Photograph by Panzer Füsilier Regiment Großdeutschland © 2009. No un-authorised use.

The officer returns from a battalion briefing. “It appears that the division is to stay in situ whilst high command decides what to do with us. Therefore: Patrols out, barbed wire up, lay minefields and dig in deeper!”

Photograph by Panzer Füsilier Regiment Großdeutschland © 2009. No un-authorised use.

Tunics off, sleeves rolled up... a soldier’s life often depended on digging...

Photograph by Panzer Füsilier Regiment Großdeutschland © 2009. No un-authorised use.

A quiet moment of reflection under the midday sun. The engineers had put in some hard work starting to prepare this position. They have moved on now, and the task is to be carried on by the GD units moving back from Schaulen.

Photograph by Panzer Füsilier Regiment Großdeutschland © 2009. No un-authorised use.

The GD records relate numerous accounts of men able to withstand the most ferocious bombardments only because they had dug into the ground quickly. To be caught in the open was a death sentence...

Photograph by Panzer Füsilier Regiment Großdeutschland © 2009. No un-authorised use.

One of the platoons MG42’s are zeroed in. The crew have been given a zone of fire which will interlock with the other light and heavy weapons distributed throughout the company.

Photograph by Panzer Füsilier Regiment Großdeutschland © 2009. No un-authorised use.

Landmarks are noted, ranges are calculated. Ammunition is carefully prepared and stowed ready for immediate use...

Photograph by Panzer Füsilier Regiment Großdeutschland © 2009. No un-authorised use.

One of the company’s 8cm mortar teams goes through their drills. A well rehearsed mortar team could fire up to twelve rounds per minute. In cooperation with the other weapons available to the battalion, it could put down a withering fire of high explosive on a predetermined target.

Photograph by Panzer Füsilier Regiment Großdeutschland © 2009. No un-authorised use.

After a briefing, events are discussed. The officer relates the current official views from above on the recent bomb plot at Hitler’s HQ in Prussia. It is no surprise to learn that the propaganda machine was stepped up a gear within the division, as was the case throughout the Wehrmacht. The GD men resented this though. Surely their loyalty was beyond question? Had their service and numerous sacrifices at the front been for nothing? Had it not been a GD unit that had quashed the half-cocked uprising in Berlin?