In the middle of 1944, the battlefronts began moving toward the German Reich. Starting in September of that year, all men between the ages 16 and 60 who were capable of bearing weapons were forced to defend the country in the People’s Army [Volkssturm], the National Socialists’ last stand against impending defeat. Inadequately trained and poorly armed, they were supposed to continue the war on German soil.
Source: Volkssturm members, older men and youths, with rifles and
bazookas during an exercise in Sanssouci Park in Potsdam. Date: Autumn
1944. Photo: Hilmar Pabel.
bpk-Bildagentur, image number 30002711.
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© bpk / Hilmar Pabel