Dive bombing, Stukas, North Africa, 1942

Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, North Africa, 1942.

The German Junkers 87 Stuka aircraft was developed in the 1930s. Designed as a dive bomber the Stuka first saw action in the Spanish Civil War. It went on to spearhead the air element of the German Blitzkriegs on Poland and France in 1939 and 1940. The aircraft was employed in the Battle of Britain but suffered terrible losses. The Stuka continued to be used in other theatres of the war, including Russia, North Africa and the Mediterranean.

The war diary of the Sharpshooters records a stuka dive bomber attack on the 30 May 1942 as the unit fought in 'The Cauldron' during the Gazala Line battles. A later entry, for 31 August 1942, records an attack by 48 Stukas.

From an album containing 189 photographs compiled by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).