Picture of the day

[Dark Alley Dan]

"Hey, Felwebel - it followed us home. Can we keep it?"

Here's an oddball, in fact a unique object. Only one ever made. The 5 cm KwK 38 L/42 auf Matilda, or "5cm KwK 38 L/42 auf infanterie PzKpfw MK II 748(e)".

No one's sure what happened to it after 1943.

 

[CV32]

 

[shredder]

^^^Bad news for THAT submarine.......

 

[CV32]

^^^Bad news for THAT submarine.......

U-175, specifically. The pic is from the deck of the USCG cutter Spencer, 17 April 1943.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

After the Spencer beat the hell out of U-175, someone got their camera out and documented that day pretty well.

U-175 surfaced and surrendered, sinking while guys GTFO.

Spencer dispatched a boat to pick them up.

Included in the rescuees was Obersteurmann Helmut Klotzch, depicted here making an impassioned plea to be retrieved.

Once on board, the ex-Kriegsmariners were stripped down and given blankets...

...interrogated...

...and fed.

I'll be honest. Given the choice between serving on a stanky, dingy, and enormously dangerous U-Boat and picking sugar beets as a prisoner in Lethbridge, I wouldn't have to think about it long. Dude on the right looks quite content to be out of the war.

U-175 lost 13 of its 54 crew in the fight (such as it was) which isn't bad at all for a u-boat sinking.

 

[Ganderite]

Beautiful pictures. Probably 6 x 6 negs.

In the first picture, it looks like the conning tower is half blown off. What is that big lump on the deck just behind the tower, closer to the camera?

In the later pictures, showing the sub half down, the conning tower looks intact. ??

 

[donor]

Conning tower looks intact at the front,back of it got blown off or rather all the stuff that use to be on the back of the tower like AA guns,radio/periscope/whatever masts.All gone+some damage to I guess electrical systems(hence the smoke).

Thing behind tower is what's leftover from half deck with another AA gun,I think someone is standing next to whatever is left.Even closer to camera is very damaged/destroyed aerial of some kind.

Back of the conning tower should look like this (I think).

 

[Bubba Yugga]

Real engines reciprocate, not like today's whiney princesses...

 

[Sharps '74]

.... and vibrate like hell and leak oil.

 

[diopter]

Martin Mariner.
http://axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?14134

 

[fat tony]

It must have been a world of suck for the POWs who were plucked from the abyss, sent to the relative safety of an Allied prison, only to be repatriated to the Soviet occupation zone. Then again at least they made it out of a watery grave - a reprieve many did not get.

 

[Ganderite]

It must have been a world of suck for the POWs who were plucked from the abyss, sent to the relative safety of an Allied prison, only to be repatriated to the Soviet occupation zone. Then again at least they made it out of a watery grave - a reprieve MOST did not get.

Look at the POWs eating. They could not be happier. They know how lucky they are.

 

[RangeRover]

Just finished reading Murray Peden's (RCAF, D.F.C) very entertaining "A Thousand Shall Fall" about his time in 214 Sqn, RAF Bomber Command first on Stirlings and then on B-17s. The RAF made a number of changes to the Fortresses in their service, removing the ball turret for one. And then there's this interesting picture in the book showing the waist gunner position equipped with plates to prevent putting rounds through the wing or empennage. Different from the wide-open hole so often seen in photos of this position on Fortresses.

 

[Sharps '74]

Look at the POWs eating. They could not be happier. They know how lucky they are.

Yeah, luckier than the Merchant Marine sailors they torpedoed and abandoned.

 

[fat tony]

Am I an apologist? Geez, sounds like a lot of work and obligations - can I beg off pls?

Unknown people unknown location reconstruction era Europe.

Reconstruction work in Walcheren.

Pilsen Line?

Children in London 1954.

 

[fraserdw]

So clever of those Americans to dress in German uniforms..................oh wait, what?

My uncle said a man could get rich following American soldiers in the advance or the retreat after they became too tired to carry it or fix it.

 

[fat tony]

Joseph Beyrle

Aleksandra Samusenko

Wow so young, so vital, so full of life.

Not a Cdn. story but a very good one anyways.

 

[grelmar]

Joseph Beyrle

Aleksandra Samusenko

Wow so young, so vital, so full of life.

Not a Cdn. story but a very good one anyways.

Heh, Beyrle was a very determined young man. You'd think between the mugshot they took of him when he was first captured, and the fact he'd escaped twice already, the Germans would have reckoned to keep a closer eye on him.

This is a POW's version of "show me your war face."

View attachment 133325

 

[fat tony]

Yep, that convinces me.

There are conflicting stories on how Samusenko met her sad end. One of the theories was that she was accidentally crushed in battle by a tank from her own side. Horrible stuff.

 

[diopter]

Whiskey and Soda, please.