Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
Uncle Joe said that the Studebaker truck was the "best truck in the world".
In the bottom photo, check out the Russian truck on the right, in the background.
It appears to be a GAZ-AAA, the 1-1/2-ton version of a Model A Ford. They were built on tooling from the German Ford plant which was sold to Russia at a VERY low price and re-erected at Gorky, hence the name GAZ for Gorkiy Avtomobiliya Zavod: Gorky Automobile Factory. This was the main RUSSIAN-built truck of the war.
In the bottom photo, check out the Russian truck on the right, in the background.
It appears to be a GAZ-AAA, the 1-1/2-ton version of a Model A Ford. They were built on tooling from the German Ford plant which was sold to Russia at a VERY low price and re-erected at Gorky, hence the name GAZ for Gorkiy Avtomobiliya Zavod: Gorky Automobile Factory. This was the main RUSSIAN-built truck of the war.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
I've heard that when Roosevelt told Stalin (long may he barbecue) that Americans referred to him as "Uncle Joe", he was substantially displeased. He much preferred to be feared than liked.
Looks like the GAZ-AAA had a tandem axle setup. That's the coolest thing I've seen today.
If they are anything like a Ford AA (which I have driven) then they also have a Warford gearbox under the seat and an extra shift lever coming out by the driver's right leg. You had effectively 9 forward and 3 reverse gears...... but NO synchromesh.
Generally you put the Warford box in whatever range you wanted with the thing standing still, then shifted with the main stick. Trying to shift the Warford on the fly was extremely expensive.
Same 40-hp flathead 4-banger as in the cars, just geared differently.
Generally you put the Warford box in whatever range you wanted with the thing standing still, then shifted with the main stick. Trying to shift the Warford on the fly was extremely expensive.
Same 40-hp flathead 4-banger as in the cars, just geared differently.
Don't know about the GAZ product, but the cab on an original AA was much like the car: formed sheet-metal over hardwood.
Found a thread on a Russian website a couple of days ago: GAZ is celebrating its 80th anniversary. The factory still is in Nizhniy Novgorod but it has not moved: the city just got its old name back.
As a wartime expedient, it is likely that wood panels would have been easier to manufacture. That is a 1943 truck in the photo.
Ours looked almost that crude but they all had one thing in common: they WORKED when you fed them air, gasoline and a spark. None of these ^&%$##^&-^&%@#^& COMPUTERS to screw you around!
Found a thread on a Russian website a couple of days ago: GAZ is celebrating its 80th anniversary. The factory still is in Nizhniy Novgorod but it has not moved: the city just got its old name back.
As a wartime expedient, it is likely that wood panels would have been easier to manufacture. That is a 1943 truck in the photo.
Ours looked almost that crude but they all had one thing in common: they WORKED when you fed them air, gasoline and a spark. None of these ^&%$##^&-^&%@#^& COMPUTERS to screw you around!
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Immune to EMP. Maybe not a bad thing in these weird times.
My late German father-in-law was a Panzer Grenadier. He was wounded during the French invasion and was sent to a French chateau to recover. His duty was tending the horses of the estate for German Officers to ride and the recovery/rehab of wounded war horses for horse drawn artillery and transport use.
He said it was the best six months of his life as he had access to the wine cellar as a perk! When he and others got their orders for the Ost Front, they considered it a death sentence. He got out of Stalingrad before the complete encirclement of the Sixth Army, only to be captured by partisans and sent to Siberia.
He returned to Germany in 1951, broken in health and spirit. Some came back even later.
He said it was the best six months of his life as he had access to the wine cellar as a perk! When he and others got their orders for the Ost Front, they considered it a death sentence. He got out of Stalingrad before the complete encirclement of the Sixth Army, only to be captured by partisans and sent to Siberia.
He returned to Germany in 1951, broken in health and spirit. Some came back even later.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
The very last of the German POWs were released by the Soviets in 1955, or so we are told. My ex-landlord (und vater of my son's German teacher) was included in this group. Hartmann, too.
"You can go home when you have rebuilt all you have destroyed." Utterly contrary to the rules of war, and typical simple-minded Soviet thinking.
Coming home ten years late to the daughter you last saw in her infancy. Imagine how cheated you'd feel. Jesus.
"You can go home when you have rebuilt all you have destroyed." Utterly contrary to the rules of war, and typical simple-minded Soviet thinking.
Coming home ten years late to the daughter you last saw in her infancy. Imagine how cheated you'd feel. Jesus.
My Dad opened the door to his own biological father a few years after his Mom (Oma) had remarried. My biological Opa was presumed dead, but had been a "guest" (prisoner) for years before returning to Berlin.
Read a book a while back by a German Officer who was captured on the eastern front. Officers made a lot of money on horses before the tide turned against Germany. He also said that when they were finally on their way home from the Soviet camps, the train would be boarded by NKVD at every stop, and names read and people taken off the train. None were ever seen again. Every stop from the camp all the way to Germany.
Book is called Soldat, by Siegfried Knappe.
Book is called Soldat, by Siegfried Knappe.
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Nothing I can verify but the Soviets had a nasty habit of rounding up everyone in German POW camps and sending them all back to the Motherland. Many of those POWs were Allied soldiers and most never were released to go back to their respective nations. Of course the Soviets denied that any such POWs existed, until 1991 when the USSR collapsed into its regional districts. They admitted to having prisoners from Korea, Viet Nam and from earlier wars.
Maybe someone with much more knowledge than I on this subject could make a comment.
An old neighbor of mine, now deceased, was a Soviet POW. He was given the chance of going home or becoming a citizen of the USSR. He told me many men decided to stay. Many had forgotten how to speak their home tongue well anymore and spoke fluent Russian.
One other thing, many of the men he was in the original Gulag with were Soviet soldiers that had been captured by the Axis and held in detention camps. Others were Soviets that had agreed to fight for the Axis to get out of the internment camps. Both were death sentences one way or another. He also told me the Soviet troops were kept apart from the Axis prisoners and were treated much more harshly than he was. In less than 5 years, all of them were either gone or dead. Starved and worked until they committed suicide or were outright shot when they could no longer do their assigned jobs.
Those were harsh times. Those methods were exported by the Soviets all over the world. We see many of them in use to this day.
Slaves are highly profitable chattel. These men were slaves. Right now, there are more slaves in the world than ever in recorded history. Slavery is alive and thriving. Don't believe a thing the UN tells you. The UN and many of its member nations are the biggest most profitable slavers the world has ever seen. Another good reason to disband that gang of international criminals.
Maybe someone with much more knowledge than I on this subject could make a comment.
An old neighbor of mine, now deceased, was a Soviet POW. He was given the chance of going home or becoming a citizen of the USSR. He told me many men decided to stay. Many had forgotten how to speak their home tongue well anymore and spoke fluent Russian.
One other thing, many of the men he was in the original Gulag with were Soviet soldiers that had been captured by the Axis and held in detention camps. Others were Soviets that had agreed to fight for the Axis to get out of the internment camps. Both were death sentences one way or another. He also told me the Soviet troops were kept apart from the Axis prisoners and were treated much more harshly than he was. In less than 5 years, all of them were either gone or dead. Starved and worked until they committed suicide or were outright shot when they could no longer do their assigned jobs.
Those were harsh times. Those methods were exported by the Soviets all over the world. We see many of them in use to this day.
Slaves are highly profitable chattel. These men were slaves. Right now, there are more slaves in the world than ever in recorded history. Slavery is alive and thriving. Don't believe a thing the UN tells you. The UN and many of its member nations are the biggest most profitable slavers the world has ever seen. Another good reason to disband that gang of international criminals.
- Location
- Leduc County, Alberta
Yup...
My brother had a best friend who's grandfather was captured with the 6th Armee as a simple Landser... He made it back to Germany in 1954... Apparently was very concerned with hoarding food in his later years in Surrey, BC. Couldn't imagine what that would be like.
Thank The Lord my grandfather escaped the Soviet Union in the early 30's and came to Canada!
Still, I can see it from the Soviets point of view too... Tens of millions of their soldiers and civilians starved, worked, and shot to death by the Nazi Regime.... I actually think the Germans nation as a whole got off light in contrast! Not that individually it wasn't horrible for the innoncent men, women and children who were in turn, raped, starved, imprisoned, killed etc by the Soviets....
War is hell.
My brother had a best friend who's grandfather was captured with the 6th Armee as a simple Landser... He made it back to Germany in 1954... Apparently was very concerned with hoarding food in his later years in Surrey, BC. Couldn't imagine what that would be like.
Thank The Lord my grandfather escaped the Soviet Union in the early 30's and came to Canada!
Still, I can see it from the Soviets point of view too... Tens of millions of their soldiers and civilians starved, worked, and shot to death by the Nazi Regime.... I actually think the Germans nation as a whole got off light in contrast! Not that individually it wasn't horrible for the innoncent men, women and children who were in turn, raped, starved, imprisoned, killed etc by the Soviets....
War is hell.
The old saying, "The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my freind" certainly appied to the Soviets. I just finished reading a book "MI9" about allied pow escapers and evaders. You did not want to be picked up by the Soviets. They would as soon shoot you as help you. Many allied soldiers were dragged off to God knows where in Russia and never heard from again.
The UN are not only "slavers" but the "biggest most profitable slavers the world has ever seen". Well, slap me shocked. This is certainly news {and much welcome news to the Portuguese I would suppose
} Care to explain how the UN is involved in a slave profiteering business, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to know?Many years ago, I worked with a man who had joined the Nazi Party in 1928, served in the Wehrmacht 1938-40, discharged in 1940 and joined the Waffen-SS because he KNEW they were going to take a crack at Russia. He got out of Stalingrad in a clapped-out JU-52, one of the last SS out; the Russians had already announced that they would take NO SS prisoners. He was finally taken prisoner in Berlin, 3 or 4 days before it all ended. He got home in 1947 after 2-1/2 years of very hard slave-labour in Poland and Russia, repatriated out of Rostov.
He was a helluvva good boss and a great guy to work with and for. All he asked was that you watch how he did something and then do your level best to do it his way.
I asked him once about his feelings regarding the War and he did admit to hating one person only: Marshal Zhukov. I asked him why.
"He WASTED his men!"
Yes, Russian losses were fantastic.... but they did not have to be. At LEAST 50% of Russian combat losses were unnecessary. So was the shooting in the backs by the NKVD; how many that accounted for will never be known or admitted.
One estimate I saw, many years ago, was that a known 600 Canadians were in German KG camps which were overrun by the Soviets and evacuated East.
NONE ever came home.
And NO Canadian Government has ever raised the question.
After all, we don't want to upset that nice Mister Stalin-Molotov-Malenkov-Khrushchev-Brezhnev-Polyansky-Chernenko-Gorbachev-Yeltsin-Putin, do we?
He was a helluvva good boss and a great guy to work with and for. All he asked was that you watch how he did something and then do your level best to do it his way.
I asked him once about his feelings regarding the War and he did admit to hating one person only: Marshal Zhukov. I asked him why.
"He WASTED his men!"
Yes, Russian losses were fantastic.... but they did not have to be. At LEAST 50% of Russian combat losses were unnecessary. So was the shooting in the backs by the NKVD; how many that accounted for will never be known or admitted.
One estimate I saw, many years ago, was that a known 600 Canadians were in German KG camps which were overrun by the Soviets and evacuated East.
NONE ever came home.
And NO Canadian Government has ever raised the question.
After all, we don't want to upset that nice Mister Stalin-Molotov-Malenkov-Khrushchev-Brezhnev-Polyansky-Chernenko-Gorbachev-Yeltsin-Putin, do we?
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- Location
- Leduc County, Alberta
I find color photos really put things into perspective...
I do find it much easier to empathize and feel the emotion of the moment with color.
But, on the other hand, good 'ol B&W does the trick sometimes too...
I do find it much easier to empathize and feel the emotion of the moment with color.
But, on the other hand, good 'ol B&W does the trick sometimes too...
gewehr76
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Just watch a movie called Shtrafbat and it will change your point of view.
- Location
- West Quebec
I find color photos really put things into perspective...
I do find it much easier to empathize and feel the emotion of the moment with color.
But, on the other hand, good 'ol B&W does the trick sometimes too...
Just Kids!!!
