Picture of the day

Geography question:

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Name that bridge.

The same bridge, today:

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The glider:

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The new bridge:

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The first liberated house of continental France on the first hours of D-Day:

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V. cool pix. If you haven't read Ambrose's book Pegasus Bridge you really should - it's a quick one, and paints a very accurate picture of the training, battle, and aftermath.

On a related note...

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I like how the adjective after "German" has been rubbed out. Twice.

"Lads, I sympathise, and I don't think any more of our Jerry friends than you, but that man coming with the camera is from the press, and unless you want the word "####heel" on the cover of tomorrow's paper, you'll bloody well rub that out and write something more palatable."

The Horsa glider

http://1.bp.########.com/-MdCy65linKc/TZO44CM-HbI/AAAAAAAAAF4/ZSmLrT_7dEI/s1600/Airspeed-51-Horsa-glider.jpg

stirling-towing-a-horsa-iwm-a-w640h480.jpg


A slick looking thing. Most landings (the good ones anyhow) ended like so:

horsa3.jpg

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Many ended like so:

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A lot of pictures you'll find that LOOK like crashed Horsas are in fact Horsas with detached tails, one of the design's advantages.

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At Pegasus Bridge, the pilot tasked with putting his glider in across the river from Mr. & Mrs. Gondree's place landed his, in the dark, within 100 feet of the spot it was to hit. I believe that's his on the left:

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Damn good flying by any measure.
 
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Thanks Dan!

Those pics are amazing!

One of them is especially sobering. :(

And, I know that those Paras would most likely bop me on the noggin with the butt of a rifle if they saw me type this, but... they spelled "Schweinhund" wrong... ;)
 
Read an account of a yank experience with the US glider on d day, an officer had his command jeep in the back (or maybe it was just behind the pilots?) and wanted it ready to roll as soon as they landed so he ordered the straps holding it be removed. They came in for a hard landing and it flew forward and crushed everyone in front of it.
 
sturmtiger 380mm raketen-werfer, i have some pics someplace on the gun that is in bovington, that looks like an old pic of the one in munster, they have a shell on display with it now
 
Sturmtiger is the only tank I believe ever to have recorded knocking out 2 tanks with 1 shell.

Evidently 1 rolled up and found a few shermans and managed to flip 2 onto their tops with 1 shot.
Thats a big boomstick.
 
http://www.achtungpanzer.com/sturmtiger-sturmpanzer-vi.htm



Well knock me down, its actually 3 shermans in 1 shot....!!
If you google sturmtiger 3 shermans 1 shot, quite a few places mention it.

Reminds me of a Woolley Mammoth surrounded by a pack of wolves. It gets a few, but ultimately they get it. German tanks suffered from lack of numbers, mechanical reliability, and ultimately, from lack of fuel. On a tank-for-tank basis the Shermans, other than the 17pdr Fireflies, were inferior, but they were agile and reliable and were fielded in huge numbers under an ever present air superiority cap.
 
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