Grandpa Peisker’s Visit to a Danzig Battlefield, 1946

My grandfather took this photo of what appears to be a Sd.Kfz. 250/3 small half-track at a farm outside Danzig (now Gdansk) in the summer of 1946.  There was fierce fighting 14 months earlier, as evidenced by the damaged half-track and German soldier’s body in the foreground:

Sd.Kfz. is a German abbreviation for Sonderkraftfahrzeug, literally,  ‘special motor vehicle’.  In English we would call it a light armored half-track.   Here is an example of a Sd.Kfz.250 in better condition:

While we can’t see the front of the vehicle in Grandpa’s photo, the slant of the rear and the uniquely-shaped door identify it as a Sd.Kfz.250.  The racks for fuel/water cans (likely salvaged by locals or the Soviet Army) are quite evident to the right of the door.  Possibly an aerial (vertical whip antenna) bent over plus what looks like a canopy mount to the left of the racks suggest a /3 variation (Sd.Kfz. 250/3).  Admittedly the “canopy mount” is not in the normal location so it might be something else. 

Markings I11 on back indicate that it is the 11th vehicle of the 1st Battalion.  Unfortunately the main divisional or regimental marking on the door is not clearly visible.  The dark shield shape has  rounded bottom.  The marking on the shield looks like a palm tree similar to the AfrikaKorps but not quite the same.  The tag and other markings on the left fender above the track are too dark to make out.

The soldier’s uniform is also too blurry to make out any detail. Presumably this dead German was associated with this half-track vehicle.

Grandpa’s poignant observation is written on the back of the enlarged photo:

Their’s Was NOT The Glory!!

Fourteen months after the great battle for Danzig, the bones of this German trooper (along with many others) still remain unburied on the sands of this Polish battlefield. 
Such remains as these, bleaching in the summer sun (close to the wreckage of a blasted half-track) bear mute evidence of the sheer futility of Hitler’s dream of world conquest.

Original Shot Taken on a farm just outside Danzig, Poland.
Eastman Box Camera
Summer of 1946 by Ken Peisker

Grandfather Charles Kenneth Peisker served with the US navy in WWII but was not in combat.  He was about 40 years old in 1946.

I love and miss Grandpa and wish he was still around to talk about many things.

Immediately after the war he traveled to Germany and Poland for a Wisconsin newspaper to report on recovery efforts in that region.  He saw many things, including battlefields with damaged vehicles and unburied bodies.  This particular shot is very compelling to me and I would love to learn more about the scene.