Getting ready for the big push. Waffen-ss soldiers are handloading 50-round metal belts for their Mg34. The rounds all appears to be full metal jacket, no tracer tips visible. In the lower right corner a 300 round cardboard battle pack lies on its side, with empty 15-round wrappers scuttled around. The Pancho Villa style carrying of the belts is not a way to prepare for combat. It is simply a way to work to keep dirt away from the belts. When finished the belts will be placed in a Gurtrommel or linked together and put in a Patronenkasten.
taken from fb/Bergflak

Loading belts by hand

German soldiers climb up a steep hillside after they crossed a river in Belgium.


Up the hill we must go

Soldiers and their dog from the Grossdeutchland Division on the eastern front.Nice view on the MP38 with the ribbed frame and hole in the magazine well.Both these features disappeared on the MP40.
taken from fb/Shadows of the Eastern front