Innehållsförteckning för Issue 17 från Iron Cross

This lavish 164-page guide to the tanks of WWII covers everything from the light tanks of Japan in the Far East, to the British tanks of the Western Desert Campaign, PLUS the Soviet tanks on the Eastern Front and the range of Panzer models deployed by Nazi Germany throughout the war. This special collector’s magazine is split into handy sections such as famous tank commanders, Allied tanks, Axis power tanks, tank battles of WWII and tank media. Beautifully illustrated with colour photographs throughout, this is your guide to 178 of Allied and Axis tank models, variants and prototypes. Now available in all good newsagents. Order online from militaria.ma/tanksofww2 or by calling 01778 392489…

Simba & The Ace We reveal previously untold elements of the extraordinary story the Luftwaffe fighter pilot Franz von Werra, immortalised as ‘The One that got Away’. (1) A Victim of Circumstance? The astonishing tale of a British duke and member of the Royal Family who ended up fighting for the Kaiser before going on to align himself closely with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. (2) Signal A look at the story behind the widely circulated German military propaganda magazine of the Third Reich, produced specifically for occupied territories. (3) ‘German Atrocities’ of 1914 We examine the truth behind the stories of German military atrocities carried out in Belgium during the early part of the First World War. (4) The ‘Order of Death’ In our continuing series covering German orders…

The aircraft was built by Messerschmitt A.G, the prototype first flying in May 1936. The type eventually went into production in 1937 and became known as the Zerstörer (Destroyer). In different variants it went on to serve on all fronts throughout the war. Two main types, the ‘C’ and ‘D’, were used during the Battle of Britain - the ‘D’ variant being deployed as a fast fighter-bomber. The aircraft was also used in the photo reconnaissance role. The aircraft was later used very successfully in the night-fighter role in the defence of the Reich. Technical Data (Based on the ‘C’ model) • Dimensions: Span 53 ft 5 in, Length 40 ft 4 in• Power Plants: Two x Daimler Benz DB 601-A (or 601-N) engines, each delivering around 1,100 hp• Maximum…

At 20.43 hours on 19 August 1941, a Heinkel He 111 H-5 of 8 Staffel, Kampfgeschwader 40 (8./KG 40) flown by Leutnant Herbert Fobker lifted off from Soesterberg, Holland, carrying four SC250 and one single SC500 bomb. His task, along with two other aircraft, was to look for and attack a convoy off the east coast of England. Fobker expected to be in position at 21.45 hours, but at 21.44 hours, the Bordfunker, Gefreiter Otto Kipp, shouted that two Spitfires were headed directly towards them. Earlier that evening, two sections of Spitfires from 266 Squadron had got airborne from RAF Docking on what was termed an Outer Channel Patrol, each section patrolling separately from the other. Blue Section, comprising former Battle of Britain pilot Flight Lieutenant Desmond McMullen and Segeant…

Dietrich Maerz Publisher: B & D Publishing LLC Web: www.Ironcross1939.com ISBN: 978-1-7923-3213-5 Hardback: 908 pages RRP: $280.00 for both (USD) The author’s name will be familiar to readers of Iron Cross magazine through his excellent and regular features on awards and decorations of the Third Reich and it would be true to say that Dietrich Maerz is one of the world’s leading subject experts on the subject. If not the leading expert. And that subject knowledge shines through in this truly remarkable two-volume set on The Knights Cross of the Iron Cross and its Higher Grades. In setting out what amounts to a forensic study of the Ritterkreuz, Dietrich Maerz has left no stone unturned in producing the most highly detailed account ever published of any German decoration. And that…

The odious grip and cruel state apparatus of the Third Reich inevitably impacted the lives of all those who lived within its sphere of influence. For some, resistance was bravely active. For others, it was less obvious and far more covert and subtle. Either way, any form of resistance or dissent was dealt with ruthlessly if it was discovered. Surviving the excesses of those times was one thing, but when the war ended there were many who had reluctantly served but now had to show their opposition to the cult of Hitler. One of those was war artist Hans Liska. Trying to pick up the pieces, Liska was compelled to write a Tätigkeitsnachweis – roughly translated, proof of activity. In other words, ‘activity’ in respect of work within Nazi Germany.…

All images via the author unless otherwise credited On the evening of 30 January 1945, patrolling in the bay of Danzig, the Soviet submarine S13 located the navigation lights of a large passenger ship on a westward heading and prepared to engage. The submarine released a spread of three type 53 torpedoes which struck the crew quarters and engine spaces of the German liner, the Wilhelm Gustloff, flooding the lower decks and despatching the ship into the icy waters of the Baltic Sea. At least 8,000 civilians and military personnel were lost with the ship, most contemporary accounts claiming the figure to be nearer 10,000. The MV Wilhelm Gustloff, a 25,000-ton pre-war cruise liner built at the Blohm and Voss shipyards in Hamburg, was launched in May 1937 and named…

Although the start date for the Battle of Britain was retrospectively set by the British as 10 July 1940, there had already been German air incursions and skirmishes over the British Isles for many months, including fighter actions. Already, two Messerschmitt Bf 109s had been downed over the mainland – and battle had not yet ‘officially’ been joined. The first ‘official’ date of the battle, 10 July 1940, saw limited air activity and no Luftwaffe aircraft were downed over Britain. The next day was different, however, and on 11 July the first German aircraft fell on British soil within what is now the universally recognised time frame for the Battle of Britain, its two crew members killed. There was, however, a supreme irony attached to the identity of the first…

In the little Dorset village of Long Bredy, at quarter past four in the afternoon of 7 October 1940, the headmaster of nearby Litton Cheney Primary School stepped outside with his binoculars to watch an air battle taking place high above him. Through his binoculars, John Bailey saw an aircraft singled out for attention by British fighters at around 15,000ft, heard the ‘rat-tat-tat’ of machine gun fire and then saw the Messerschmitt Bf 110 on which he had focussed roll over onto its back. Streaming black smoke from both engines, the German aircraft nosed forward until, quite vertical, it entered what would become a terminal earth-bound plummet. Both engines continued to roar at full throttle, still pouring black smoke and sparks. Initially, Bailey thought he’d see the aircraft pull out…

All images via the author unless otherwise credited The Luger pistol was a development of an earlier design which came to be recognised as the first effective self-loading pistol: the Borchardt C93 pistol. Dating back to 1893, the C93 had been invented by Hugo Borchardt. Born in Germany, Borchardt emigrated to the USA in 1860 but later returned to Europe and worked with the Ludwig Loewe Company in Berlin, an arms and armaments manufacturer. The C93 fired a new 7.65 mm cartridge, but it had several problems. For example, the recoil spring design required an elongated frame extending way past the pistol grip. As such, it was very long for a handgun and consequently it was ill-balanced. Despite this issue, and other problems with the pistol, Borchardt flatly refused to…

All images via the author unless otherwise credited The British and French tanks of the First World War represented a remarkable technological achievement, but they also pushed the technology of the era to its limits. Although initially giving an impression of invincible power and invulnerability, it was soon apparent that their thin armour, coupled with mechanical unreliability and poor internal layout, often meant that tanks became death-traps for their crews in the face of determined opposition. Nevertheless, this new leviathan of the battlefield initially had no bespoke weapon with which to counter its appearance and improvisation was initially the key until the best methods of defence could be worked out, designed, and put into action. At first, many German units understandably panicked at the sight of even isolated tanks effortlessly…

Following the Messerschmitt Bf 110 theme throughout this issue, this image depicts the group commander’s Messerschmitt Bf 110 C-2 of Stab V./(Z)LG1 preparing to take off from the unit’s base at Ligescourt, France, for an escort sortie to London during the late afternoon of 29 August 1940. The pilot and commander of the unit was Hauptmann Horst Liensberger (an Austrian) and his regular radio operator/gunner, Unteroffizier Albert Köpge. Both had been operational in Poland and later during the French campaign. The pair flew numerous sorties over Britain from 4 July 1940, initially operating from Rocquancourt and then from Ligescourt. It was from the latter airfield in the Somme region of France that Horst Liensberger and Albert Köpge took off on what would be their last sortie (another bomber escort operation…

All images via the author unless otherwise credited Under cover of darkness, at around midnight on 31 July 1936, the 7,758-GRT steamship, the SS Usaramo, operated by the Woerman Line, quietly slipped out of the north German port of Hamburg, and made course along the Elbe towards the open waters of the North Sea. On board was a complement of just over 90 men, all in civilian clothing. They had all brought with them cheap and identical suitcases, supplied by the German Air Ministry, for their personal belongings. They also carried papers confirming them to be, variously: engineers, salesmen, artists, and photographers. All were united by membership of the Reisegesellschaft Union (Union Travel Association) – ostensibly a group set up by the Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) movement, a…

Launched in Hamburg in 1937, the luxury liner Wilhelm Gustloff was originally to be christened the Adolf Hitler, but instead was named after the Swiss Nazi leader who had been assassinated by a Jewish gunman the previous year. The ship was the pride of the Nazi Labour Movement (the DAF) and would be run as a cruise liner by the subsidiary KdF, an organisation responsible for German workers’ leisure time. Cruising the Baltic and Scandinavian coasts, she was to seduce its passengers with the apparent benefits of belonging to the Nazi community and served a useful propaganda function for Hitler’s Reich. Moored in London in 1938 to allow Austrian citizens in the city to participate in the plebiscite over Hitler’s annexation of the country, the following year she brought the…

In common with most Luftwaffe units in 1940, the Bf 110 Zerstörergeschwadern carried colourful unit badges and sometimes emblems that were personal to individual pilots and crew members. A few of those emblems are illustrated here. Often, they were heraldic devices, cartoon figures, the arms of towns and cities associated with the unit or else were designs drawn up by unit personnel.…

All images via the author unless otherwise credited If historical myths are repeated often enough it is said that they can soon become historical ‘facts’, the details eventually becoming embedded in the lore, folklore, and established narrative of the events in question. As such, they often become very difficult to dispel. And that is especially the case when it comes to writings that simply perpetuate those falsehoods. Worse, it is not unknown for respected historians and well-known authors to fall into the trap of repeating details that are simply untrue and using material that is neither referenced nor fact checked. When such information (or, rather, disinformation) appears in print, either in books or magazine articles, it simply reinforces the supposed validity of that information. And the more it is repeated…

Photographed during the German Spring Offensive at Foucaucourt during May 1918, this heavy railway gun is a 28cm L/40 Bruno – a weapon that was able to hurl a 302kg shell a distance of some 31 km and firing at a rate of ten or twelve shells per hour. However, railway guns were first used by the German military on the Western Front in 1916, the earliest Eisenbahngeschütze (Railway Gun) types being of 24cm and given the classification Theodor Otto and Theodor Karl. Whilst the value of these huge guns was quickly appreciated by high command as a mobile resource which could be brought to bear against sudden enemy attacks, rail yards, troop concentrations, airfields etc., there were drawbacks in that the gun had to be placed on a section…

WRITTEN BY ANDY SAUNDERS Military aviation expert and editor of Iron Cross magazine. Andy uncovers untold stories of the Luftwaffe attacks over Britain. In this new publication, the story of the Luftwaffe’s attacks on the British Isles is covered through fascinating and insightful content which looks at all aspects of those air operations, bringing that story to life through hundreds of images. Many of those images are colourised, while others are original and contemporary colour images from the period. In total, over 180 of the photographs reproduced in the publication are in colour. The story of the Luftwaffe over Britain has never been told in such an all-encompassing and engaging manner before now and the publication will appeal widely to the general enthusiast, the specialist, and those with any interest in the…

To the north of Berlin, Soviet troops had advanced to Pankow and the front line already ran along Gesundbrunnen and Bernauer-Strasse. To the east of the city, the Red Army had penetrated the defensive ring and had reached Karlshorst and Friedrichsfelde. There was no longer any hope. It was the effective end of the Third Reich. The date was 22 April 1945. Twenty-nine-year-old Dorothea von Schwanenfluegel recalled the Red Army’s advance towards the centre of Berlin: “The Soviets battled the German soldiers and drafted civilians, street by street, until we could hear explosions and rifle fire right in our immediate vicinity. As the noise got closer, we could even hear the horrible guttural screaming of the Soviet soldiers which sounded to us like enraged animals. Shots shattered our windows and shells…