CHAPTER VIII – “Walter Lewandowski”
(72 pages, 48 photos, 4 technical illustrations)

Walter Lewandowski also followed an unusual path in the Second World War. In 1943 he was initially with the Luftwaffe as a paratrooper and pilot of a transport glider in “Battle Squadron 200”, then posted to the Navy, and immediately afterwards trained as a combat swimmer in Valdagno and in the Lagoon of Venice. After a failed mission on the Adriatic coast, where he managed to find his way back to his own lines overland after many days, he was then sent back to the Eastern Front in Germany for the last weeks of the war. There, as a member of the “Einsatzgruppe Keller”, he carried out a number of missions against the Soviet pontoon bridges. He first escaped captivity by the Soviet troops, who were advancing on Berlin with immense superiority of strength, but then on the island of Sylt he shared the fate of many other “Kampfschwimmer” and was a British prisoner of war until 1946.

Preview of page 706 – 707:
One of several photos provided by the veteran himself, Walter Lewandowski, showing him in the rank of a pilot in 1943, serving the Luftwaffe before he became a “Kampfschwimmer” in Venice/Italy in the summer of 1944.

Preview of page 744 – 745:
Historical maps and photos underline in an impressive way the written history in the last weeks of the Second World War, giving the reader of “History2” an overview of the dramatic situation at the “2nd Byelorussian Front”, where the Soviet troops were fighting the “Operation Berlin” against the Germans at the river Oder.

Preview of page 766 – 767:
Photo of Walter Lewandowski’s Ref. 3646 / Type C watch with a current excerpt from our historical Panerai database.

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