Picture of the day

Good day Gunnutz :) New day new picture :)

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Cheers
Joe
 
jwhc said:
Good day fellow Nutz :) New day new picture :)

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Cheers
Joe
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Commando in training, early WWII.

French in Algeria is the right call. Lousy cap design for North Africa though. The old kepi with the neck flap was better.

Looks like the wounded man is going to get a little vin rouge as well as first aid: small bottle at the muzzle of the MAT49.

Looks like a K-Bar on the belt in the second photo, which fits with the other US kit.
 
That cap is cut not unlike the old Imperial Japanese utility caps of WW2. I always liked those. A crappy design for the conditions, but a cool hat.

The canoeing club at Red Deer College in the early 1980's was headed up by a fellow who'd grown up in Algeria in the 1950's and 60's. His folks were French. He recalled that a lot of Legionne Etranger lads were definitely German, and some seriously hard boys. They'd get a snootful at the canteen and start singing the old marching songs from "ze gut ault days".

For some of them, it was not their first trip to Africa...
 
Lots of ex Wehrmacht and Waffen SS joined the FFL after WW2. My ex-wife's Opa went with all his buddies after they were released from an Allied POW camp in France in 1946 to join up. He wasn't accepted because of a war wound he aquired courtesy of the Americans at St. Nazaire post D-Day.

Dark Alley Dan said:
That cap is cut not unlike the old Imperial Japanese utility caps of WW2. I always liked those. A crappy design for the conditions, but a cool hat.

The canoeing club at Red Deer College in the early 1980's was headed up by a fellow who'd grown up in Algeria in the 1950's and 60's. His folks were French. He recalled that a lot of Legionne Etranger lads were definitely German, and some seriously hard boys. They'd get a snootful at the canteen and start singing the old marching songs from "ze gut ault days".

For some of them, it was not their first trip to Africa...
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Ain't that the way? You bust your ass for six years learning a trade, then WCB buggers it all up...:)

Glad your ex's Opa made it through and wasn't starved to death by the allies at the end of the war.
 
RRCo. said:
French in Algeria is the right call. Lousy cap design for North Africa though. The old kepi with the neck flap was better.

Looks like the wounded man is going to get a little vin rouge as well as first aid: small bottle at the muzzle of the MAT49.

Looks like a K-Bar on the belt in the second photo, which fits with the other US kit.
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You're right RRCo, Algeria it is.....The few soldiers that I spoke to, did not complain about the cap. If I'm not mistaken the kepi with flap was worn by the French Legion.
Sadly the wounded Sargeant-Chief died not long after.
I do not think it is a K-Bar but you are right that it is US as the radio, etc
OK
 
Looks like a US M-3 combat knife in an M-8 scabbard. French Mat-49 SMG and US M-1 Carbine. Several pieces of US WW2 webbing are worn also.
 
Dark Alley Dan said:
Glad your ex's Opa made it through and wasn't starved to death by the allies at the end of the war.
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Almost was. He was held on the French coast because he was one of the last Wehrmacht hold outs protecting St. Nazaire. They fed him sea food every day. Problem was he was allergic to sea food and would become violently ill. The French figured he was a goner after a year of this, so they threw him out of the camp with nothing but the clothes on his back. He survived by finding a circus and working it until his buddies joined him at the FFL recruiting station. True Story.
 
Recce21 said:
Almost was. He was held on the French coast because he was one of the last Wehrmacht hold outs protecting St. Nazaire. They fed him sea food every day. Problem was he was allergic to sea food and would become violently ill. The French figured he was a goner after a year of this, so they threw him out of the camp with nothing but the clothes on his back. He survived by finding a circus and working it until his buddies joined him at the FFL recruiting station. True Story.
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May, what a hard time for folks.

My honey's uncle was pressed into service in the Volkssturm early in 1945 - two choices were offered, join up or swing off a lamp post, so he picked the option with more of a future. Never saw fighting, but ended up many, many miles from home, hungry, cold, and scared. Walked back, but died of hypothermia shortly after making it home.

War fuc*ing sucks.
 
We didn't starve our prisoners.

Nor did the Brits.

That was EISENHOWER and the French and their phony DEF classification. They even turned back Red Cross food trains.

I did a story about this, in part, called "War Story". Anyone wants it, PM me with a real e-mail address.
 
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