35015 HANDS UP - U.S. INFANTRYMAN & GERMAN POW - ARDENNES 1944

Already after the first experiences of fighting in North Africa at the turn of 1942-1943, the US Army changed the position of the American infantry division. From 1943 onwards, each infantry division had three full-time infantry regiments, in turn composed of three infantry battalions. In addition, the infantry regiment also included other units, for example: an anti-tank company, an artillery company or a staff company. In total, the US Army's infantry regiment numbered approximately 3,100 soldiers. It should also be remembered that the division also included a strong artillery component consisting of four artillery battalions - 3 light and 1 medium, most often armed with 105 and 155 mm howitzers. There was also, among others, an engineering battalion, a repair company, a reconnaissance unit and a Military Police platoon. In total, the US Infantry Division numbered approximately 14,200 people from 1943. It quite clearly dominated the artillery over the German division and had much better and - above all - fully motorized means of transport, which made it a highly mobile tactical formation. It also had much richer "individual" anti-tank weapons in the form of a large number of bazooka launchers, of which there were over 500 in the entire division.It is estimated that the German army lost between 3.7 million and 5.3 million soldiers wounded and killed during World War II (1939-1945). Likewise, the number of German prisoners of war can also be estimated in the millions. The German soldier who was captured by the Soviets could not be too sure of his fate. It is estimated that in the period 1941-1945 about 3.5 million soldiers from the Axis countries were captured by the Soviets (about 2.7 million were probably Germans), of which about 1 million died in captivity. It is also worth mentioning that in 1943, as a result of the Battle of Stalingrad, 91,000 Germans were captured by the Soviets, of which only 5,000 returned home in the mid-1950s. It is worth adding that, symbolically, the hunting ace Erich Hartmann, who returned to Germany in 1955, is considered to be the last German prisoner of war remaining in Soviet captivity. On the other hand, however, it should be remembered that in the years 1941-1945, about 5.7 million Red Army soldiers were captured by the German army, of which about 3.3 million died in captivity. The fate of German prisoners of war sent to Allied captivity was different, where they were most often treated humanely and in accordance with international conventions, and the death rate among them was much lower than in Soviet POW camps. However, there were also executions of German prisoners of war, carried out, for example, by French or American soldiers. However, these were - compared to Soviet standards - incidental cases.