Gran Sasso raid pictures

[historygeek]

Hi,

Does anyone have any pictures of the Gran Sasso raid ?
Thanks

History geek

[gudcdn]

Have you read "For Germany" Skorzeny's autobiography? There are almost two dozen.

Paul

[eindhoven]

The entire Bundesarchiv_Bild series shot by KB Toni Schneiders and Bruno v. Kayser is available via a quick google search in varying resolutions - I have 121 of the BA images on file from the Gran Sasso Raid. Those include the Lastensegler group that took the Hotel Campo Imperatore and ground unit that secured the cable car station below.

[eindhoven]

From the Bundesarchiv series you really do get a good idea of Skorzeny's complete non-presence until it's time to mug with Il Duce then leave. Those who did the actual work on the mountain burned their Lastensegler, headed down via the cables cars, joined the ground element and left in vehicles with the combined wounded from the air and ground element. Skorzeny meanwhile was enjoying free air fare on his way to celebrity.

[eindhoven]

Toni Schneiders was born in Urbar, Mayen-Koblenz, Germany in 1920. In 1939, he completed his education as a photographer. In 1939, he entered the German military. From 1942 until 1944, he served as a war correspondent. He notably participated in, and photographed, the Operation Eiche rescue mission for Benito Mussolini.

He was seriously wounded in Paris, France in Aug 1944. After the war, he resided briefly in Koblenz before moving to Meersburg in southern Germany. In 1949, he moved to Lindau (Bodensee) on the eastern end of Lake Constance. He was a founding member of the photographers group FotoForm. He married Ingeborg Thomann in the 1950s and traveled extensively throughout Europe during his career. In 1999, he won the Culture Prize of the German Society for Photography (Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie) award. He passed away in Lindau (Bodensee) in 2006.

[Poot]

Was there any contingency in place for a QRF in case things went badly at the target location? Were the cable cars/gondolas the only means of descending the mountain?
Pat

[eindhoven]

Was there any contingency in place for a QRF in case things went badly at the target location? Were the cable cars/gondolas the only means of descending the mountain?
Pat

Pat,

The Airborne element of the operation was essentially it. There was no QRF in the air to provide any sort of support should things have gone badly. Those that secured the ground station would've taken a very long time to ascend up via the cable cars as reinforcement and yes, the only way down off the mountain was the use of the very same cable cars. The air element burned their gliders to destroy them after removing all weapons and ammunition then descended the mountain slowly in groups via the cable cars.

[eindhoven]

A cursory look at the images however indicates just how heavily armed the airborne glider element was. Not only did they have a high proportion of heavy MG with them they also had rifle grenades and even an Airborne 28/20-mm antitank gun with them to lay it on heavy. This bearing in mind the already high proportion of automatic weapons in WW2 German TO&E for any infantry type platoon.

[Poot]

Eindhoven,
Thanks, it looks like it was 'all the way or no way,' then. Good planning to have a higher number of crew-served weapons under those circumstances.

[CogCalgary]

A cursory look at the images however indicates just how heavily armed the airborne glider element was. Not only did they have a high proportion of heavy MG with them they also had rifle grenades and even an Airborne 28/20-mm antitank gun with them to lay it on heavy. This bearing in mind the already high proportion of automatic weapons in WW2 German TO&E for any infantry type platoon.

Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-567-1503B-08,_Gran_Sasso,_Fallschirmjägern_nach_Einsatz.jpg

Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-567-1503B-09,_Gran_Sasso,_Fallschirmjäger_mit_Geschütz.jpg

Hello,in that group pic,the short man half out of the pic,I saw another pic of this man,him alone,but still halfway out of the pic.
Couldn't find him again going through 101L-567-1503 series ,A to C .
Are you familiar with that pic?

[Westphalia1812]

Toni Schneiders was born in Urbar, Mayen-Koblenz, Germany in 1920. In 1939, he completed his education as a photographer. In 1939, he entered the German military. From 1942 until 1944, he served as a war correspondent. He notably participated in, and photographed, the Operation Eiche rescue mission for Benito Mussolini.

Wasn't he the one who took photographs of Lehr and Fallschirmjäger in Normandy? I am sure I saw some of them linked to his name.