My grandfathers christmas dinner in France in 41.
They look happy...considering the rest of the Wehrmacht was freezing its tuckus off at the gates of Moscow right then
Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
They look happy...considering the rest of the Wehrmacht was freezing its tuckus off at the gates of Moscow right then
They were happy they weren't there.
Actually, I thought the smiles looked stressed and posed.
Donny Fenn1
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- East Kootenays
hence the smiles
France might have been a jammy posting compared to a lot of other places but, for all too many, being posted there meant that you had already been through the meat-grinder and somehow survived; now you were rebuilding so that you could go through the meat-grinder again.
Such FUN!
Such FUN!
Found at the bottom of a bog near River Warta, Poland, salvaged British Valentine IX light tank, one of 2,000 tanks in the service of the Red Army in WWII. In the winter of 1944, the tank tried to cross a frozen bog but the ice broke and the tank sank. Discovered and pulled out of the mud in 2012.
Might well be a Canadian Valentine. IRRC just about all we made were sent to Russia.
Like all other surplus war materiel, just so much scrap metal after the bullets stop flying. Like the acres of B-17's and fighters that were scrapped following the war, now worth their weight in gold.
The real "waste" of war is the tragic loss of life and in some cases, national honour.
After the fall of Saigon, I saw Val Forgett interviewed on TV re: the amount of US war materiel abandoned by the US. He said it was enough to outfit the army of many small countries and that arms dealers would be lining up to buy it for resale.
The real "waste" of war is the tragic loss of life and in some cases, national honour.
After the fall of Saigon, I saw Val Forgett interviewed on TV re: the amount of US war materiel abandoned by the US. He said it was enough to outfit the army of many small countries and that arms dealers would be lining up to buy it for resale.
The tanks dumped in the ocean were obsolete and past their due date. Most of the war bound equipment was never meant to last for more than the duration and basically disposable. Keeping surplus in reserve is costly and in many cases, scrap salvage wasn't even worth it as there was just so much of it. When I grew up in Ontario in the fifties, every town had a tank sitting in a park and or a plane stuck up on a pole. Even these mostly went to the scrap yard by the mid sixties.
In my home town, the city works had a few Bren carriers they converted for general city work and the last to go was used on occasion to haul kids up the toboggan hill in the park. Long since gone. Todays garbage is tomorrows treasure. That soup can you just threw away today a will be a collectors piece in a hundred years.
In my home town, the city works had a few Bren carriers they converted for general city work and the last to go was used on occasion to haul kids up the toboggan hill in the park. Long since gone. Todays garbage is tomorrows treasure. That soup can you just threw away today a will be a collectors piece in a hundred years.
Hmmm... As usual with random pics arriving by email... The photo turns out to be "a genuine fake" - should have used my google-foo before posting. Interesting story behind it, anyway...
http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/shellshocked-reindeermurmansk/
http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/shellshocked-reindeermurmansk/
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Douglas Bader, at the office:
If you haven't read Reach for the Sky, you really should. Buddy had a set that doubled as a flotation device.
Bonus pic: Willie McKnight - Edmontonian by birth, Calgarian by choice. Wingman and friend to Bader, lost 12 January, 1941:
http://3.bp.########.com/-RlMAIICNihY/TbghCgV9dCI/AAAAAAAAADo/j8R-2W7aiFs/s1600/mcknight_portrait_low.jpg
More info on McKnight here:
http://acesofww2.com/Canada/aces/mcknight/
And yes, Calgarians - that's who the road past the airport is named after.
If you haven't read Reach for the Sky, you really should. Buddy had a set that doubled as a flotation device.
Bonus pic: Willie McKnight - Edmontonian by birth, Calgarian by choice. Wingman and friend to Bader, lost 12 January, 1941:
http://3.bp.########.com/-RlMAIICNihY/TbghCgV9dCI/AAAAAAAAADo/j8R-2W7aiFs/s1600/mcknight_portrait_low.jpg
More info on McKnight here:
http://acesofww2.com/Canada/aces/mcknight/
And yes, Calgarians - that's who the road past the airport is named after.
Rod B
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
That was a great movie. He still was an ace, even without his legs. I bet he never considered a disability pension.
Yes, thought that was the man. On the first day they served under him, he crawled into a cockpit while the airmen lamented the fact that the Brits gave them a cripple for a leader. Bader then proceeded to take off and pull a number of impossible manoeuvres over the airstrip. Or something like that. IIRC the theory was that since the blood couldn't rush to his feet he could handle forces that would cause ordinary men to black out.
