Günter Kögel was born in Leipzig. He served as a lieutenant in an artillery regiment of the Wehrmacht. As an amateur photographer, from the first days of the war on the Eastern Front in 1941, he photographed the German army invading the Soviet Union from Western Ukraine.

Lieutenant Kögel's lens captured various scenes of life in Ukrainian towns and villages. Everything was a wonder for him, from the national outfits of the locals, the architecture of village huts and the decoration of Orthodox churches to the funeral procession. He photographed a lot of combat actions and life of German soldiers: the German army's advance, soldiers' tents, dugouts, fire correction and shelling of Soviet positions by German artillery from a 105-mm German light field howitzer, as well as the results of combat actions: Red Army prisoners of war, Soviet light and heavy tanks and planes shot down.