Original German WWII Heer Sturmartillerie Enlisted Signals Gefreiter Rigid 12 ¾” x 19″ Photograph – Signed & Dated 1943 – Formerly A.A.F. Tank Museum Original Items

Original Item: One of a Kind. Here we have a lovely WWII period portrait, which looks to be a photograph or possibly a touched up photograph, of a Heer Sturmartillerie (Assault Artillery) Enlisted Man, wearing a very attractive “Panzer Wrap” tunic, in the correct Feldgrau color. The “StuG wrapper” uniforms were worn by troops who manned and operated the self-propelled Sturmgeschütze (assault gun or StuG) anti-tank / infantry support guns. The design of the panzer wrap over tunic was deemed as suitable for StuG crews but as they could be outside of the vehicle more or exposed than Panzer crews it was decided that the field grey color would be better suited. As the field grey color uniform was also the same color as the infantry uniform they blended in better when mixed in with the infantry.

The Sturmartillerie were officially part of the Artillerie branch and therefore wore wrappers with red Waffenfarbe. When assault guns were being developed, there was a struggle between the Panzer and Artillerie branches for control of this new weapon concept and Artillerie won. They were an integral part of the German “Blitzkrieg” strategy, which allowed them to overrun much of Europe in a relatively short amount of time.

This wonderful German WWII Sturmartillery portrait set came to us from the American Armoured Foundation, Inc. Tank and Ordnance Memorial Museum. The AAF Tank Museum was a living memorial dedicated to the Tank and Cavalry soldiers of the world. Before 1981 some of the artifacts that make up the AAF Tank Museum was a private collection belonging to Mr. William Gasser. Mr. Gasser felt that his collection would be beneficial in educating present and future generations to the sacrifices made and the technologies gained during war. Therefore, in 1981 the AAF Tank Museum was established as a non-profit charitable organization, and Mr. Gasser’s donated his private collection to the Tank Museum. Mr. Gasser is still active as Volunteer Director and Curator of the Tank Museum and his knowledge of military history has been a great asset to the museum. Unfortunately after 20 years of operation it had to close its doors, which is when the portrait was acquired.

It still comes with the original tag that was used to display it in the museum, which reads:

Pg. 4390
1943 dated, German Army, large photo of a Sturm
Artillery (i.e.: “Self Propelled Artillery”),
Signals, Gefreiter (i.e.: “Lance Corporal”

From what we can see, this description is correct, and the soldier in the portrait has the correct single chevron on the left sleeve for a Gefreiter, under the lightning bolt for signals. They have the Totenkopf (Death’s head) skull and crossbones of the armored corps, which were used by StuG soldiers even though they were classed as Artillery and not Amored. The uniform also shows them wearing a medal ribbon for the Eastern Front medal, and they have a DRL sports badge as well as a General assault badge.

There is an attribution in the lower right corner, as well as a ’43 date. We have unfortunately not been able to decipher the writing.

A great display piece from WWII, ready to research and display!