Baptism of fire

In 1942, the German war machine was at the height of its power. France, the ‘hereditary enemy’, was defeated and occupied. In the Soviet Union, Army Group South was marching inexorably toward the Cauc

E rich R Döbrich was born in Sonnenberg, Thuringia, on 31 May 1896 – he added ‘-Steglitz’ to his name following his service in the First World War. During that conflict, he had served as an Ulan with

Fritz Kosmahl, destined to become one of Germany’s most highly decorated two-seater pilots, was born in Leipzig on 5 September 1892. His early interest in aviation led him to undertake pilot training

When Buckingham Palace was hit by bombs on 15 September 1940, it brought the war to the very front door of King George VI and his wife Elizabeth, the Queen consort. Just over two weeks later, the war

During the early days Operation Barbarossa, Army Group Centre’s rapid advance surrounded hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers in the Białystok-Minsk area. What ensued was a catastrophic defeat for the Soviet defenders

Subordinate to Dr Joseph Goebbels’ Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda) but reporting through the Wehrmacht Propaganda department of O