Original Photos

Below you will see some original photos I have scrounged up of Sturmpioniers doing their thing from WWII. Some of these appear elsewhere, but they also belong here.

Above are a couple of shots of WWII era mines, and our heroic Sturmpionier clearing mines away or laying some. The left photo shows the German anti-vehicle mine, the Teller mine. These bad boys could knock out anything just about, & the German Army called on engineers like the 43rd to lay down belts and belts of these guys, especially as the war progressed and Germany was more and more on the defense. Pioniers would lay these mines using a net with knots in a pattern so that if they had to clear their own minefield in preparation for an attack, all they had to do was spread the net over the area, line up a few points, and the knots on the net let them know exactly where each mine was. Now when the German Army was attacking a mined position, Sturmpioniers were called forward to clear lanes through the mine belts. These Sturmpioniers used their specialised equipment and know-how to clear these lanes which they would mark with colored tape.

Arguably the coolest (or hottest) weapon in the Sturmpionier arsenal was the flamethrower, or flammenwerfer. Above you can see a flammenwerfer laying down a blast of fire towards a Russian bunker. The flammenwerfer was an assault weapon designed to get people out of defensive positions, but could also be used defensively to close-assault vehicles. Many people have misconceptions about how the flammenwerfer actually did its job. Most people believe the purpose of a flammenwerfer was to burn people to a crisp. This actually rarely happened. Usually, when opposing troops saw one of these things heading their way, it would frighten them out of their position. Second, if you happened to be in a position that did get hit by a flammenwerfer, you were more likely to die from asphyxiation as the oxygen was burned out of the room than by the actual flame itself. This is like napalm today. Finally, many of the vehicles hit by these weapons were not knocked out due to the flame melting their way into the crew compartment. Usually the flames were sucked into the engine intake, potentially leading to a fire. Below you can see proper technique with one flammenwerfer firing his weapon into a bunker opening while two other Sturmpioniers cover him with rifle fire.

Another important task for which the German High Command leaned heavily on Sturmpioniers was crossing rivers. River crossings were very important in European warfare as much of Europe is open country where rivers form the only natural defensive barriers. Whenever the Germans reached a river, they called for Pioniers. The Sturmpioniers would assault the far shore in boats like the one on this postcard or more often in wooden boats with motors. Once they had secured the crossing point, the Bruckenpioniers would start building a bridge while the Sturmpioniers would form a defensive perimeter and beat back any counterattacks. I have a good account of the 43rd crossing a river in Russia in 1941. We actually have a small pneumatic boat like this one, but we have never had the guts to use on in a battle. Maybe someday...

The postcard at right shows the storied history of the Pionier as part of the German Army. Inset in the photo of modern Sturmpioniers is a drawing of a 16th century Pionier armed with an axe for cutting down entrenchments and about to toss a bomb at some unsuspecting entrenched foe. The modern rendition show Sturmpioniers carrying pole charges which is nothing more than an explosive on a stick. They were used to blow passages through barbed wire or were pushed towards forts to blow up key points on enemy works. Fun!

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