler's Wehrmacht found itself in a bloody, protracted struggle that it was ill-prepared to fight. Fighting in the Ukraine captures the drama and struggle of the Eastern Front through the extraordinary personal record of a professional photographer, Walter Grimm, who served in the German Army in a communications unit.
David Mitchelhill-Green brings Grimm's previously unpublished photographs together with a highly informative introduction. The 300 evocative black and white images provide an absorbing insight into the daily life and privations of the ordinary German soldier amid the maelstrom of history's largest conflict. The Ukrainian people, many of whom initially welcomed the Germans as liberators, freeing them from Bolshevik oppression, are also chronicled in this fascinating photographic study.

Chapter 1

Preparing for War

Lying in prone position, this soldier learns how to fire the Mauser Karabiner 98 Kurz (or K98), the Wehrmacht’s standard bolt action service rifle. Chambered for 7.92x57mm ammunition, a conversion kit was also available for training that allowed the rifle to fire small calibre rounds. Entering service in 1935, the gun remained in use until the end of the war.

Top and above: The Mauser K98 was a reliable and straightforward weapon to operate. After opening the operating bolt, a five-round charging clip was inserted. The cartridges were pressed down into the internal magazine and the bolt closed, which ejected the clip. The rear sight of the Gewehr (rifle) was graduated from 100 to 2,000 metres although the effective range was up to 500 metres. No adjustment was available for wind. An earlier importance placed on the volume of rifle fire delivered over accuracy was reversed after the invasion of the Soviet Union when accurate individual shooting was specified.

Top and above: Marksmanship results were relayed by field telephone and recorded. This soldier wears the early pattern Feldmütze (field cap) with national emblem and Reich cockade. The bitter experience of the first Soviet winter lead to the introduction of a new and more practical pattern cap in 1942 with side flaps that could be unbuttoned and worn over the ears.

This Landser (foot soldier) wears the standard feldgrau (field grey) M36 tunic with dark green collar and shoulder straps. His trousers are tucked into the hobnailed Marschstiefel (marching boots). His belt holds a single ammunition pouch. Each compartment held ten clipped rounds. For head protection he wears a M1935 pattern Stahlhelm (helmet).

The K98 rifle was maintained using the cleaning kit M34 (Reinigungsgerät 34). An oiling or bore brush attached to a chain was pulled through the barrel for routine cleaning.

Top and above: Rifles stacked, or piled, during a pause in training. Professor Friedrich Schwerd, designer of the iconic German Stahlhelm, recalled in a 1932 interview his idea for a one-piece steel helmet that could prevent ‘the sort of shell fragment injuries which I had observed during surgical operations could surely be prevented’. The resulting M1916 helmet was authorized for wear in February 1916, the forerunner to the M1935 pattern Stahlhelm.

Top and above: Basic training included strenuous day and night tactical exercises with live firing. In the realistic replication of combat, a one per cent fatality rate was considered acceptable. The basic training course for enlisted men in 1941 was at least three months.

Upon entering military service, all soldiers undertook a basic training course of six weeks before being assigned to permanent units. Note the telegraph wire in the background, indicating signals training.

Recruits receive instructions on wearing the Gasmaske 30 ‘S-Maske’. This rubberized canvas gas mask was manufactured in three sizes. Four different filters were issued: the Fe37, the Fe37 ‘R’, the Fe41 and the Fe42. ‘Fe’ stood for ‘Filter Einsatz’; the number indicated the year it came into service.

Chapter 2

The Tyranny of Distance

Crossing the border from the Generalgouvernement, a German administrative region in Poland encompassing the borderlands of western Ukraine.

A motorized column passes Ukrainian refugees. The roadside sign carries a warning of disease risk and the associated hazard of drinking the water.

An assortment of clothing and equipment lying on a train station platform including: tunics, boots, M1934 pack with fur flap, mess kit, Zeltbahn (shelter quarter), belt with ammunition pouch, K98 rifles, Gasmaskenbü...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter One: Preparing for War
• Chapter Two: The Tyranny of Distance
• Chapter Three: Communications
• Chapter Four: Crimea
• Chapter Five: Occupation
• Chapter Six: Dust, Mud, Snow and Ice
• Chapter Seven: Detritus of War
• Chapter Eight: Combat preparations
• Chapter Nine: The Dead and the Decorated
• Postscript
• Appendix 1: Chronology of the War in Ukraine
• Bibliography