Kampfgruppe Mühlenkamp: 5. SS-Panzer-Division "Wiking", Eastern Poland, July 1944

Kampfgruppe Mühlenkamp presents for the first time a sequential series of photos taken by Waffen-SS war correspondent Ernst Baumann in Eastern Poland during a two week period in July 1944. At this time the 5. SS-Panzer-Division "Wiking" was engaged in counter-attacks against Soviet armored and cavalry forces following their crushing defeat of Army Group Center in Belarus during the Red Army's "Operation Bagration" summer offensive.

These stunning images of the Waffen-SS "Wiking" Division and "Germania" Regiment in action were scanned from the actual negatives and digitally enhanced and enlarged to bring out a previously unseen level of detail. Together with thoroughly researched text and captions as well as four military maps, the photos are shown in their proper sequence and matched with the dates and locations of the various engagements as they unfolded. The names of the officers appearing in the photos, and the troops, vehicles and weapons of the units under their command are documented in the accompanying narrative of the events which comprised the counterattacks at Kamieniec-Litevski and the relief of Grenadier-Bataillon z.b.V. 560 on 22 July 1944.