tank cmdr photo, beeldbankwo2.nl

[BB75]

Years ago I saw this picture on the internet and could never find it again. Later, after joining WA awards I made an appeal to see if anyone knew anything about it, and based solely on my description, some great person found it! It may show the 4th Panzer Division in 1944 near Vitebsk. I would like to get a better resolution copy of it and it appears that http://www.beeldbankwo2.nl, whose name appears on the picture, might have it , but my efforts to find it on their website have failed and no one answered my email. So 1) Does anyone know definitively when and where it was taken? and 2 Does anyone know how to contact beeldbankwo2 to get a scan, or know where else one might be obtained? Thanks, Brian

[Tom B]

Super nice photo !

[SIS 5]

Hi BB 75,

maybe I can help You a little bit, because I have the booklets about the 4th Panzer Division from the Polish publishing house Wydawnictwo "MILITARIA". There are some interesting details about that time:
"When general von Saucken returned to the division, on March 7 and 8, 1944 the 4th Panzer Division was withdrawn from the front to the area north-east of Bobruysk for rest. The rest did not last long, however. A new Soviet offensive bursted a 160 km wide gap between the 2nd and 9th Armies. The division started its move to the Kobryn area on March 24, and was included in the LVIth Panzer Corps again. The reinforced corps was to attack the relieve the only still defending German point in the gap between the 2nd and 9th Armies: the town of Kovel.
Most troops of the 4th Panzer Dovision arrived by train in Brest on March 28, 1944. Here, they started their advance towards Kovel. Only on April 2, after changing the main axis of assault due to the difficult terrain and Soviet resistance, they reached the village of Macieyov, 22 km from the town. In this time, on April 1, the division had two Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf. N tanks and 34 Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. G and H tanks operational as well as 193 armoured personnel carriers, scout tanks, armoured cars and command tanks, 18 "Marder" II and "Marder" III self-propelled anti-tank guns, fifteen 75mm Pak 40 towed anti-tank guns, 35 as towed as self-propelled howitzers and field guns of 100-150mm calibres, eleven 75mm leIG 18 infantry guns, 16 "Grille" self-propelled guns, twenty seven 81mm mortars, 26 anti-aircraft cannons of 20mm and 37mm calibres, eight 88mm anti-aircraft guns and 560 machine guns.
On April 4, after the division axis of advance had been changed once again by the decision of general von Saucken, the 4th Panzer Division reached the distance only 1.5 km Kovel. During the fighting several counter-attacks were repulsed, in some of them Lend-Lease supplied Soviet "Sherman" tanks were encountered. On the other hand, Soviet mine fields sometimes prevented German tanks from supporting the grenadiers as it was in case of the 12th Panzergrenadier Regiment during the struggle for the village of Novo Koshary. On April 5, the advance continued , this time with support of "Panther" tanks of the SS Panzer Division "Wiking". At 1100 hours troops of the 12th and 33rd Panzergrenadier Regiments made contact with the German troops defending Kovel and the task to relieve the besieged garrison was completed. ...
After April 6, 1944 the 4th Panzer Divion took part in further fightings around Kovel to secure the communication and supply routes in the area. Heavy fighting took place in the area of the Bykhov railway station north of the town on April 10. Here, the Soviets launched a counter-attack of 30 "Sherman" tanks with infantry. In teh evening, however, 12 of them was buring in the field. Until April 19, 1944 all objctives were captured and all offensive actions were given up. For two months a relative quiet was rule over the front in Belorussia until June 22, 1944 when the Soviets launched their grat offensive codenamed "Bagration"."

Regards

Bert

[BB75]

I emailed the Dutch archives about this photo and below is what I heard back from a staff member. Apparently this is the 16th Panzer Division. See the unit symbol on the tank with the 2 crew members; it is to the left of the driver's vision port. Also, there are numbers: 535 on the turret skirts. I have included a better resolution photo which when enlarged shows these details. I had to reduce it to make it an attachment so if it does not show the details and you want a better resolution picture send me a PM. Also note that behind the RSO to the right of the standing tank man is what appears to be a PzKw V, Panther. All the others are PzKw IVs. I got some books on the 16th Panzer Division from the library to see if I could find any more information but alas nothing was forthcoming. I do include some photos of pages from the books. Brian

[BB75]

16 pd

[BB75]

From Dutch archives:


The photograph you are looking for can indeed be found in our NIOD-collection; in the Eastern Front photographs, with imagenumber 60122.

The original photographer is PK Kriegsberichter (War Press Photographer) Götze, and it shows a Panzer division somewhere on the Eastern Front.
The original caption of the photo (at the back) says:
“Stoss und Gegenstoss.
Panzer haben die Aufgabe, die von den Bolschewisten vorgetriebene Spitze abzuriegeln. In breiter Angriffsbasis sind die angetreten, die Maschinen sind abgeworfen, es handelt sich noch um Minuten bis der Kommandeur im Führungspanzer den Befehlt "Marsch" gibt.”

translated as; “Attack and counter-attack. Panzer (tanks) have the task to seal off [..] the Bolsheviks. They attack in a broad base, […] waiting for the Commander in the leading tank to give the “marsch”-order.”