Third Reich Boy Soldiers

[pavel michalek]

If I'm not mistake, this is Latvian SS, right?

I think you´re right. These are Latvians.

[AlifRafikKhan]

Young Gebirgsjäger proudly receiving Eiserne Kreuz 2 klasse...

Source : http://i11.tinypic.com/4v4875s.jpg

[yaroslav]

Young Hitler's solders were captured by the Red Army in Berlin, 1945.

Source: scanned from the WW2 (1941 - 1045) encyclopedia book, M.Kozlov 1985.

[yaroslav]

Volksturm boy.

Source: scanned from the WW2 (1941 - 1045) encyclopedia book, M.Kozlov 1985.

[Marcus]

yaroslav,

Please remember to include information on the source of the images you post, thanks.

/Marcus

[yaroslav]

yaroslav,

Please remember to include information on the source of the images you post, thanks.

/Marcus

OK. Added.
Thanks.

[AlifRafikKhan]

From Hitlerjugend?

Source : http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/sh ... 9&page=120

[AlifRafikKhan]

Young recruit of Handschar received wise instruction from Grand Mufti Amin al-Husseini...

Source : http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... lligen.jpg

[AlifRafikKhan]

Young German soldiers moving towards prison camp...

Source : Book "Nazi History in Pictures"

[Annelie]

by yaroslav on Sun Nov 01, 2009 1:31 am

Young Hitler's

That is such an well known photo that I cannot help wondering who they were and how they made out?
Would love to hear their tales of those times. Couldn't have been easy there in Berlin and thinking
any day would be the last for such young kids.

[AlifRafikKhan]

In Germany, meanwhile, during the last period of the German defense in the autumn of 1944 and spring of 1945, many boys between the ages of twelve and sixteen were drafted as German troops on both the Eastern and Western fronts. Many of the boys were recruited from the HITLER YOUTH, and the Führer awarded some the Iron Cross. The boys handled antiaircraft artillery, grenade throwers, and other weapons. Many of the soldiers who refused to surrender when the Americans occupied the Ruhr Valley were boys. They devised roadblocks, ambushes, and other mischief wherever they could until the final German defeat in May 1945...

World War II, about 10,000 underage German boy soldiers were imprisoned in the largest Allied camp for child soldiers, located in the French village of Attichy...

Source : http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Th-W/War- ... ntury.html

[Svetlana Karlin]

This boy is a Don Cossack who fought I believe with the Germans. The photograph was taken in 1944. A Russian reader tells us. In Russia thereis a term, "son a shelf". This is a boy who brings up shelfs. He/she is the general favourite and is surrounded by general attention, but brought up as the soldier. In a photo the young cossack the pupil 5 Don Cossack shelf." I don't entirely understand this comment. Perhaps a HBC reader will understand it better."

Source : http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/cou/so ... g-cos.html

There's a translation error in that source. The proper Russian term is not "son a shelf" but "son of a regiment". The Russian words for "shelf" (polka) and "regiment" (polk) look very similar but have totally different meanings. And, of course, a son of a regiment doesn't bring up shelves.

During the war, Soviet soldiers occasionally picked up homeless orphans and provided them with food, clothing and care. The usual saying was that "a regiment adopted the boy". Those children would tag along with their soldier caregivers until the end of war or until being placed somewhere else - in an orphanage or with a kindly family.

A very well-known book in the Soviet Union was "Son of the Regiment" ("Syn Polka" in Russian) by Valentin Kataev which depicted a fictional story of a boy adopted by an army regiment. This book was a staple of middle school reading lists. Although I have read similar real-life accounts in the Soviet/Russian media, it is not very clear to me to what extent those kids could be involved in the combat actions. In some cases they were deliberately kept away from the battle areas, and in some cases they seemed to act like 'helpers' - bringing ammunition, running errands and such. However, they weren't formally "recruited" like the young Wehrmacht soldiers.



Picture source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... oldier.JPG

[Annelie]

During the war, Soviet soldiers occasionally picked up homeless orphans and provided them with food, clothing and care

I have talked to a witness that stated in Berlin of 1945 the Russians routinely picked up children and took them away
from their Mothers, children "incuded girls" and shipped them to Russia.

[Svetlana Karlin]

During the war, Soviet soldiers occasionally picked up homeless orphans and provided them with food, clothing and care

I have talked to a witness that stated in Berlin of 1945 the Russians routinely picked up children and took them away
from their Mothers, children "incuded girls" and shipped them to Russia.

Those "sons of regiments" were orphans picked up in the Soviet territory that had been under German occupation. It was a different situation.

In Berlin, as well in other German cities, there were many Russian/Ukrainian/Belorussian children who had been deported to work as slave laborers in Germany. There also were children born to Ostarbeiterinen and children adopted by German families (through Lebensborn and such). The Soviet policy was to return everyone who was a Soviet citizen by birth or born to a Soviet citizen to the Soviet Union. And they rounded up Germans as retaliation, as well.

Lots of human tragedies throughout Europe. Many children were victims, including the boys drafted into Wehrmacht.

[Annelie]

Lots of human tragedies throughout Europe. Many children were victims

Yes, that is correct.

However in this case her child was not of Russian/Ukrainian or Belorussian origin.
Her child and those of the group of women with whom she travelled were not of
this origin. They were German.