3.7cm Flakzwilling 43, France 1944

The 3.7cm Flugabwehrkanone 43 was introduced in early 1944 as a heavier-calibre replacement for the 2cm Flakvierling 38. It could engage aircraft flying at an altitude of up to 4200 meters, and was frequently used to engage ground targets at a range of up to 6585 metres. In service, it proved to be very successful, but due to it's late introduction there were only 928 (and 185 Flakzwilling) units produced before the war ended.

Panzer IV of the Hitlerjugend Division, Belgium 1943

The 12th SS-Panzer Division Hitlerjugend was formed in mid 1943 from members of the Hitler Youth born in 1926. The leaders of this Division of 17 year old boys were sourced from senior NCOs and Officers of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH). Many of the soldiers in the unit were so young that they received sweets instead of the standard ration of tobacco and alcohol.

Know Your Enemy - 1943 Training Video on Captured German Firearms

The video below was produced by the US Office of Strategic Services in 1943, and was designed to instruct American troops on the proper use of captured German firearms. It covers the most common weapons that were encountered in the field:

• K98 rifle
• MP40 submachine gun
• Luger P08 pistol
• Stielhandgranate 24 or 39 grenade
• MG34 and MG42 machine guns
• 8cm Granatwerfer 34 mortar

Wilhelm 'Willi' Hübner - One of the Youngest Recipients of the Iron Cross

As casualties mounted during the Second World War, Germany was forced to call up ever younger conscripts to fill the ranks of the Wehrmacht. So dire was the situation at the end of 1944, that boys born in 1928 were called up to serve the Führer. They were 15 or 16 years old and had grown up in the shadow of Nazism. Each would have spent their teenage years in the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) preparing them for military service.

The net result of this was a cadre of youths that grew up surrounded by Nazi propaganda and were called up to serve the Vaterland they had been raised and trained to defend. In many cases they fought bravely against overwhelming odds, but the lives of thousands of these youths were wasted by throwing them senselessly into battle with the Allies when the war was already lost.