Commander in open hatch with map holster, next to him is closed gunner hatch, foreground is remote control machine gun with V-shaped protective shield. Note stark paint highlighting contrast necessary for colors to blend when photographed from a distance.

When SS-Frundsburg was formed in Spring 1943, Germany suffered acute manpower shortage due to excessive military losses, especially on Eastern Front. Waffen-SS manpower traditionally relied upon German and Western/Eastern European volunteers, but these sources were no longer sufficient to refit needed divisions. Thus, Heinrich Himmler : head of overall SS structure, conscripted 18-year-old members directly from German Reichsarbeitdienst (RAD) (in English German National Work Service or Reich Labor Service) : a mandatory social services program in which German teens and adults enrolled). Reichsarbeitdienst - www.feldgrau.com/rad.html

Protests from parents, civil elders, and church leaders ensued, thus prompting the SS to compromise that any conscripted recruit desiring to leave the Waffen-SS after completion of basic training was free to do so. Allegedly, the SS reduced basic training rigors, increased nationalist indoctrination, thus no conscript filed petition to leave afterwards. SS-Frundsburg division was complemented with standard regiments of : 1) Panzer, 2) Panzergrenadier - armored mechanized infantry, 3) Artillery, 4) Recon (British abbreviation is Recce), 5) Panzerjager (towed or self-propelled tank destroyer), 6) FLAK (anti-aircraft), 7) Pioneer (engineers), 8) Armored Signals, 9) Einheiten Support (repair and logistics). 10.SS-Panzer-Division "Frundsburg" - www.feldgrau.com/10ss.html

Waffen-SS indoctrination, training, and equipment would be of immediate value when SS-Frundsburg was dispatched on March 1944 as part of rescue force to link-up with 300,000 Germans of 1st Panzer Army trapped in Kaments-Podolsk Pocket, Ukraine - Eastern Front.

Inset : Hetzer with speckled ambush camouflage, passing through Eastern European village. Only German Balkenkreuz national insignia is visible, no tactical numbers painted.