German Tank Crew Loading Shells

High German tank crews from Panzer-Regiment xv / 11.Panzer-Division "Gespenster Division" loading shells inwards their tank, a Panzerkampfwagen III. Presumably inwards the district of Moscow, wintertime of 1941/1942. Weapons together with vehicles request exceptional lubricants to run at depression temperatures. Mines are unreliable inwards winter, owing to deep snowfall that may cushion the fuse or cast an H2O ice distich over the detonator. During World War II, the Wehrmacht lacked necessary supplies, such equally weapons together with wintertime uniforms, due to the many delays inwards the High German army's movements. At the same time, Hitler's plans for Operation Barbarossa genuinely miscarried earlier the onslaught of severe wintertime weather: he was then confident of a quick victory that he did non gear upwards for fifty-fifty the possibility of wintertime warfare inwards Russia. In fact his eastern regular army suffered to a greater extent than than 734,000 casualties (about 23% of its average forcefulness of 3,200,000) during the outset 5 months of the invasion earlier the wintertime started. On 27 Nov 1941, Eduard Wagner, the Quartermaster General of the High German Army, reported that "We are at the halt of our resources inwards both personnel together with material. We are virtually to survive confronted alongside the dangers of deep winter." Also of authorities notation is the fact that the unusually early on wintertime of 1941 cutting brusk the rasputitsa season, improving logistics inwards early on November, alongside the weather condition nonetheless existence solely mildly cold.


Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Winter
http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/threads/german-heavy-medium-armour.101/page-4