World War II in Photographs
Подождите немного. Документ загружается.
ABOVE
A German infantry officer, whose
decorations include the Iron Cross 1st Class
and the infantry assault badge, issues orders.
The soldier on the left has equipped himself
with a captured Russian sub-machine gun.
LEFT
Street fighting in Stalingrad: Russians
fire on a German-held block of flats.
191
1942
LEFT
After the encirclement of Stalingrad Hitler
gave Manstein command of the newly
created Army Group Don and ordered
him to break into the pocket. Here a
German tank hits a Russian mine during
an abortive counterattack, December 20.
BELOW
Friedrich Paulus, commander of 6th Army,
was promoted to field-marshal on
30 January in Hitler's expectation that
he would commit suicide rather than
capitulate. However, he surrendered the
following day. These Russian officers -
the term was rcintroduced by Stalin in
1942 - are still wearing collar rank badges,
soon to be replaced by tsarist-style shoulder
boards, all part of an attempt to restore
the army's morale and efficiency.
192
1942
ABOVE
The Germans lost some 200,000 men at
Stalingrad: most of their prisoners of war
did not survive captivity. Here a column
of prisoners winds its way across the
frozen steppe. Those in white fur hats
are Romanians: defeat at Stalingrad
struck a chill into Germany's allies.
RIGHT
Stalingrad was not an isolated setback:
these young Germans were captured by
a Russian offensive in the middle Don.
193
1942
NORTH AFRICA
In 1942 Allied fortunes in North Africa ebbed at first, when
Rommel turned the strong defensive line running from Gazala
on the coast to Bir Hacheim in the desert, took Tobruk and went
on to cross the Egyptian frontier. There he was checked, initially
at First Alamein on July 1, and then at Alam Haifa at the very
end of September. In October, Montgomery, the newly appointed
commander of 8th Army, won the battle of El Alamein.
The following month an Allied army landed in French
North Africa, catching Axis forces in the theatre in a
gigantic pincer which would eventually snap shut in 1943.
ABOVE
East meets west: the photographer Cecil
Beaton catches an Egyptian girl admiring
a poster of the actress Hedy Lamarr.
LEFT
A Hudson MkVI bomber over
the Pyramids, Summer 1942.
RIGHT
A January 1942 photograph of an
Italian convoy caught by the RAF
on the coast road during Rommel's
withdrawal the previous month.
194
1942
195
1942
ABOVE
Although this photograph is blurred and
undated (though it passed the censor in
1942) it gives a good impression of infantry
of 4th Indian Division moving up with a
shell bursting dangerously close.
^IGHT
The British might have won the Gazala
battles of May-June 1942, but superior
German generalship and all-arms tactics
eventually proved too much for them.
But the Germans did not have it all
their own way. Here a new US-supplied
Grant tank, which mounted a 75mm
gun in its hull and a 37mm in the
turret, passes a burning German tank.
196
1942
LEFT
A 25-pdr in action at night, June 2.
These weapons were often used in the
anti-tank role in the desert, and during
the Gazala battles their detachments
frequently fought them to a finish as
German tanks overran their positions.
RIGHT
The Stuka dive-bomber, so useful for
providing close air support, was very
vulnerable without fighter support.
These Messerschmitt Me 109 fighters
aircraft wait at their desert strip while
ground crew snatch an alfresco lunch.
197
1942
RIGHT
The fall of Tobruk on June 21, was a heavy
blow to Churchill. Here the first German
vehicle to enter the town pauses in front of
abandoned vehicles and a sign, couched in
Tommy's humour, pointing to a barber shop.
BELOW
By September 1941 there were nearly
60,000 South African troops in Egypt,
15,000 of them black: all had volunteered
to serve outside South Africa, and wore
an orange strip on their epaulettes to
mark the fact. 1st South African Division
was bloodily engaged during Operation
Crusader, and the over 10,000 South
Africans were captured when Tobruk
fell. These South Africans take cover
while their truck is bombed, June 4, 1942.
198
1942
ABOVE
German tanks roll eastwards following
British withdrawal from Gazala.
RIGHT
One of a series of photographs taken in
July, just after Rommel had been checked at
"First Alamein", showing British guardsmen
practising an advance with tanks. At this
juncture the "brave but baffled" 8th Army
was holding a strong position just west
of the little railway halt of El Alamein,
but it did not fully find its feet until the
arrival of Montgomery in mid-August.
FOLLOWING PAGES
A British 6-pdr anti-tank
gun in action, August 11.
199
