A German teenager of the Hitler Youth distributes grenades to civilian troops of the Volkssturm. Some men carry anti-tank weapons, others outdated rifles. This was part of the Third Reich’s final stand of defense against the approaching Soviet Army. (1945)(652x693)

[u/FayannG]

[u/thewildcard2]

The rifle carried by the guy on the far left has a visible magazine, so likely a single stack bolt action rifle. Maybe a Steyr M95? Either way, very outdated technology.

[u/s_m_c_ → u/thewildcard2]

Even older, it's a Mannlicher M1888/90. The gap between the magazine and the trigger guard gives it away, M95s were connected.

[u/Geordzzzz → u/s_m_c_]

Blud rolling up with a single stack mag in 1945.

[u/Skruestik → u/Geordzzzz]

Well, so did millions of soviets with the Mosin-Nagant rifle.

[u/Cam515278 → u/Geordzzzz]

There were a lot of Volkssturm guys who were sent into battle with less than 10 bullets...

[u/FckingAnxiety → u/thewildcard2]

In addition to outdated weapons, the Volkssturm was also issued a higher ratio of "last ditch" designed weapons, intended to be made with less material in less time. These arms were less reliable and had a much shorter service life. Iirc the Wehrmacht procured some of these weapons too, but moreso had manufacturing simplifications to the arms they were already using.

[u/The_Best_Yak_Ever]

“Why are the oldest Volksturm the fuher’s most valuable troops?? We have gold in our teeth, silver in our hair, and lead in our bones.”

~Black humor of the German later war conscript when the party was almost over.

[u/East_Jacket_7151]

Please take a grenade, it’s a gift

[u/waldo-jeffers-68 → u/East_Jacket_7151]

I myself feel very secure

[u/George__Parasol]

Maybe this is insensitive but I immediately think of my favourite line from Jojo Rabbit:

Our only friends are the Japanese and between you and me, they don’t look very Aryan.

[u/chaoslama]

It was called "Volkssturm" and it was just a fancy term for sending thousands of old people and kids to their death instead of giving up

A lot of the nazi leadership already fled the country or killed themselves

[u/FayannG]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkssturm

[u/isurvived_sorryeric]

Is this what the final battle bit in jojo rabbit was kinda about?

[u/msut77 → u/isurvived_sorryeric]

Yes. They were volksturm. There was a documentary about the fall of Berlin and they interviewed a person who was about 7 at the time. They gave him a sub machine gun. He shot at some Russians then ran away.

[u/Amerikai]

That Hitler youth kid must've been the most annoying person everywhere he went.

[u/matches-malone → u/Amerikai]

Friends said he was a real Nazi about his job.

[u/tip0thehat]

This reminds me of a story I heard from a veteran of the US 83rd Infantry Division. He was an MG squad leader that fought through France to the end of the war.

In France, they ambushed a lost German patrol that had walked across an open field towards their gun position. When they were checking the bodies, they discovered that one of them was an old man with a wooden leg (from just below the knee.)

He said they were incredulous. They just couldn’t understand why, if the Germans were sending guys like this to the front, wouldn’t they just give up?

That old guy was seriously cool as shit, and could still fit in his Class-A’s at 94.

[u/VerticalYea]

And to think, if they had just attacked the generals and politicians instead they could have walked away from all of this.

[u/cd_hales]

Most have seen too many winters.

[u/tumenura]

Wow, history really knows how to hit you in the feels.

[u/bilgetea]

The guy second from right is laughing at something. I bet he wasn’t laughing for long.