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    Brandenburger: Wartime Photographs of Wilhelm Walther
    Brandenburger: Wartime Photographs of Wilhelm Walther
    Brandenburger: Wartime Photographs of Wilhelm Walther
    Ebook191 pages23 minutes

    Brandenburger: Wartime Photographs of Wilhelm Walther

    By Anthony Rogers

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    About this ebook

    In March 1940, Oberleutnant Wilhelm Walther transferred from Aufklärungs-Abteilung 5, an armored reconnaissance unit, to Bau-Lehr-Bataillon z.b.V. 800 – forerunner of what would soon be known as the ‘Brandenburger’. Two months later, he led a commando action in the Netherlands and became the first of his unit to be awarded the Ritterkreuz (Knight’s Cross). By May 1944, Walther was an Oberstleutnant and an experienced regimental commander in what had evolved as the Division ‘Brandenburg’. He would eventually join Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny’s SS-Jagdverbände as Chief of Staff, before seeing out the last days of the war with the short-lived Schutzkorps Alpenland. More than 200 images, together with English captions, portray the life and times of this career officer, from the German annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938, to operations in Russia, Greece and the Balkans during 1941–44. In comparison with other units of the Second World War, relatively little has been published about Germany’s commando forces. This is hardly surprising, considering the paucity of source material available and the air of mystery and intrigue still surrounding this specialist formation. This unique collection of rare images was sourced from the photograph album of Wilhelm Walther and is sure to appeal to all with an interest in the war in the West and on the Eastern Front, as well as to militaria collectors, modelers and re-enactment groups.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateJun 30, 2022
    ISBN9781784387167
    Brandenburger: Wartime Photographs of Wilhelm Walther
    Author

    Anthony Rogers

    ANTHONY ROGERS grew up in Malta and later served there in the Royal Marines. He has written several books including Battle Over Malta, Swastika Over the Aegean and Churchill’s Folly.

    Read more from Anthony Rogers

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    • 5/5
      Brandenburger – An excellent Photographic recordOberleutnant (lieutenant) Wilhelm Walther transferred from an armoured reconnaissance unit in March 1940 to the Bau-Lehr- Bataillon z.b.V. This unit was a forerunner of the Brandenburger (commandos). This book is not a pictorial history of the Brandenburger but that of a career officer who took his camera everywhere with him. Anthony Rogers who edited and wrote the book had originally interviewed Walther for another book. He has selected pictures from the 600 photographic collection he had kept as a career officer, whose career ended abruptly due to the loss of the war.Rogers has organised the book, so it is in chronological order, so that we see Walther’s military career beginning in 1931. Where we saw the young Walther in training, wearing his dress uniform. We also see him on the Czech border in 1938, and then ‘invading’ the border area as part of the great betrayal of the country. There are plenty of pictures from the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia and the ‘welcome’ some gave the Germans.There are pictures from the Balkans in 1941 where the Brandenburgers gained their reputation as ruthless commandos. After the Balkans we see them moved to the eastern front between 1941 and 1942. They were some of the lucky soldiers who were moved from the eastern front to Greece. We also Walther’s comrades at arms, other officers. We also see Walther’s war record. The last picture shows him visiting his comrades’ graves in 1991.An excellent book and giving us access to pictures that would probably remain hidden forever.

    Book preview

    Brandenburger - Anthony Rogers

    BRANDENBURGER

    IMAGES OF WAR

    BRANDENBURGER

    WARTIME PHOTOGRAPHS OF

    WILHELM WALTHER

    Anthony Rogers

    First published in Great Britain in 2022 by

    c/o Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 47 Church Street, Barnsley,

    South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England

    For more information on our books, please visit

    www.greenhillbooks.com, email [email protected]

    or write to us at the above address.

    Copyright f Anthony Rogers, 2022

    ISBN 978-1-78438-715-0

    eISBN 978-1-78438-716-7

    Mobi ISBN 978-1-78438-716-7

    The right of Anthony Rogers to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

    A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

    CONTENTS

    Introduction and Acknowledgements

    Wilhelm Walther and the ‘Brandenburger’

    Chapter One

    1931–39

    Chapter Two

    1940

    Chapter Three

    The Balkans: 1941

    Chapter Four

    Russia: 1941–42

    Chapter Five

    Russia: 1942–43

    Chapter Six

    Greece: 1943–44

    Chapter Seven

    Albania and Yugoslavia: 1944

    Chapter Eight

    Comrades in Arms

    Chapter Nine

    Hie guet Brandenburg allewege

    Appendix

    Wilhelm Walther’s Service Record

    Introduction

    This book in no way purports to be a history of what would evolve as the Division ‘Brandenburg’. It is, quite simply, a pictorial record of the campaigns and operations of one ‘Brandenburger’, Wilhelm ‘Uwe’ Walther, represented by a selection of some of the 600 images from his personal photo album. It is presented as a tribute to the life and times of a career officer, whose military service, like so many of his generation, ended abruptly at the end of the Second World War.

    This project can be said to have originated when I interviewed Uwe during the course of researching my book Churchill’s Folly. This covers events in the Aegean in the autumn of 1943, in which units of the Division ‘Brandenburg’ participated. At his home in Heidelberg, I was provided with a glimpse of Uwe’s photo album and saw then the potential for a unique book. Uwe died on 25 November 2010, age 100. Many years later, the photo album was rediscovered in the safekeeping of one of his sons, Andreas. Eventually, after much negotiating, I was able to borrow the album and scan the images therein. The successful negotiation was achieved largely as a result of the tact and diplomacy of my good friend in Bavaria, Hans Peter Eisenbach.

    Photographs span the pre-war years through to August 1944. If later images exist, it is not known what became of them. A collection of wartime colour slides, together with documentation, is no longer accessible, having been acquired by a collector.

    Original captions, written on album pages or the backs of photographs, were transcribed by my dear friend Bettina Selke in Berlin. This involved painstakingly deciphering old-style Sütterlinschrift. Bettina also undertook her own independent research to provide much additional information.

    Photographs in the album are displayed somewhat haphazardly. In nearly all cases, captions are brief, place names are often not included and there are few dates. I have attempted to redress this, wherever possible, by rearranging images chronologically, by particular campaigns, or regionally. For authenticity, I have included the original captions, exactly as they

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