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Operation Winter Tempest by David Pentland.
Panzer IVF2 tanks of 6th Panzer Division, Panzer Armee Hoth, attempt to fight their way through to the beleaguered Sixth Army at Stalingrad, 12th December 1942. On the 21st the operation was abandoned when the expected breakout from Stalingrad failed to materialise, the relief column was only 25 miles from the city.
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Clipped Signature - Erwin Kressmann.
A Knight's Cross winning tank commander in Panzerjager Abteilung 519. He died in 2017.
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Defence of the Reichstag, Berlin, 1st May 1945 by David Pentland.
On the 30th April, Untersharfuhrer Georg Diers and his crew of tank 314, were ordered to take up a defensive position at the Reichstag buildings. This was one of only two remaining King Tigers belonging to Heavy SS Tank Battalion 503 in Berlin. By that evening they had knocked out about 30 T34s, and the following day led a successful counterattack against the Kroll Opera House directly opposite the Reichstag. Their efforts though, merely postponed the inevitable and by the end of the day the order was given to abandon the position and prepare to break out of Berlin.
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Tiger at the Gate, Berlin, 30th April 1945 by David Pentland.
A Tiger I and PAK 40 anti tank gun of the Muncheberg Division, field a final defence of the capital in front of the Brandenburg Gate under the shattered remains of the famous Linden trees. The under-strength division had just been formed the previous month from a mixture of ad hoc units and various marks of tank. Despite this it put up a spirited fight until its final destruction in early May.
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Tiger I of the 3rd SS Totenkopf Division, Poland 1944 by Randall Wilson.
The crew of a late model Tiger I of the 3rd SS Totenkopf Division, manage to take a short break from the fighting around Warsaw, during the German assault, having pushed the Soviet forces out of the city and across the Vistula River.
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Assault on Voronezh, Russia, 2nd - 7th July 1942 by David Pentland.
Sturmgeschutz IIIF of Stug Battalion Grossdeutschland, and supporting infantry from GD Regiment 1 battle against Soviet forces defending the strategically important city of Voronezh on the Don. Combined arms operations such as this proved the value of the assault gun, which took a terrible toll on enemy armour and men alike.
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Kampfgruppe Peiper by David Pentland.
Oberssturmbannfuhrer Jochim Peiper, commander of the armoured spearhead of 1st SS Panzer Division, in conference with some of the officers of other units under his command. Aside from men and tanks of his own division, these included King Tigers of the 501st heavy tank battalion and paratroops of 1st battalion, 9th Fallschirmjäger regiment.
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Taming the Tiger by Geoff Lea.
It is August 1944, barely two months since the Allies landed their first troops on the beaches of Normandy. After the failed Operation Luttich (codename given to a German counterattack during the Battle of Normandy, which took place around the American positions near Mortain from 7 August to 13 August, 1944 ) The German Panzer Divisions were in full retreat, The British and American Generals believed it to be critical to halt them before they cauld regroup. Caught in the Gap at Falaise, the battle was to be decisive. Flying throughout a continuous onslaught, rocket-firing Typhoons kept up their attacks on the trapped armoured divisions from dawn to dusk. The effect was devastating: at the end of the ten day battle the 100,000 strong German force was decimated. The battle of the Falaise Pocket marked the closing phase of the Battle of Normandy with a decisive German defeat. It is believed that between 80,000 to 100,000 German troops were caught in the encirclement of which 10,000 to 15,000 were killed, 45,000 to 50,000 taken prisoner, and around 20,000 escaped . Shown here are German Tiger I tanks under continues attack by Royal Aoir Force Typhoons.
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Fight for Kowel, Poland, March/April 1944 by David Pentland.
Although in the process of regrouping after their escape from the Cherkassy Pocket, Panthers and Panzer Grenadiers of the crack 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking are part of the relief force hastily assembled and thrown in to free the strategically important city of Kowel in the Pripet Marshes. By April 10th the Soviet encirclement of the city was broken and Wiking were pulled out of the line to continue refitting.
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Jagdverbande Mitte, Pomerania, Germany, March 1945 by David Pentland.
In early 1945 Obersturmfuhrer Walter Girg was given command of a small unit of SS commandos whose task was to operate Russian tanks behind enemy lines. One such mission took him to the area of the enemy-encircled Kolberg garrison. The German forces there however believed Girg and his men to be Seydlitz agents (German soldiers working for the Soviet forces) and they were taken to be shot. Luckily the mistake was discovered a short time later and Girg remained in Kolberg until 18 March 1945 when the garrison was evacuated by sea.
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Kerscher's Defence of Neuhauser Forest by David Pentland.
Oberfeldwebel Albert Kerscher, commander of 2nd company 511 Heavy Tank Battalion aided by a Panzer IV, two Hetzers, a Kingtiger and a Pak gun, successfully defended against concerted Soviet air and armoured attacks, his action buying valuable time for the evacuation of German wounded from Pilau and scoring his 100th victory in the process.
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Rommel in Normandy, France, 2nd July 1944 by David Pentland.
Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel, commander of Army Group B, consults with his former subordinate from North Africa, now divisional commander of the elite Panzer Lehr, General Fritz Bayerlein and the Colonel Rudolf Gerhardt of Panzer Regiment Lehr, over the imminent transfer of the division to confront the Americans at St. Lo.
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Escape to the Elbe, Berlin, 3rd May 1945 by David Pentland.
Following Hitlers death, the decision was taken by the officers and men of Sturmartillerie Brigade 249 to break out of the doomed capital. Shortly before midnight on the 3rd, what remained of the unit fought to the edge of the city at Spandau. By this time the brigade had been split into two elements, the first under Hauptmann Herbert Jaschke successfully punched their way out to the west. The second group was not so lucky, and its survivors fell into Soviet captivity.
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Konigstiger Ausf B by Randall Wilson.
With assault troops on board, a king tiger from Schwere Panzer Abteilung 511 leads a Jagdpanther down a morning misty road May 1945.
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Panther at the Zoo, Tiergarten, Berlin, 2nd May 1945 by David Pentland.
Below the vast bulk of the Zoo Bunker one of three giant Flak towers designed to defend Berlin from air attack, some remnants of the citys defenders gather in an attempt to break out of the doomed capital. Amongst which are troops from the 9th Fallschirmjager and Munchberg Panzer Divisions, including a rare nightfighting equipped Panther G of Oberleutnant Rasims Company, 1/29th Panzer Regiment.
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Operation Zitadelle by David Pentland.
Panzer v Ausf. D Panthers of SS Panther Division Das Reich make their debut during the initial stages of the German summer offensive for Kursk. This unit with others of the SS Panzer Korps made the deepest advances into the well-prepared Soviet lines. Complete success however, was to elude them when outrunning their supporting divisions at Prokhorovka they were forced to halt for six days.
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Barkmann's Corner by David Pentland.
Ernst Barkmann's (Das Reich, 2nd SS Panzer Division) famous day long solo engagement against an American Armoured breakthrough towards St. Lo, Normandy, 26th July 1944.
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The Last Battle, Berlin, 30th April 1945 by David Pentland.
Unterscharfurher Karl-Heinz Turk of the Schwere SS Panzerabteilung 503, in one of the units few remaining Kingtigers, defends the Potsdammer Platz along with elements of the Munchberg Division against the rapidly encroaching Soviet forces.
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Panther Stellung, Monte Cassino, Italy, 21st -22nd May 1944 by David Pentland.
While commanding an emplaced Panther tank turret east of Piedimonte, the young Gefreiter Herbert Fries, from 2./FschPzJagAbt 1, slowed down the Allies who were trying to outflank what was left of 1FJD. In two days he and his crew knocked out 17 enemy tanks.
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Hornisse, Central Russia, November 1943 by David Pentland.
Hornet self propelled 88mm anti-tank guns of Heavy Anti-tank Battalion 519 attached to 3rd Army, Army Group Center. Oberleutnant Erwin Kressmann commanded 1st company, while its 1st platoon was led by the soon to be famous Lt Albert Ernst, who in an engagement during the Witebsk battles destroyed 14 Soviet tanks with just 21 rounds.
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Lull in the Battle, Central Russia, December 1943 by David Pentland.
Hornet self propelled 88mm anti-tank guns of Heavy Anti-tank Battalion 519 attached to 3rd Army, Army Group Center. Oberleutnant Erwin Kressmann commanded 1st company, while 1st platoon was led by the soon to be famous Lt Albert Ernst, who in an engagement during the Witebsk battles destroyed 14 Soviet tanks with just 21 rounds.
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Military Art and Artists 
Kressmann, Erwin
