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Normandy Photos


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This was posted over at the Axis History Forum:

Normandy Photos

Check out the p011078-082 series of photos. KT from the 503rd s.Pz.Abt? Doesn't look like a Porsche turret.

p011087 is the famous photo of Major Currie at St. Lambert-sur-Dives, with additional pics from that battle further down the list.

The p011194-210 series is of aerial photos of what I assume to be the aftermath of the Falaise pocket. StuGs, Mk IVs, Flak 88s and assorted transports all scattered about.

The color photos start in the 300 series.

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If my memory serves me correctly, 2nd AD (could as well have been 2nd ID) used these uniforms for a short period. It was a test to determine if was sensible to equip all US units with camo uniforms like the German army. Pattern was the same as the USMC used in the PTO.

The project was abandoned when US units wearing these uniforms got repeatedly shot at by their own guys becasue at a distance they very much resembled the peadot-pattern wearing SS troopers... :D

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Originally posted by Kingfish:

Check out the p011078-082 series of photos. KT from the 503rd s.Pz.Abt? Doesn't look like a Porsche turret.

Clearly a Porsche turret. You can see the curves at the bottom front in several of the shots, but the easiest way to tell is the side of the turret where it curves out around the edge of the commanders hatch. On the Henschel turret, the side of the turret by the commanders hatch is flush, like the other side of the turret.
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I'm trying to figure out what 386 is, other than a historical arborists wet dream: "Ah yes, the 1944 oak, autumn I believe, a fine crop of acorns fell from those trees, not quite as fertile as the previous '43 crop, but still some fine saplings were produced of that generation..."

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Knocked out by an airstrike perhaps? Its a bit odd that its lying directly in the crater though. Perhaps it was pushed in afterwards to clear the road?

Edited to add: the series from 11194-211 show a series of air recon shots of perhaps the same shot up axis column. Mostly softskinned , but some spectacular shots of abandoned/knocked out/brewed up panther s and PIV

s

Now that is what I call carnage.

[ July 30, 2006, 09:06 PM: Message edited by: Sivodsi ]

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Beats me. Maybe just a picture that would allow the aircrews to justify not being able to interdict anything moving under that canopy. Or maybe the gaps are from bomb/shell impacts?

Originally posted by Sivodsi:

I'm trying to figure out what 386 is, other than a historical arborists wet dream: "Ah yes, the 1944 oak, autumn I believe, a fine crop of acorns fell from those trees, not quite as fertile as the previous '43 crop, but still some fine saplings were produced of that generation..."

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Originally posted by Runyan99:

Pic 003 is a powerful image, but I'm not sure what I am looking at.

I guess it's where a large group of Germans surrendered and had to be searched. That would explain what looks like a lot of paper on the ground among the helmets. I think there's a bayonet on the far right side of the photo.
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JonS,

From what I can tell given my limited French, the images are all copright free.

People,

Am only up to 00750 or so, but am practically stunned by what I've seen, especially now that I've belatedly discovered the positionable magnification feature. Dozens and dozens of great ground and aerial shots. Many of them would make fabulous dioramas, and some, like the one of the French couple paying silent homage to a dead American soldier, his semicovered body strewn with flowers, form images of surpassing pathos. Architectural details abound, and I was astounded to realize that in several shots I was looking at medieval wattle and daub on semismashed wall interiors. I like this, though. First inverted foxhole I ever saw!

http://www.ceris-normandie.com/archivesnormandie/PhotosHD/p000749.jpg

Regards,

John Kettler

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John,

perhaps I wasn't clear. What I meant by 'metadata' was info about each photo - the who, why, where, when, what of each photo. Sort of like what you get here - there is a thumb of the photo, and a whole lot of info about what is shown.

As for the 'inverted foxhole', it looks a lot like a sanger. It also brings to mind various snippets I recall about the dangers of being an MP on points duty at major intersections, which were often the target of interdiction and harrassment shoots. It also reminded me of this Willy and Joe cartoon:

wj3.gif

Edit: didn't come through very well. Go here and scroll down.

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Originally posted by JonS:

As for the 'inverted foxhole', it looks a lot like a sanger. It also brings to mind various snippets I recall about the dangers of being an MP on points duty at major intersections, which were often the target of interdiction and harrassment shoots.

Indeed. Might also be a small disincentive to frustrated drivers who might otherwise be inclined to bag them an MP.

Michael

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Originally posted by Earl Grey:

The KT most probably has been immobilized by the airstrike 'digging' the crater and was blown up subsequently because it coudln't be recovered from that postion and/or repaired.

And that speculation is based on the well-known fact that no German Tiger or Panther was ever knocked out, and the only ones lost were blown up due to either running out of fuel or being immobilised by a crater, right?

I'd say it is impossible to say what caused the demise of this tank by looking at the picture, but that's just my overly critical approach I guess.

All the best

Andreas

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JonS,

Now I understand what you meant, though I was able to figure out quite a bit on my own hook and could doubtless do more if I had good maps, knew the nomenclature system for recon photos and such. What I find really interesting is seeing many of the images before cropping, as evidenced by the white cropping boundaries drawn upon the images. Quite a few haven't been censored, either.

Was under the impression that a sangar was made of stacked rocks, not sandbags, but I take your point.

Andreas,

While what you say may well be true, some of the Norman cities and towns have been there since 1100

A.D. I think we're seeing medieval stuff in some of those shots.

Kingfish,

The fortification grogs must be in heaven (I am), there are quite a few unusual AFVs and guns, and I think all the logistic and line of communication stuff, whether smashed (German) or functioning (ours) is extremely valuable in showing aspects of the war most of us know little of. And these are by no means the most obscure grog stuff covered.

Did you see your "favorite" AFV on the beach?

Regards,

John Kettler

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As there are over 6,000 images I've had to give up on getting a working indexi, however here is a list low res files

http://www.ceris-normandie.com/archivesnormandie/PhotosLD/

It should make browsing through them a lot easier.

Meanwhile for a description of the image (sometimes in French) you have to go to here:

http://www.ceris-normandie.com/archivesnormandie/rech.php

in the left 'reference' type/paste the photo id i.e p011087

Which gets you "La 4th Canadian Armoured Division. C Squadron of the South Alberta Regiment et la B Company of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders" and a thumbnail

or type in a keyword to the right 1 er mot i.e. "sherman" comes up with 204 images.

[ August 02, 2006, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: Wicky ]

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