Subhash Chandra Bose, Nazi Germany And Free India Legion

 Subhash Chandra Bose meets Hitler

When WW2 broke out although the Congress Party had passed resolutions conditionally supporting the fight against fascism, Indian public opinion was more hostile at Britain's unilateral decision to declare India a belligerent on the side of the Allies. Among the more rebellious amongst Indian political leaders of the time was Subhash Chandra Bose, who was viewed as a potent threat enough that when the war started, the Raj put him under arrest, and later, house arrest. Bose escaped from under British surveillance at his house in Calcutta on January 19, 1941, with the help of family members, members of his party - the Forward Bloc – and later the Abwehr, he made his way through Afghanistan to the Soviet Union. Once in Russia the NKVD transported Bose to Moscow where he hoped that Russia's traditional enmity to British rule in India would result in support for his plans for a popular rising in India. However, Bose found the Soviets' response disappointing and was rapidly passed over to the German Ambassador in Moscow, Count von der Schulenberg, who arranged for Bose to be sent to Berlin at the beginning of April where he met Ribbentrop and later, Hitler. In Berlin, Bose set up the Azad Hind Radio and the Free India Centre which commenced broadcasting to Indians in short wave frequencies. The Azad Hind Radio broadcasts were estimated to have regularly been received by 30,000 Indians who possessed the requisite receiver. However, soon, Bose's aim became to raise an army that he imagined would march to India's North-West Frontier Province with German forces through the Caucasus and trigger the downfall of the Raj.

Indian soldiers alongside a German soldier

 WHY WERE THE GERMANS CO-OPERATIVE WITH THE INDIANS?

India was an important element in the German scene - a population OF 300 millions. And it was located in central Asia,

Indian soldiers trained by Nazi Germany were to join India to expel British troops to lift large numbers of troops and siding with the Japanese forces to attack the Middle East and Central Asia (USSR) Asia South-East and Oceania (Australia in particular).

HITLER NEVER THOUGHT HIGHLY OF THE INDIAN LEGION

The Free India Legion was organized as mixed units so that Moslems, Hindus, Sikhs, Jats, Rajputs, Marathas, Kumaonis and Garhwalis all served side-by- side. Approximately two-thirds of the Legion's members were Muslim and one- third Hindu and other religions, including a large number of Sikhs.That Bose's idea of developing a unified racial-nationalist identity was successful is evident from the fact that when Himmler proposed in late 1943- after Bose's Departure to the Far East- that the Muslim soldiers of the I.R. 950 be recruited into the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) that was formed at the time, the head of the SS Head office Gottlob Berger was obliged to point out that while the Bosnians perceived themselves as people of a European identity, the Muslims perceived themselves as Indians. Hitler however showed little enthusiasm for the I.R. 950, at one stage insisting that their weapons be handed over to the newly created 18th SS Horst Wessel Division, exclaiming that "....the Indian Legion is a joke!"

Hitler was skeptical and critical of the Indian Legion because of the policy of non-violence propagated by Mahatma Gandhi

Burly Sikhs in the Free India Legion

WHAT HAPPENED THEN ?

It is doubtful that Subhash Chandra Bose envisaged the Free India Legion (or Azad Hind Legion as it came to be more popularly known by the time he left Germany for the far east) as an army sufficient or strong enough to conduct a campaign across Persia into India on its own. Instead, most historians accept that the IR 950 was to become the pathfinder and would precede a much larger Indo-German force in a Caucasian campaign into the western frontiers of British India that would encourage public resentment of the Raj and incite the British Indian Army into revolt.

To this end, Operation Bajadere was launched in January 1942 when a detachment of the Freies Indien, numbering about one hundred and having trained with the German Special Forces, were paradropped into Eastern Persia tasked to infiltrate into India through Baluchistan. They were also tasked to commence sabotage operations in preparation for the anticipated national revolt. Information passed on to Abwehr headquarters in Berlin from their office in Kabul indicate that they were successful.

Following German defeat in Europe at Stalingrad and in North Africa at El Alamein it became clear that an Axis assault through Iran or even USSR was unlikely. Bose had in the mean time travelled to the Far East where the Japanese troops were threatening India. Bose's army in South Asia, the Indian National Army successfully engaged the allies along with the Japanese 15th Army in Burma and ultimately entered India through Moirang to lay siege on Imphal. The German Naval High Command at this time made the decision to transfer the leadership and a segment of the Freies Indien to the Azad Hind Government in South Asia and on 21 January, it was formally made a part of the Indian National Army.

Rommel meets Indian soldiers

A majority of the troops of the Indian Legion, however, were to remain in Europe through the war and were never utilized in their original perceived role over Persia and Central Asia. The Legion was transferred to Zeeland in the Netherlands in April 1943 as part of the Atlantic Wall duties and later to France in September 1943, attached to 344 Infanterie-Division, and later the 159 Infanterie-Division of the Wehrmacht.

From Beverloo in Belgium, I Battalion was reassigned to Zandvoort in May 1943 where they stayed until relieved by Georgian troops in August. In September 1943, the battalion was deployed on the Atlantic coast of Bordeaux on the Bay of Biscay. The II Battalion moved from Beverloo to the island of Texel in May 1943 and stayed there until relieved in September of that year. From here, it was deployed to Les Sables-d'Olonne in France. The III Battalion remained at Oldebroek as Corps Reserve until the end of September 1943, where they gained a "wild and loathsome" reputation amongst the natives.
  Indische Freiwilligen Legion der Waffen SS

The Legion was stationed in the Lacanau region of Bordeaux at the time of the Normandy landings and remained there for up to two months after D-Day. On the 8th of August its control was transferred to the Waffen SS (as was that of every other volunteer unit of the German Army). Command of the legion was very shortly transferred from Kurt Krapp to Heinz Bertling. The Indian personnel noticed a change of command was at hand and started to complain. Noting he wasn't "wanted" Bertling kindly refused the assignment and headed back to Berlin. On 15 August 1944, the unit pulled out of Lacanau to make its way back to Germany. It was in the second leg of this journey, from Poitier to Chatrou that it suffered its first combat casualty (Lt. Ali Khan) while engaging French Regular forces in the town of Dun. The unit also engaged with allied armour at Nuis St. Georges while retreating across the Loire to Dijon. It was regularly harassed by the French Resistance, suffering two more casualties (Lt. Kalu Ram and Capt. Mela Ram). The unit moved from Remisemont, through Alsace, to Oberhofen near the town of Heuberg in Germany in the winter of 1944, where it stayed until March 1945.

II Battalion, 9th Company, of the Legion also saw action in Italy. Having been deployed in the spring of 1944, it faced the British 5th Corps and the Polish 2nd Corps before it was withdrawn from the front to be used in anti-partisan operations. It surrendered to the Allied forces April 1945, still in Italy.

A grave in Immenstadt, believed to be of five captured FIL troops shot by French Moroccan soldiers at the end of the war. The Inscription reads "Five unknown dead 4.5.1945."

With the defeat of the Third Reich imminent in May 1945, the Indian Legion sought sanctuary in neutral Switzerland. The remainder of the unit undertook a desperate 2.6 kilometer (1.6 mile) march along the shores of Lake Constance, attempting to enter Switzerland via the alpine passes. This was, however, unsuccessful and the Legion was captured by US and French forces and delivered to British and Indian forces in Europe. There is some evidence that some of these Indian troops were shot by French Moroccan troops in the town of Immenstadt after their capture. The captured troops would later be shipped back to India where a number of the troops would stand trial for treason. It is alleged that a number of the Indian soldiers were shot by French troops before their delivery to British Forces.

Manning an artillery piece, February 1944.

THE LEGACY OF FREE INDIA LEGION

whether awarded any credit for India's independence or not, the events at the time show that the strategy of Azad Hind (derived from the embryo of the Free India Legion) of achieving independence from Britain by fomenting revolts and public unrest - although militarily a failure - remains, politically, a significant and historic success. Ironically, the military failure, probably worked just as well for the cause, as the Axis victory would have likely led to bondage for India, by the foreign dictatorships it was aiding.It should also be noted that officers of the INA & Bose were ready to fight the Japanese in case of exploitation of the Indian nation by them. As mentioned earlier in this article, Bose was against invasion of Manchuria & China in 1938 the first place so it would be highly unlikely that the INA would have left India to Japanese or the axis exploitation.

Recruits of the Free India Legion at Koenigsbruck.

THE STORY OF FREE INDIA LEGION IN BRIEF

The German military successes against the Soviet Union from June 1941, and against the British in North Africa, encouraged Bose to form "Indian Legion" in 1942, whose objective was to liberate India with the aid of the Axis forces.

 The approximately 3,500 volunteers from the "Indian Legion" were instructed in the Dresden region. They wore uniforms which had on the sleeve, the Indian national colors  on which stood a leaping tiger and the words in German said, "Freies Indien" (= "Free India").

 The language of this unit was a simplified form of Hindi, which took into account the great diversity of Indian languages and the complexity of the caste system. The German officers, assigned to the unit, learnt Hindi through a special textbook, published by the Wehrmacht, entitled Sprachlehrer-Hindustani (Hindi = Manual). The outward symbols of the Indian state were used and presented for the first time in Germany, four years before independence of India.

 In 1943, Bose founded in Hamburg the "Deutsch-Indische Gesellschaft" (= The Germano-Indian society).  During the ceremonies presided over the foundation, the melody of the current Indian national anthem was played for the first time and the three Indian colors were hoisted to the mast.At the same time, the first Indian postage stamps came out of a printing press in Berlin.

 From June to August 1944, these Indians were based in Lacanau led by Commander Kurt Oberstleutnant Krappe.

 In late August 1944 they were incorporated into the Waffen SS and became known as the "Indische Legion der Waffen SS Freiwilligen" conducted under the command of SS-Oberführer Heinz Bertling.

 After fighting against the guerrillas and against the French army, they fell back on Germany.  In a desperate attempt to flee to Switzerland, the survivors were arrested by the Americans and the French. The Indian Legion was then repatriated to India, where senior officers were imprisoned.

Troops of the Indian Legion, in France

Some Nazis admired the caste system established by the Hindus, others had friendships with Indian nationalists ...

Netaji's motto: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".  He wanted to create a legion of + / - 100,000 men who would fight alongside the Germans.  Finally they were some 5,000 men.

The departure of Subhas Chandra Bose was seen as a slap to some Indian soldiers allied with the Nazis who would not shed their blood in Europe but would rather fight against the British in India. They felt betrayed not only by Bose, but also by the Nazi Germany who forcibly incorporated the India Legion into the Waffen SS! There was a little mutiny which was quickly quelled.

HITLER CONSIDERED INDIANS TO BE LOW IN THE RACE HIERARCHY

The scale of the races as Hitler:

1 - Aryans = Germanic peoples and Anglo-Saxon

2 - Latin = French, Italian, Japanese, etc. +

3 - the Slavs (hence the word "slave"), Africans, Arabs, and Asians (including Indians), whose usefulness is to serve the superior peoples.

4 - = subhuman Jews, Gypsies ...

 These Germans were the interpreters of the Indian Legion

HOW DID BOSE'S AND HITLER VIEWS' DIFFER?

Netaji apparently was of the opinion that a tripartite declaration on Indian independence, followed by the creation of a government in exile, would give some credibility to his declaration of war against England, would lead to the brink of revolution in India, and legitimize the Indian legion.

However, Hitler had a different view. During a meeting at the campaign headquarters of the Führer, May 29, Hitler said that Netaji well-equipped army of a few thousand men could control millions of unarmed revolutionaries, and that it could not be any political change in India unless an external power knocked on his door. To convince Netaji, Hitler led him to a wall map, pointed to the German positions in Russia, and India. Vast distances must still be addressed before such a statement could be made.

THE OATH OF MEN OF FREE INDIA LEGION

It was taken in German, on the sword of the officer.

"I am the sacred oath before God that I will obey the Head of State and the German people, Adolf Hitler, German Commander of the Armed Forces during the fight for freedom from India, whose leader is Subhas Chandra Bose, and that brave soldier, I give my life for this oath. "

Subhas Chandra Bose did not adhere to Nazi ideology. Moreover, he advocated the end of the caste system, equality between men and women ...  He was an enlightened visionary for India.

Bose married an Austrian in secret and had a daughter from this union.  This was unthinkable in Nazi ideology: The mixture of races 

Bose did not like Hitler much.

Troop of the Legion Freies Indien. The badge of the Leaping Tiger can be seen on the uniform.

The relationship between Himmler and Bose have always been excellent, Himmler repeatedly opposed sending Indian legion on the Russian front while the Wehrmacht suffered heavy losses.


In contrast, relations deteriorated between Hitler and Bose. When Hitler and Von Ribbentrop told the Netaji he could no longer ensure the independence of India, it came as a shock and disappointment to Bose and other Indian nationalists.


The last favor that Hitler gave to Bose was a passage to India by a U-180 German U-boat

Indian soldiers with a Wehrmacht soldier

Free India Legion men garland Bose

Bose addresses the Indian soldiers

The following images are from the meeting between Subhash Chandra Bose and Heinrich Himmler

When Japan Attacked Continental United States During WW2

 Nobuo Fujita

Nobuo Fujita  (1911–30 September 1997) was a Warrant Flying Officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy who flew a floatplane from the long-range submarine aircraft carrier I-25, and conducted the only wartime aircraft-dropped bombing on the continental United States, which became known as the Lookout Air Raid. Using incendiary bombs, his mission was to start massive forest fires in the Pacific Northwest near the city of Brookings, Oregon with the objective of drawing U.S. military resources away from the Pacific Theater. The strategy was also used in the Japanese fire balloon campaign.

Fujita himself suggested the idea of a submarine-based seaplane to bomb military targets, including ships at sea, and attacks on the U.S. mainland, especially the strategic Panama Canal. The idea was approved, and the mission was given to I-25. Submarine aircraft carriers such as the giant I-400-class submarines would be developed specifically to bomb the Panama Canal.

 Nobuo Fujita standing by his Yokosuka E14Y "Glen".

At 06:00 on 9 September, I-25 surfaced west of the Oregon/California border. The submarine launched the "Glen", flown by Fujita and Petty Officer Okuda Shoji, with a 154 kg (340 lb) load of two incendiary bombs. Fujita dropped two bombs, one on Wheeler Ridge on Mount Emily in Oregon. The location of the other bomb is unknown. The Wheeler Ridge bomb started a small fire 16 km (9.9 mi) due east of Brookings, which U.S. Forest Service employees were able to extinguish. Rain the night before had made the forest very damp, and the bombs were rendered essentially ineffective. Fujita's plane had been spotted by two men, Howard Gardner and Bob Larson, at the Mount Emily fire lookout tower in the Siskiyou National Forest. Two other lookouts (the Chetco Point Lookout and the Long Ridge Lookout) reported the plane, but could not see it due to heavy fog. The plane was seen and heard by many people, especially when Fujita flew over Brookings in both directions. At about noon that day, Howard Gardner at the Mount Emily Lookout reported seeing smoke. The four U.S. Forest Service employees discovered that the fire was caused by a Japanese bomb. Approximately 27 kg (60 lb) of fragments, including the nose of the bomb, were turned over to the U.S. Army.

 Japanese submarine I-25. The bulbous plane hangar and the catapult are visible forward of the conning tower.

After the bombing, I-25 came under attack by a USAAF aircraft on patrol, forcing the submarine to dive and hide on the ocean floor off Port Orford. The American attacks caused only minor damage, and Fujita flew a second bombing sortie three weeks later on 29 September. Fujita used the Cape Blanco Light as a beacon. After 90 minutes flying east, he dropped his bombs and reported seeing flames, but the bombing remained unnoticed in the U.S.

The submarine torpedoed and sank the SS Camden and SS Larry Doheny, and then sailed for home. On its way to Japan, I-25 sank the Soviet submarine L-16, which was in transit between Dutch Harbor, Alaska and San Francisco, California, mistaking it for an American submarine (Japan and the USSR were not at war at the time).

The two attacks on Oregon in September 1942 were the only World War II aircraft bombings on the continental United States.

German Atrocities During WW2: Part 1

The following images are not merely of the Nazi brutality in the concentration camps, but the series of articles cover the excessive bestiality of the Germans in Russia when they occupied the country during WW2

 German soldiers shoot Polish citizens at Brochnia on December 18, 1939

WAS THE WEHRMACHT INVOLVED IN THE KILLINGS?

That evening, regimental officers were told of certain 'special orders' affecting the conflict ahead. They included 'collective measures of force against villages' in areas where partisans were active. Soviet political officers, Jews and partisans were to be handed over to the SS or the Secret Field Police. Most staff officers, and certainly all intelligence officers, were told of Field Marshal von Brauchitsch's order of 28 April, stressing on what the relations between army commanders and the SS Sonderkommando and security police would be.

Finally, a 'Jurisdiction Order' clearly said that Russian civilians would have no right to appeal and no German soldiers would be held guilty for crimes committed against them, whether murder, rape or looting. The order signed by Field Marshal Keitel on 13 May was thus justified, 'that the downfall of 1918, the German people's period of suffering which followed and the struggle against National Socialism - with the many blood sacrifices endured by the movement - can be traced to Bolshevik influence. No German should forget this.'

A number of commanders refused to acknowledge or pass on such instructions. They were  those who were brought up in the best traditions of the German army and disliked the Nazis. Many, but not all, were from military families, the numbers were rapidly falling. The generals were the ones who had the least excuse. Over 200 senior officers had attended Hitler's address, in which he said the conflict ahead was to be a 'battle between two opposing world views', a 'battle of annihilation' against 'bolshevik commissars and the Communist intelligentsia'.

The idea of Rassenkampf, or 'race war', gave the Russian campaign its unprecedented character. Many historians now argue that Nazi propaganda had so effectively dehumanized the Soviet enemy in the eyes of the Wehrmacht that German soldiers hardly felt that Russians were human. This is borne out by  the almost negligible opposition within the Wehrmacht to the mass execution of Jews, which was deliberately confused with the idea of security measures against partisans.

Many officers resented  the Wehrmacht's abandonment of international law on the Ostfront, but only  a few expressed disgust at the massacres. The ignorance claimed after the war by many officers, especially those on the staff, is rather hard to believe when we see the evidence that  emerged from their own files. Sixth Army headquarters, for example, cooperated with SS Sonderkommando 4a, which followed the Army all the way from Ukraine to Stalingrad. Not only were staff officers well aware of its activities, they even gave troops to help in the round-up of Jews in Kiev and transport them to the ravines of BabiYar.

 It is hard to swallow that the German officers did not understand the essence of the directive of 23 May, which called for the German armies in the east to seize whatever they needed, and also to send at least seven million tons of grain a year back to Germany. The  orders were to live off the land. Nazi leaders very well knew what would happen to the civilians deprived of the Ukraine's resources. 'Many tens of millions will starve,' predicted Martin Bormann. Goering bragged that the population would have to eat Cossack saddles.

When the inhuman orders were prepared, in March 1941, it was General Franz Haider, the chief of staff, who bore the main responsibility for the army's acceptance of the harsh treatment of  civilians. 

Although a few army commanders were reluctant to distribute the instructions, several others issued orders to their troops which might have come straight from Goebbels's office. The most notorious order of all came from the commander of the Sixth Army, Field Marshal von Reichenau. General Hermann Hoth, who was to command the Fourth Panzer Army in the Stalingrad campaign, declared: 'The annihilation of those same Jews who support Bolshevism and its organization for murder, the partisans, is a measure of self-preservation.' General Erich von Manstein, a Prussian guards officer admired as the most brilliant strategist of the whole of the Second World War, and who privately admitted to being partly Jewish, issued an order shortly after taking over command of the Eleventh Army in which he declared: 'The jewish- bolshevik system must be rooted out once and for all.' He even went on to justify 'the necessity of harsh measures against Jewry.' There was little mention of this in his post-war memoirs, Lost Victories. The acceptance of Nazi symbols on uniform and the personal oath of allegiance to Hitler had ended any pretence that the army remained independent from politics. 'The generals followed Hitler in these circumstances', Field Marshal Paulus acknowledged many years later in Soviet captivity, 'and as a result they became completely involved in the consequences of his policies and conduct of the war.'

From Stalingrad, A Fateful Siege by ANTONY BEEVOR

 ------------------------------------------------
KILLINGS IN POLAND

A drunken Polish peasant picked a quarrel with a German soldier and in the resulting brawl wounded him with a knife. The Germans seized this opportunity to carry out a real orgy of indiscriminate murder in alleged reprisal for the outrage. Altogether 122 people were killed. As, however, the inhabitants of this village, for some reason or other, apparently fell short of the pre-determined quota of victims, the Germans stopped a train to Warsaw at the local railway station (normally it did not call there at all), dragged out several passengers, absolutely innocent of any knowledge of what had happened, and executed them on the spot without any formalities. Three of them were left hanging with their heads down for four days at the local railway station. A huge board placed over the hideous scene told the story of the victims and threatened that a similar fate was in store for every locality where a German was killed or wounded

This image perhaps encapsulates neatly how the Germans under Hitler's influence felt about Jews

Germans killing Russian Jews in Russia

BRUTAL WAR IN RUSSIA

As an aside. The Russians were no less brutal. And not only towards the German soldiers. During the Battle for Moscow, Stalin had 8000 Russians killed for cowardice. The soldiers were told to hold their positions come what may. At minus 40 degree temperature. There were 'blocking detachments' in the Moscow front line. Their job? To shoot all deserters. Partisans in the countryside were given a free hand to kill anyone who was considered disloyal. The partisans misused these sweeping powers they had to exploit the common Russian people. Also in the fray were the partisans of other ethnic nationalities who exploited the people. In short, for a common Russian, life was hell.

 Removing shrivelled bodies in a concentration camp

 A resident of Weimar a town near Buchenwald concentration camp watches a pile of corpses after the Americans liberated the camp. The residents said they knew nothing.

Corpses of tortured inmates of Goosen concentration camp near Linz in Austria

 American generals Eisenhower, Bradley and Patton watch a pile of burned bodies at Ohrdruf camp

 A Jewish family is shot at Ivangorod in Ukraine

 Eisenhower watches the dead inmates of Ohrdruf camp after the Americans liberated it. As the Americans approached the guards shot the remaining inmates

 A German boy walks past a pile of corpses of inmates of Bergen Belsen concentration camp

 These Russian people were captured and shot dead by German forces at Memino near Leningrad

 The dead bodies of people who died of starvation at Dora-Mittlebau (Nordhausen) camp

 A Soviet partisan hanged by the Germans.  Photo found in the personal belongings of Hans Elman, a soldier of 10th company of 686th regiment of the German 294nd Infantry Division

 Two Ukrainian SS men watch a pile of bodies of women and children who were killed during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

 Dead Russians in the prison yard at Rostov after the Germans left

Picture taken on 26/10/1941.  Location: Minsk, Belarus, USSR. Men and women of the Russian underground being hung for helping wounded Russian soldiers to escape.

Minsk. Belarus. October 1941. A young Russian girl about to be hanged.

Same place. While one of the teenage girl has been hanged, another is being readied.

The Germans used the Lenin monument in Occupied Voronezh as  gallows.

 October 1941. Kiev. Ukraine. Jews walk as dead bodies lie strewn on the streets.

Gatchina in Russia. The Nazi Germans looted much of the Gatchina palace collections of art, while occupying the palace for almost three years. The Gatchina Palace and park was severely burnt, vandalized and destroyed by the retreating Germans. The extent of devastation was extraordinary, and initially was considered an irreparable damage.

 October 1941. Kiev. Ukraine. Old women hurry past dead bodies of Russian POW. Eyewitnesses recall that while the prisoners were being driven on the streets of Kiev, the guards shot those who could not walk. The picture was taken 10 days after the fall of Kiev. German war photographer Johannes Hele, who served in 637th company of propaganda was part of the 6th German army that captured the capital of Ukraine.

 Russian partisans being prepared for hanging. 1941

After the work was done. 1941

 The body of Russian heroine Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya who was brutally killed by the Germans

THE STORY OF ZOYA

Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya, alternatively Romanised as Kosmodem'yanskaya  (September 13, 1923 – November 29, 1941) was a Soviet partisan, and a Hero of the Soviet Union (awarded posthumously). She is one of the most revered martyrs of the Soviet Union.

Kosmodemyanskaya joined the Komsomol in 1938. In October 1941, still a high school student in Moscow, she volunteered for a partisan unit. To her mother, who tried to talk her from doing this, she answered "What can I do when the enemy is so close? If they came here I would not be able to continue living." Zoya was assigned to the partisan unit 9903 (Staff of the Western Front). Of the one thousand people who joined the unit in October 1941 only half survived the war. At the village of Obukhovo near Naro-Fominsk, Kosmodemyanskaya and other partisans crossed the front line and entered territory occupied by the Germans. They mined roads and cut communication lines. On November 27, 1941 Zoya received an assignment to burn the village of Petrischevo, where a German cavalry regiment was stationed.

In Petrischevo Zoya managed to set fire to horse stables and a couple of houses. However, one Russian collaborationist had noticed her and informed his masters. The Germans caught Zoya as she started to torch another house. She was tortured and interrogated throughout the night but refused to give up any information. The following morning she was marched to the center of the town with a board around her neck bearing the inscription 'Houseburner' and hanged.

Her final words were purported to be "Comrades! Why are you so gloomy? I am not afraid to die! I am happy to die for my people!" and to the Germans, "You'll hang me now, but I am not alone. There are two hundred million of us. You can't hang us all."

The Germans left Zoya's

Zoya after she was hung

Zoya has become a legend in Russian history

RELATED ARTICLE

Brutal Germans During WW2: Part 2: In Russia

Wehrmacht (German Army): Rare Pictures: Part 21

Arms for the Volksstum. In the later stages of the war. The Volkssturm got very basic and little arms

 APCs from the German 116 Panzer (116.Pz.Div.). In the background - the destroyed remains of an American tank M-10. Area Saint Vith, The Ardennes.

 German soldiers with magnetic mines

A German checks out a captured Russian soldier. In 1941

Men of the Das Reich Division with a captured Soviet banner

Dead German soldiers at Stalingrad

Seems like a massacre occurred here in Stalingrad after the Germans lost the town

Germans examines a French tank. 1940. No wonder France was overrun so easily. I mean the tanks look primitive!

A German ambulance at the Eastern Front in late 1941. A lot of bullet-holes

German propaganda pamphlet in occupied Russia

Hitler visits an armament factory

Arnhem Garrison commander Major-General Kussin was killed by men of the 3rd Parachute Battalion as he sped towards his headquarters. It is alleged that the man was scalped and his decorations torn off by British soldiers

Matthäus Hetzenauer (December 23, 1924 in Tyrol, Austria - October 3, 2004) was a German sniper in the 3rd Mountain Division on the Eastern Front of the World War II, who was credited with 345 kills. His longest confirmed kill was reported at 1100 metres.
Hetzenauer trained as a sniper from March 27 through July 16, 1944, before being assigned to the 3rd Gebirgsjäger Division, issued both a K98 rifle with 6x scope and a Gewehr 43 rifle with 4x scope.
On November 6, 1944, he suffered head trauma from artillery fire, and was awarded the Verwundeten-Abzeichen three days later.
On multiple occasions he served with fellow sniper Josef Allerberger. The two of them killed many Soviet soldiers with speed and ease.
Gefreiter Hetzenauer received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 17 April 1945. Generalleutnant and Divisions commander Paul Klatt had recommended Hetzenauer because of his numerous sniper kills, which in sum defeated two strong enemy companies without fear for his own safety under artillery fire and enemy attacks. This recommendation was approved by General der Gebirgstruppe Karl von Le Suire and General der Panzertruppe Walter Nehring.
Hetzenauer was captured by Soviet troops the following month, and eventually served 5 years of routinely appalling conditions in a Soviet prison camp.
He died on October 3, 2004, after several years of deteriorating health.

A German SS officer with Ukrainian girls

A German assault team prepares to leave for an attack in Stalingrad

Stalingrad again

A shell scooped out a bit of steel from this Tiger tank

A 16 year Volkssturm boy in late 1944

Going to bury a dead comrade

Here is mail!

A car or a boat?

Determined to prepare dinner!

A Russian women gives flowers to German soldiers. Stalin would have foamed at the mouth!

Leningrad is near!

German women give bread to boy soldiers departing for the front

In the last stages of the war a desperate Hitler was sending boys to fight the Soviet army

The industrious Wehramcht used this too for transport!


MORE WEHRMACHT IMAGES