German soldier in Italy, he's in a trench with his Granatbüchse 39.

German soldier in Italy

General Franz (Ritter von) Epp, in Heer uniform (note wing-tip of Heer eagle otherwise obscured by sash).  This 'photo appears to date from 1939, at which date Epp would have been on the retired list as far as the German Army was concerned.  Epp was a highly-decorated officer of the German Imperial Army from WWI and before - he had served in German armed "incidents" in China and Africa before the Great War.  After that war, he formend the Freikorps Epp, one of the most important of the Freikorps, and one of the most important non-Nazi groups supporting the 1923 Nazi "Beer Hall Putsch" (Ernst Rohm was a member of the FK Epp).  Later, he helped channel Army and private funds to the Nazis to enable them to acquire the newspaper "Volkischer Beobachter".  Epp subsequently served, as a Nazi, as "Reichsstatthalter" of Bavaria to 1945 but, having lost out in a series of (typical) Nazi bouts of in-fighting, exercised limited power in the government of Bavaria in that period.  Epp is shown here wearing an impressive array of WWI (and pre-WWI) medals.  The Blue Max ("Pour le Merité) is at the throat.  Medal-bar heads will be interested in his medal bar.  It will be noted that the Iron Cross, Second Class is positioned about six medals to the left on the medal bar; for a Prussian WWI recipient, the normal position of this decoration would have been first, that is, closest to the breast-bone.  However, soldiers from other German states had the option of positioning awards from their own state closest to the breast-bone, with the EKII following immediately to their left.  Thus, as a Bavarian, Epp has positioned his senior Bavarian decorations closest to the breast-bone.  The first three crosses visible (with the white ring) are various levels of the Bavarian Military Merit Order; that closest to the breast-bone is the Cross of the Bavarian Military Merit Order 3rd Class with Crown and Swords, which was a level of the honour normally awarded to Colonels and Lt. Colonels (Epp was an Oberst at the time of the award).  Best regards, JR.

He helped pave the way ...

A Waffen-SS soldier has just been hit while his comrades rush to aid. The Northern sector, 1941/42.