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Clipped Signature - Gerhard Fischer.
A Panzer Tank Ace who took part in operations in the West and East. He scored 102 tank victories and was awarded the Knight's Cross. He died in 2013.
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Tiger I of the 3rd SS Totenkopf Division, Poland 1944 by Randall Wilson.
The crew of a late model Tiger I of the 3rd SS Totenkopf Division, manage to take a short break from the fighting around Warsaw, during the German assault, having pushed the Soviet forces out of the city and across the Vistula River.
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Barkmann's Corner by David Pentland.
Ernst Barkmann's (Das Reich, 2nd SS Panzer Division) famous day long solo engagement against an American Armoured breakthrough towards St. Lo, Normandy, 26th July 1944.
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The Russian Front by Jason Askew. (P)
A German machine gun team and a Tiger tank on the Russian Front in 1943.
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Pak40 Mounted on SPW Half-Track by Jason Askew. (P)
The Pak 40 - a hard hitting 75mm German anti-tank gun-seen here mounted on an SPW for greater battlefield mobility was essentially a scaled up version of the PaK 38 debuted in Russia where it was needed to combat the newest Soviet tanks there. It was designed to fire the same low-capacity APCBC, HE and HL projectiles which had been standardized for usage in the long barreled KwK 40 tank guns.
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Operation Winter Tempest by David Pentland.
Panzer IVF2 tanks of 6th Panzer Division, Panzer Armee Hoth, attempt to fight their way through to the beleaguered Sixth Army at Stalingrad, 12th December 1942. On the 21st the operation was abandoned when the expected breakout from Stalingrad failed to materialise, the relief column was only 25 miles from the city.
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Holding the Vistula by David Pentland.
Gerhard Fischer. Poland, 31st July 1944. Jagdpanzer IV Pz Jager Batt 5, 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking.
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Kursk - Clash of Steel by Nicolas Trudgian.
The Germans launched their attack on the Kursk salient on 5th July 1943, and for both sides this was maximum effort. The Soviets, however, informed by intelligence of the impending German attack, had ample time to prepare huge defensive works with hundreds of planned anti tank belts. They deployed 10 Tank Corps, 5 Tank Armies, 1 mechanised Corps and 14 Field Armies equipped with 4000 anti tank guns and 6000 tanks. The Soviet Air Forces were equally impressive - 2600 aircraft. The Germans, outnumbered in every department, were forced to scrape together whatever serviceable tanks they could from their badly under strength Panzer formations. Most of the tanks deployed were old Panzer IIIs or IVs, with only 147 Tigers available for action. The northern German attack made very little headway, but, in the south, the Germans had grouped all of the SS Panzer forces into the II SS Panzer Corps and these units, despite the enormous Soviet forces ranged against them, began to smash their way through the Soviet defences. The Luftwaffe too had brought together 1200 aircraft and these made an immediate impact on the fighting - on the first day alone German fighters broke up massive formations of Soviet aircraft, over 400 victories being claimed.
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Tiger at the Gate, Berlin, 30th April 1945 by David Pentland.
A Tiger I and PAK 40 anti tank gun of the Muncheberg Division, field a final defence of the capital in front of the Brandenburg Gate under the shattered remains of the famous Linden trees. The under-strength division had just been formed the previous month from a mixture of ad hoc units and various marks of tank. Despite this it put up a spirited fight until its final destruction in early May.
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Lying in Wait by David Pentland.
Gerhard Fischer. Poland, 14th August 1944 - Jagdpanzer IV of Jagd Pz Batt 5, 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking.
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Tigers in Normandy by Nicolas Trudgian.
The Battle for Point 112, a strategically positioned hill just a few miles south-west of Caen, was the scene of the most violent fighting between German and British armor, artillery and ground troops during the weeks immediately following the D-Day invasion, in June 1944. Desperate to regain Hill 112, on July 9th, the Tiger tanks of SS Panzer Battalion 102 were ordered to advance. 2 Kompanies Tigers managed to occupy the eastern slopes of the hill, while 1 Kompanie came under fire as they rached the first houses in the small village of Maltot. At this point they came head on to British Sherman tanks. Entering the village firing his 88, Unterscharfuhrer Fey in tank 138 quickly knocked out three Shermans at 200 yards range, and by the evening of July 10th the Panzers had re-taken Maltot. But Allied artillery had driven the Germans off Hill 112. The battle raged on for another three weeks when on August 1st the Allies frove the Germans off Point 112 for the final time. Tigers of SS Panzer Battalion 102 yet again advance towards the infamous hill, passing two Shermans knocked out in the previous days fighting. Overhead, Me109s of II./JG26 give aerial support as the German armour makes a last ditch attempt to repel the advancing forces, in their effort to hold the important city of Caen.
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Fight for Kowel, Poland, March/April 1944 by David Pentland.
Although in the process of regrouping after their escape from the Cherkassy Pocket, Panthers and Panzer Grenadiers of the crack 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking are part of the relief force hastily assembled and thrown in to free the strategically important city of Kowel in the Pripet Marshes. By April 10th the Soviet encirclement of the city was broken and Wiking were pulled out of the line to continue refitting.
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Panther at the Zoo, Tiergarten, Berlin, 2nd May 1945 by David Pentland.
Below the vast bulk of the Zoo Bunker one of three giant Flak towers designed to defend Berlin from air attack, some remnants of the citys defenders gather in an attempt to break out of the doomed capital. Amongst which are troops from the 9th Fallschirmjager and Munchberg Panzer Divisions, including a rare nightfighting equipped Panther G of Oberleutnant Rasims Company, 1/29th Panzer Regiment.
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Escape to the Elbe, Berlin, 3rd May 1945 by David Pentland.
Following Hitlers death, the decision was taken by the officers and men of Sturmartillerie Brigade 249 to break out of the doomed capital. Shortly before midnight on the 3rd, what remained of the unit fought to the edge of the city at Spandau. By this time the brigade had been split into two elements, the first under Hauptmann Herbert Jaschke successfully punched their way out to the west. The second group was not so lucky, and its survivors fell into Soviet captivity.
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Closing the Gap by Robert Taylor.
As Typhoon Mk1b fighter-bombers of 247 Squadron exit the target area near Falaise at full throttle, the havoc wreaked in their wake bears witness to the devastation of their powerful rockets. Fuel and ammunition from the retreating German column explode with shattering detonations, the savagery of the attack demoralising the enemy into stunned oblivion. The Typhoons will hurtle back to base to re-arm and hastily re-fuel, ready for yet another withering strike on the encircled Wehrmacht columns. This stunning rendition from the the worlds premier aviation artist pays tribute to the brave young RAF fighter pilots of the twenty squadrons of rocket-firing Hawker Typhoons who flew those perilous ground attacks during the Battle of Normandy.
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Holding Hosszupaly, Hungary, 17th October 1944 by David Pentland.
With a mixed unit of 4 Panthers, 1 anti tank gun, and 25 men from Feldersatz Battalion 128 Hauptmann Gerhard Fischer held the important village for a full day against overwhelming Soviet attacks before being ordered to retreat.
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Panther Stellung, Monte Cassino, Italy, 21st -22nd May 1944 by David Pentland.
While commanding an emplaced Panther tank turret east of Piedimonte, the young Gefreiter Herbert Fries, from 2./FschPzJagAbt 1, slowed down the Allies who were trying to outflank what was left of 1FJD. In two days he and his crew knocked out 17 enemy tanks.
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Hornisse, Central Russia, November 1943 by David Pentland.
Hornet self propelled 88mm anti-tank guns of Heavy Anti-tank Battalion 519 attached to 3rd Army, Army Group Center. Oberleutnant Erwin Kressmann commanded 1st company, while its 1st platoon was led by the soon to be famous Lt Albert Ernst, who in an engagement during the Witebsk battles destroyed 14 Soviet tanks with just 21 rounds.
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Lull in the Battle, Central Russia, December 1943 by David Pentland.
Hornet self propelled 88mm anti-tank guns of Heavy Anti-tank Battalion 519 attached to 3rd Army, Army Group Center. Oberleutnant Erwin Kressmann commanded 1st company, while 1st platoon was led by the soon to be famous Lt Albert Ernst, who in an engagement during the Witebsk battles destroyed 14 Soviet tanks with just 21 rounds.
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Winter Offensive, Ardennes Forest, Germany, December 1944 by David Pentland.
Jagdpanther self propelled 88mm anti-tank guns of Heavy Anti-tank Battalion 519 attached to 6th SS Panzer Army during the ill fated Ardennes offensive. Only the 1st company commanded by Hautmann Erwin Kressmann took part in the campaign.
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Jagdpanthers in the Ardennes, Ardennes Forest, Germany, December 1944 by David Pentland.
Jagdpanther self propelled 88mm anti-tank guns of Heavy Anti-tank Battalion 519 attached to 6th SS Panzer Army during the ill fated Ardennes offensive. Only the 1st company commanded by Hauptmann Erwin Kressmann took part in the campaign.
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Military Art and Artists 
Fischer, Gerhard
