Hitler 1945
Cowdery archive photos from WW2

THIS PAGE CONTAINS UNUSUAL PHOTOGRAPHS FROM
THE ARCHIVES OF AUTHORS RAY & JOSEPHINE COWDERY

We thought you might enjoy these rare photographs. From time to time we find strange stuff in our archives and we will continue to bring it to the attention to World War II history aficionados and fans of original photographs from the period.

Hitler destroyed

More coming soon....

Wehrmacht dinner

AN ARMY TRAVELS
ON ITS STOMACH....

An army travels on its stomach, or so it has been said. If that statement is true, then the Gebirgsjaeger and Artillery Landsers in this photo "traveled" very well. The 13 German soldiers and a butcher appear to be admiring a sow that is being readied for consumption.
The 1942 photo is from an original Wehrmacht soldier photo album in the collection of Ray & Josephine Cowdery.
American jeep
The original caption under the picture shown right in the December 1947 issue of "Marine Corps Gazette" said, "What happens when rough weather hits a jeep improperly secured in a ship's hold." So that is what the hooks and rings on Marine Corps jeeps are for!

IMPROPERLY SECURED ....

Kriegsmarine sailors

KRIEGSMARINE MATROSEN

Two Matrosen from the German Kriegsmarine destroyer Diether von Roeder on shore leave in Hamburg during World War II. The photo is from the personal photo album of the sailor on the right.

ADOLF HITLER DESTROYED IN 1945!

New evidence that a squad of Canadian soldiers destroyed Adolf Hitler in 1945!
Russian soldier with Nazi dagger
On the right is a great photo of a very young, somewhat sad looking Russian soldier taken in the summer of 1945. His Russki uniform has been greatly improved with the addition of a German belt and buckle and chained Nazi dagger. The gaiters appear to be German as well. We don't have a clue about the bouquet of flowers!

RUSSIAN UNIFORM WITH GERMAN ACCESSORIES

NS Organisationsleiter Robert Ley &  King Edward VIII

THE KING AND THE NAZI ORGANISATIONLEITER

Left is a very interesting photograph of King Edward VIII of England and Nazi Reichsorganisationsleiter Dr. Robert Ley, friend of Adolf Hitler and the man who edited the Organization Book of the NSDAP. The photo came to us undated but we suspect it was taken after the king abdicated and moved to France
Mode A for Wehrmacht
Right, a member of Hitler's Luftwaffe shown in Holland during World War II on the fender of his pride and joy - a Model A Ford Phaeton. Note the WL German Air Force license plate.

LUFTWAFFE MODEL A
FORD PHAETON

1938 Der Hoheitsträger magazine

THE ENGLISH WON'T BE TOLD WHAT TO DO...

"The English won't be told what to do..." is part of the German caption for this photo showing dancers and the orchestra in a British club. Rather than shut the place down during a simulated air raid, the band and dancers simply put on gas masks in defiance of regulations. From the German magazine Der Hoheitsträger, Volume VIII, 1938.
Harley-Davidson
The great Harley-Davidson ad shown to the right first ran in the American magazine Popular Mechanics in the spring of 1944.

Like Willys-Overland and their famous jeep, Harley could not sell their motorcycles during World War II as everything they made was going to the government. That did not stop them from keeping their name in front of the public and building a mailing list of people interested in their product. By sending in the coupon, "Popular Mechanics" readers would be sent a copy of the Harley-Davidson magazine Enthusiast. Today, single copies of the free Enthusiast magazine sell for prices ranging from $20.00 to $100.00.

1944 HARLEY-DAVIDSON AD

Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Motorized Infantry Regiment Kaserne
A rare picture taken in the late 1930s of a portion of the motor vehicle storage building on Barrack Square in the southern part of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Motorized Infantry Regiment Kaserne in Berlin-Lichterfelde.

MOTORIZED SS
IN BERLIN

SS man in Russia

MOSQUITO PROTECTION IN RUSSIA

A great photograph of a SS man in the Soviet Union wearing both gloves and a mosquito net to try to keep from being eaten alive by the bumblebee size Russian mosquitoes.
SS helmets
One of the most interesting things about this photo is the very small number of helmets bearing helmet decals. Out of 46 helmets only 4 have their silver and black SS decals. Auction companies and militaria shows these days usually have a ratio of about 10 Waffen-SS decal helmets to each helmet without decals. Makes one wonder .....

WAFFEN-SS HELMETS

The photograph below was taken in spring 1944 on a street in heavily damaged suburban Nürnberg, Germany. A group of Waffen-SS soldiers placed their helmets on their packs on a sidewalk in traditional Germany Army fashion while guarding Soviet prisoners.
German Off-Road car

OFF-ROADING IN COMFORT

A great many experimental off-road vehicles were developed in Germany during the Third Reich though very few made it past the prototype stage into even low volume production. Fortunately for car and military history buffs, some photographer snapped a picture of this stunning 8-wheel ride developed by engineer G. Rimmek of Berlin-Siemensstadt, Germany in 1935.
It should have been very comfortable over uneven terrain and the ideal outfit for a prom date!
Seabees
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