The real story behind this iconic WWII German photograph.

This icon photograph of a German soldier in ww2 is a little to good to be true

This action shot of a German soldier throwing a hand grenade is instantly recognisable and widely used through out the media today.

This photo was originally taken during the German invasion of the soviet union. It isn’t clear when or where it was taken but we can see why it’s become one of the most used images of germans soldier in ww2.

It’s timed perfectly, high quality. Rolled and up sleeves and muddy helmets really show the soldiers are in the thick of the action.

Like I said before its high quality and very clear - its rare still images of action are captured so clearly. Which got me wondering about this image.

It turns out this image was staged as part of a German propaganda photo shoot

At least two other images, that I could find show the exact same two soldiers in the same pose but from different angles- again they both still very clear and good quality

Chances are they were front line soldiers pulled aside by the photographer to take a quick series of photos- we don’t know for sure if thats what happened and we probably never will but that’s the most likely scenario

Photos being staged during the war was pretty common, in fact 2 years after this image was taken there was a photo shoot on the soviet front capturing a red army soldier striking the same pose.

Does it really matter that photos were staged? During the war actually germans soldiers threw actual grenades- so does it do harm… the staging of photos, not the throwing of grenades.

I don’t think this specific set of photos do any harm in people views of history but it is important to keep the content of the photos in mind.

As historians we often look at photos to get historical information, what actually happened with soldiers during combat. What they’re they doing, wearing and how they were acting- but propaganda photo shoots obviously wouldn’t show that side of the war.

This photo is a great representation of a German soldier during ww2 and his uniform. However I think it is important that when looking at historical media that if you found out the event was staged or used as propaganda would it change your view of it

If the answer is yes then maybe do a bit of research into the background of it to find its true story just to be sure.