Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
Hans-Georg Henke
https://3.bp.########.com/-bl--Amh-ghA/V9uNtq7y4sI/AAAAAAAALEU/a3pUSvDetU8asHs0vRMKFBNq8bDKteDiACLcB/s1600/has_georg_henke_2.jpg
http://2.bp.########.com/-gtOz_XJBhD8/UoyAV814LpI/AAAAAAAAGhM/cpWdCifPmcI/s1600/Hans-Georg+Henke+-+15+Year+Old+German+Soldier+1.jpg
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/hans-georg-henke-16-year-old-german-soldier-crying/
Fairly well documented, and somewhat infamous series of photos.
Orphaned, Hans joined the Luftwaffe at 15, in 1944, and was assigned to an AA battery. Eventually ended up in Hüttenberg-Rechtenbach 1945, by which point he was 16. When the Americans overtook the town, there was some very stubborn fighting involved, and Hans ended up mixed in with an infantry unit that suffered very high loses in the defense of the town. John Florea, the photojournalist who took the pictures, claims that Hans broke down from combat shock as the Americans finally overtook his position.
After the war, Hans ended up on the East side of the divide, and fabricated a bit of a tale about where he was captured and how, because the Soviets were suspicious of any Germans that had spent time in American captivity.
https://3.bp.########.com/-bl--Amh-ghA/V9uNtq7y4sI/AAAAAAAALEU/a3pUSvDetU8asHs0vRMKFBNq8bDKteDiACLcB/s1600/has_georg_henke_2.jpg
http://2.bp.########.com/-gtOz_XJBhD8/UoyAV814LpI/AAAAAAAAGhM/cpWdCifPmcI/s1600/Hans-Georg+Henke+-+15+Year+Old+German+Soldier+1.jpg
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/hans-georg-henke-16-year-old-german-soldier-crying/
Fairly well documented, and somewhat infamous series of photos.
Orphaned, Hans joined the Luftwaffe at 15, in 1944, and was assigned to an AA battery. Eventually ended up in Hüttenberg-Rechtenbach 1945, by which point he was 16. When the Americans overtook the town, there was some very stubborn fighting involved, and Hans ended up mixed in with an infantry unit that suffered very high loses in the defense of the town. John Florea, the photojournalist who took the pictures, claims that Hans broke down from combat shock as the Americans finally overtook his position.
After the war, Hans ended up on the East side of the divide, and fabricated a bit of a tale about where he was captured and how, because the Soviets were suspicious of any Germans that had spent time in American captivity.
I have no personal military history. Never signed up. But I've always been fascinated with the culture of the military and the experience of warfare. We ask these young men (and women on occasion) to give absolutely everything, from precious time with their families to their lives, in service to their nation. Everything else goes on hold. No career advancement, no watching the baby's first steps, no quiet time at home with the Mrs, no social life outside the unit... It's a huge thing to ask of someone in the prime of their lives. But they do it. They sign up. They go. And thank God they do.
But a price is paid.
The experience can be more than a person can handle. It can eat at a person and age them prematurely, like Brookwood's grandpa. It can break a person. And I don't think anyone signs up for that.
In my hometown, back in my youth, there was an old fellow drank at the Legion. He shook so badly he had to hold his beer in both hands to get it to his mouth without spilling it. I was told his time as a POW did that to him. I don't think he signed up to spend the rest of his life a tremulous shell of a guy. He offered up his life, but lost everythng that could have been his life after the war.
These guys are in their twenties:
It's a hard thing we ask them to do. It takes a toll. We should always remember that.
The Winco has a DFC and two superior decorations. What are they?
Edit: It looks like they both have a VC. !!
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Caption to above photo:
Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire; Norman Cyril Jackson
The RAF Centre for Air Power Studies - RAF CAPS
April 26 ·
Today we remember Sergeant (later WO) Norman Jackson VC who, on the night of 26 April 1944, climbed out of the cockpit and onto the wing of his Lancaster in an attempt to save his crew. You can read about his incredible story on the RAF CAPS Medium page.
https://medium.com/raf-caps/one-nig...geant-later-wo-norman-jackson-vc-c2f0dc71296f
NPG x184310. © National Portrait Gallery, London
Victoria Cross
Cheshire was nearing the end of his fourth tour of duty in July 1944, having completed a total of 102 missions, when he was awarded the Victoria Cross. His citation remarked on the entirety of his operational career, noting:
In four years of fighting against the bitterest opposition he maintained a standard of outstanding personal achievement, his successful operations being the result of careful planning, brilliant execution and supreme contempt for danger – for example, on one occasion he flew his Mustang in slow 'figures of eight' above a target obscured by low cloud, to act as a bomb-aiming mark for his squadron. Cheshire displayed the courage and determination of an exceptional leader.[23]
It also gave special mention to a raid against Munich on 24/25 April 1944, in which he had marked a target while flying a Mosquito at low level against "withering fire".
When Cheshire went to Buckingham Palace to receive his VC from King George VI, he was accompanied by Norman Jackson who was also due to receive his award on that day. Cheshire insisted that despite the difference in rank (group captain and warrant officer), they should approach the King together. Jackson remembers that Cheshire said to the King, "This chap stuck his neck out more than I did – he should get his VC first!" The King had to keep to protocol, but Jackson commented he would "never forget what Cheshire said."[24]
Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire; Norman Cyril Jackson
The RAF Centre for Air Power Studies - RAF CAPS
April 26 ·
Today we remember Sergeant (later WO) Norman Jackson VC who, on the night of 26 April 1944, climbed out of the cockpit and onto the wing of his Lancaster in an attempt to save his crew. You can read about his incredible story on the RAF CAPS Medium page.
https://medium.com/raf-caps/one-nig...geant-later-wo-norman-jackson-vc-c2f0dc71296f
NPG x184310. © National Portrait Gallery, London
Victoria Cross
Cheshire was nearing the end of his fourth tour of duty in July 1944, having completed a total of 102 missions, when he was awarded the Victoria Cross. His citation remarked on the entirety of his operational career, noting:
In four years of fighting against the bitterest opposition he maintained a standard of outstanding personal achievement, his successful operations being the result of careful planning, brilliant execution and supreme contempt for danger – for example, on one occasion he flew his Mustang in slow 'figures of eight' above a target obscured by low cloud, to act as a bomb-aiming mark for his squadron. Cheshire displayed the courage and determination of an exceptional leader.[23]
It also gave special mention to a raid against Munich on 24/25 April 1944, in which he had marked a target while flying a Mosquito at low level against "withering fire".
When Cheshire went to Buckingham Palace to receive his VC from King George VI, he was accompanied by Norman Jackson who was also due to receive his award on that day. Cheshire insisted that despite the difference in rank (group captain and warrant officer), they should approach the King together. Jackson remembers that Cheshire said to the King, "This chap stuck his neck out more than I did – he should get his VC first!" The King had to keep to protocol, but Jackson commented he would "never forget what Cheshire said."[24]
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Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Cheshire spent his early life and his war years as an athiest, and a fearsome one at that. Thought it was all flimshaw and twaddle.
After the war, he was broke but owned a house he'd inherited from a aunt. Lots of room. Heard there was an old guy down the block who was busy dying all by himself, so he arranged to have him over. Took care of him, fed him, tended to his needs. Had no money, but made it happen.
When the old man died, he'd left a religious text of some kind behind. Cheshire read it and immediatly converted to christianity. He develped his house and postwar life into the Leonard Cheshire Disability.
https://www.leonardcheshire.org/
And now, years after that amazing man left us, his fund and organization are still helping people who could use the help.
I've long believed that as remarkable as Cheshire was during the war (102 ops, ran 617 Sqd for a time, was the initiator of low-level target marking, took huge risks and never got tagged) he really didn't hit his stride until afterward.
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Similarly - I knew a CF reservist George Drube (LCol) who had commanded a German AA gun position in WWII when he was 15/16. George pointed out that while he commanded the position, the gun was crewed by Russian POW’s. I also knew a number of Lithuanians from the same period that had fled to Germany to escape the Russian advance. But they would point out that some served in German uniforms and some in Russian uniforms - but the choice wasnt really ‘optional’.
Donny Fenn1
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Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
The Karl Gerat 40 siege mortar:
IIRC this picture was taken outside Sevastopol in '42
Their later ride...
Any idea where this last pic was taken? My grandpa was a CAF welder and (among other duties) was on crash recovery crews in North Ontario at the training bases during WWII. The equipment here strikes me as the kind of full kit they'd have at a training base where recovering wrecks was a fairly common occurrence.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Normandy, apparently.
"Spitfire IX, KH-T (MK857) was hit by flak on July 19, 1944. Went down in a mine field in Normandy and was recovered on August 11, 1944."
"Spitfire IX, KH-T (MK857) was hit by flak on July 19, 1944. Went down in a mine field in Normandy and was recovered on August 11, 1944."
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Early issues with the Y2K bug:
Normandy, apparently.
"Spitfire IX, KH-T (MK857) was hit by flak on July 19, 1944. Went down in a mine field in Normandy and was recovered on August 11, 1944."
Shot down by Flak, crash land in a minefield. When Mr. Murphy decides you're going to have a lousy day, he doesn't mess around..
