Picture of the day

Cdn303 said:
After the soviets were in Berlin, they raped anything from 12 years old to old women. Quite often in groups. There was a lot of said raped women that then begged to be killed but the Soviets would just laugh and leave.
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In highschool in the 1980's, I remember seeing an image of a Russian woman who, in anticipation of soon coming under German occupation, had cut off her breasts to avoid being raped by German soldiers. Needless to say it was not a pretty picture. But apparently it wasn't an uncommon thing for Russian women to do either.

I still remember a statistic given in one film that 97% of all Russian POWs in German camps would not survive the camps.

My grandfather, who was a Danish police officer, narrowly avoided being sent to Buchenwald, but his best friend was taken there. Not long ago I got a look at an 'annual' of sorts for the Danish police officers of that time. It had a picture of each, and some basic info including their fate. So many died in Buchenwald.
 
Gibbs505 said:
Rare photo of Italians in Libya!!

105mm_howitzer_Italian_army_Libya_aa.jpg
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They look like they are wearing German "Einheitsmütze", the M43 Field Cap.
 
25 pounder, germans captured in normady in canadian sectors were noted to have thought we had automatic artillery, due to the high rate of fire. they also were as effective as american 105mm despite the smaller bore (88mm)
 
scott585 said:
25 pounder, germans captured in normady in canadian sectors were noted to have thought we had automatic artillery, due to the high rate of fire. they also were as effective as american 105mm despite the smaller bore (88mm)
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Which tells you something about the skill of our gunners since the 25 Pdr. had separate charge and shell.

Read somewhere an infantryman's recollection of how they were bothered by a German sniper in a tree the better part of a 1000 yards away. The FOO was called up, came and took a look, made some calculations on his map board, called back to the battery and a few seconds later, one 25 Pdr. shell comes flying over and lands smack dab on said tree blowing Mr. Sniper up into the air along with his tree. Probably the enemy were impressed too!:D
 
RRCo. said:
Which tells you something about the skill of our gunners since the 25 Pdr. had separate charge and shell.

Read somewhere an infantryman's recollection of how they were bothered by a German sniper in a tree the better part of a 1000 yards away. The FOO was called up, came and took a look, made some calculations on his map board, called back to the battery and a few seconds later, one 25 Pdr. shell comes flying over and lands smack dab on said tree blowing Mr. Sniper up into the air along with his tree. Probably the enemy were impressed too!:D
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If you have a chance, pick up a copy of "The Guns of Normandy; A Soldiers Eye View, France 1944" by George G. Blackburn. He explains why the Germans thought that the Allied (Canadian) artillery had automatic fire capability. It had a lot to do with positioning guns such that several of them could be called upon to fire on a given set of coordinates simultaneously. That coupled with an incredible rate of fire produced quite a hale storm of artillery shells.

The Germans had their own nasty weapons. My father-in-law landed in Normandy with the invasion force and was fortunate to have survived the war. The one thing he mentioned to me was a german weapon nick named the "Moaning Minnie" He said that for him it was the most terrifying sound on the battlefield. The Germans called it the Nebelwerfer. You can check it out on Wikipedia and see and hear actual film footage from WW2 on youtube.
I can see why he was terrified.
 
Princess Mary's Gift Box. She did it completely out of her own pocket, did it again in 1915.

It contained a small pack of cigarettes, a pack of pipe tobacco, pack of matches, a pencil, several small sheets of paper with her signet, several small envelopes and a card from the Princess.

It was very much appreciated by the troops. The number of these little boxes which have survived is amazing when compared to other artifacts of the period.

A gracious and costly effort from a gracious Lady.
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Royal artillery also had a little trick up their sleeve. They could call upon concentrations of artillery ranging from Mike (regiment), Uncle (division), Victor (corps), William (army) and Yoke (AGRA). Towards the end of the war it was not uncommon for there to be 1000 gun barrages on opportunity targets. The call would bring every availiable gun in range onto target. This was them complimented by calling for a 'scale' of fire, which was the number of rounds fired by each gun.

I just finished reading a book about 2 Canadian Corps operation to clear the Scheldt estuary. The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry was attacking the village of Woensdrecht but were forced back by a German counterattack (from paratroopers supported with 3 self propelled guns). 'A' company was overrun, and 'C' company was about to be, so its commander, Major Pigott, got on the wireless to his CO LtCol Denis Whitaker and called for immediate artillery support upon his position. Whitaker called upon the 4th field regiment representative, Jack Drewrey for a Victor Target, Scale Ten concentration, fired on 'C coy' position.

In this case three divisional regiments, three medium regiments and three heavy anti aircraft regiments, a total of 312 guns got the call. In little more then a minute about 4000 shells (fifty tons of HE) landed on 'C coys' position. The attack was shattered, with paratroopers being literally torn asunder.

Only one Canadian was killed by the barrage.

Edit: The book, by the way, is 'Terrible Victory: First Canadian Army and the Scheldt Estuary Campaign: September 13-November 6, 1944' by Mark Zuehlke.
 
Smellie: Thank you so much for the explanation of the gift box. I have my grandfather's 1914 box. I will print out the explanation and put it in the box. We have a family artifact bookcase, with a cubby hole for each member. His includes the box, his shooting prizes, pocket watch and his campaign hat.

FAMILYSHELVES3.jpg
 
Brno8x57 said:
If you have a chance, pick up a copy of "The Guns of Normandy; A Soldiers Eye View, France 1944" by George G. Blackburn. He explains why the Germans thought that the Allied (Canadian) artillery had automatic fire capability. It had a lot to do with positioning guns such that several of them could be called upon to fire on a given set of coordinates simultaneously. That coupled with an incredible rate of fire produced quite a hale storm of artillery shells.

The Germans had their own nasty weapons. My father-in-law landed in Normandy with the invasion force and was fortunate to have survived the war. The one thing he mentioned to me was a german weapon nick named the "Moaning Minnie" He said that for him it was the most terrifying sound on the battlefield. The Germans called it the Nebelwerfer. You can check it out on Wikipedia and see and hear actual film footage from WW2 on youtube.
I can see why he was terrified.
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my dad was in Normandy also, he had more close calls from German artillery & Nebelwerfers than from rifle & mg fire,..he lost many friends from artillery, he often mentioned how lucky he was to survive the killing fields of Normandy
 
RRCo. said:
Which tells you something about the skill of our gunners since the 25 Pdr. had separate charge and shell.

Read somewhere an infantryman's recollection of how they were bothered by a German sniper in a tree the better part of a 1000 yards away. The FOO was called up, came and took a look, made some calculations on his map board, called back to the battery and a few seconds later, one 25 Pdr. shell comes flying over and lands smack dab on said tree blowing Mr. Sniper up into the air along with his tree. Probably the enemy were impressed too!:D
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This was a well-trained FOO. He knew the theory, the math, the equipment and the words of command.

If you recall the Normandy battle scenes in Band of Brothers, you will remember how tightly coordinated the US paratroopers were after years of preparations in England. The platoon officer (Winters) used a complete vocabulary of hand signals to tell the troops what, where, when and how. Contrast that to the later battles where the orders and tactics were more haphazard - effective, but not nearly as well coordinated or detailed. That crazy officer (Spears?) running from one side of the battle to the other through the German positions speaks to that.

Combat has a way of wearing out even the best soldiers. They do what they know works, not necessarily everything in the books. And, people forget too.
 
Cdn303 said:
Royal artillery also had a little trick up their sleeve. They could call upon concentrations of artillery ranging from Mike (regiment), Uncle (division), Victor (corps), William (army) and Yoke (AGRA). Towards the end of the war it was not uncommon for there to be 1000 gun barrages on opportunity targets. The call would bring every availiable gun in range onto target. This was them complimented by calling for a 'scale' of fire, which was the number of rounds fired by each gun.

I just finished reading a book about 2 Canadian Corps operation to clear the Scheldt estuary. The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry was attacking the village of Woensdrecht but were forced back by a German counterattack (from paratroopers supported with 3 self propelled guns). 'A' company was overrun, and 'C' company was about to be, so its commander, Major Pigott, got on the wireless to his CO LtCol Denis Whitaker and called for immediate artillery support upon his position. Whitaker called upon the 4th field regiment representative, Jack Drewrey for a Victor Target, Scale Ten concentration, fired on 'C coy' position.

In this case three divisional regiments, three medium regiments and three heavy anti aircraft regiments, a total of 312 guns got the call. In little more then a minute about 4000 shells (fifty tons of HE) landed on 'C coys' position. The attack was shattered, with paratroopers being literally torn asunder.

Only one Canadian was killed by the barrage.

Edit: The book, by the way, is 'Terrible Victory: First Canadian Army and the Scheldt Estuary Campaign: September 13-November 6, 1944' by Mark Zuehlke.
Click to expand...

The Canadians had a unique method of artillery concentration which I believe is explained in "The Guns of Normandy", whereby a huge fire concentration could be brought down on a small area in a very short period of time. I believe it was called an "Uncle Target".

Reminds me of another story: The British were experimenting with rapid artillery concentrations in 1942/43 and a group of very senior officers were on the range to witness the procedure being tried out. The radio calls from the forward artillery controller were fed over a loudspeaker to the grand stand full of senior officers.

As one of the sets of coordinates came over the loudspeakers, one of the generals stood up and put out his hand to the astonished very senior officer next to him, saying in a conversational tone, "well, I don't suppose we shall meet again..."

You see he had recognized that the coordinates were in error and would have brought the concentration of fire down right where they were all sitting! Apparently the error was detected in time.

....Brno8x57 I see your were there first with "The Guns of Normandy".;)
 
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