New photo Pickup's

[W Petz]

New Arrivals - DEC#97

[W Petz]

New Arrivals - Nov#96

[W Petz]

New Arrivals - Nov#97

[W Petz]

New Arrivals - Nov#98

[W Petz]

New Arrivals - Nov#99

[W Petz]

New Arrivals - Nov#100

[Todd Gylsen]

#202

[Todd Gylsen]

#203

[W Petz]

Todd,

Happy New Year!! Posting more of your portrait negatives shows you survived the festivities!!! Got some special pics in the post today!! Which I will post here and on my LWFD thread.
First up is a really special and I believe RARE pic that I really like...especially the Camo jackets, camo helmet nets MP40, MG34, two ZF41 scopes on their 98K's....and I couldn't believe my eyes but a suppressor/silencer (Schalldaempfer) attached to the muzzle of 98k of the soldier on their left next to the wood hut...he also has the scope can on his belt. At first I thought it was a rifle grenade launcher but it is definitely not (I have two complete ground dug relic silencers in my collection). This is the first photographic evidence I have ever seen of one actually being used in combat.

[W Petz]

LWFD #2 - Here is another shot of some members of the same group!

[W Petz]

LWFD #3 - Training being conducted on a Pak40

[StuGIII]

Snipers

Hi Bill,

Great photos as always. Are the men Wehrmacht or SS? Do you feel they are part of a sniper team? I thought it interesting that they'd use a silencer. I used to have a Mauser that was used by a sniper, but the scope was taken by another soldier and my uncle sporterized the rifle.

John

[W Petz]

John,

The three photos are of Luftwaffe Field Division Soldiers. The LWFD's were the brainchild of Hermann Goring as his own Luftwaffe ground troops. The Field Division splinter camo jacket was specifically designed for the LWFD. Later in the War many of these found there way into the hands of Late War Fallschirmjaegers who by then were mainly used as Ground troops until the end of the War.
I don't think they are part of a highly trained special sniper team.....If they were the scopes would be much more powerful instead using the Zf41 scope. On the other hand.....they obviously used them to snipe and how they ever got their hands on a suppressor is beyond me!!! Suppressors were issued in very small numbers on an experimental basis.

Bill

[W Petz]

New Arrivals - DEC#98

[W Petz]

New Arrivals - DEC#99