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Anti-tank ditch that delayed 16.Pz.Div.
Anti-tank ditches seem rather resilient to the march of time and progress. During their advance upon Kupyansk on 22 June 1942, 16.Pz.Div. was delayed for several hours by a ravine fortified by wire obstacles and an anti-tank ditch. Luckily, the ditch was present on maps currently being used for research, and is still clearly visible on modern aerial photos, even the part that has been subsumed by an agricultural field.
Taming the “Beast Slayer”
Coming in Issue 1 of “Kampfzone”
Biography
Taming the “Beast Slayer”: Oberleutnant Bernhard Küper
by Oliver Lörscher
In October 1944, Leutnant Bernhard Küper fought off a deadly foe: a pack of ISU-152 self-propelled heavy howitzers.
Over 1800 words, 2 photos and 2 maps
German officer with a decidedly British name
Sometimes while researching, you’ll come across a fact or name that will stop you in your tracks. That was definitely the case when we saw this card to a German officer called Robert-Allan Stevenson. One wonders how a man of obvious British ancestry ended up in the Wehrmacht. He served as leader of a Panzer II Luchs platoon in a recon company of 9. Panzer-Division, was wounded during Operation Citadel and earned several medals, including both grades of the Iron Cross, panzer assault badge and wound badge. He ultimately survived the war and died 1 November 2006.
Stalingrad detective work
Some excellent detective work by Alex Skvorin has revealed that the photo of a German prisoner was taken in Stalingrad during the September fighting. A rare photo indeed. Alex wrote:
“The photo did not have any captions. But from the first photo everything seems to be clear. In the background, you can see a bit of the House of Specialists on the embankment of Stalingrad. I couldn’t solve the problem with the prisoner for a long time until I combined these two photos. Roofs of private houses, columns match precisely. Both photos were taken in Stalingrad, in the same place. As a result, a photo of a German prisoner of war (probably 71st infantry division) surrounded by our soldiers, still at the early stage of the battle. I think it’s September 1942.
Heinrich Buschhoff, panzer officer at Stalingrad, passes away aged 100
Familiar face
Final resting place?
Somewhere along this stretch of road leading to Smolensk are the graves of eight soldiers from the Falke-Division. To date their remains have not been disinterred by the Volksbund. In order to prevent the graves from being robbed by “black diggers”, no further information can be shared.