A few captions needed

Site Issues 2007 Archive Room
#1

Browsing through the picture gallery I noticed quite a few pictures without or very basic captions. I thought we could add a bit more detail to them? It would be good to have the names of vehicles and equipment in use as well as location and which division the soldiers are from(if possible). I know we have enough knowledge to do this so let’s give it a go?


Current caption: street2.jpg


Current caption: street-infantry.jpg


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Current caption: Battle of the Bulge

#2

Knowing the divisions is going to be hard since most of these pictures have no identification of division, sincie there is no patch on there shoulders to identify them, but third caption is two shermans, location unknown.

#3

The 3rd one is a bit curious. The nets, the giant stars and no added protection against other tanks. Beginning to wonder if its not a military exercise. I would say that it is most likely not on the european front. I can only assume those nets are to help camoflauge the tanks against air attacks. The giant stars stick out like a sore thumb in the environment as well. Plus i dont see any machine guns mounted on the shermans turrets. Which correct me if im wrong but most had those in the last couple of years. I guess it could be in the PTO somewhere but good luck picking that one out. :?

#4

The 3rd one is a bit curious. The nets, the giant stars and no added protection against other tanks. Beginning to wonder if its not a military exercise. I would say that it is most likely not on the european front. I can only assume those nets are to help camoflauge the tanks against air attacks. The giant stars stick out like a sore thumb in the environment as well. Plus i dont see any machine guns mounted on the shermans turrets. Which correct me if im wrong but most had those in the last couple of years. I guess it could be in the PTO somewhere but good luck picking that one out. :?[/quote]

Rumor has it that it’s a shot from a lull during the production of PATTON.

#5

The 3rd one is a bit curious. The nets, the giant stars and no added protection against other tanks. Beginning to wonder if its not a military exercise. I would say that it is most likely not on the european front. I can only assume those nets are to help camoflauge the tanks against air attacks. The giant stars stick out like a sore thumb in the environment as well. Plus i dont see any machine guns mounted on the shermans turrets. Which correct me if im wrong but most had those in the last couple of years. I guess it could be in the PTO somewhere but good luck picking that one out. :?[/quote]

Rumor has it that it’s a shot from a lull during the production of PATTON.[/quote]

The 70s film? That would explain the inaccuraces pointed out.

#6

I’m not sure the Shermans are inaccurate. They appear to be Sherman 105’s, the big Stars were not uncommon. Just because the Allies dominated the air didn’t mean that they didnt have to use camoflage against recce ac etc. They dont necessarily have to be in the front line so there is a possibility that any mounted MG’s have been removed for cleaning etc.

Interesting thoughts by some though.

#7

Yea but come on…one rogue Tiger tank could easily tank out all those Shermans if in the right position. Micheal Wittman proved that. Even if they are a bit behind the lines I wouldnt want to be in any of those without at least a few sandbags around the hull. Plus rear troops can easily become front line troops when things get sticky. So im sticking with the theory that its somewhere in the PTO or a lull in a movie like ww2admin suggested.

#8

Fourth one is a U.S. antiaircraft gun (obviously). With a couple of GI’s

#9

Anyone know the locations in the first two pictures? In second shot the Germans seem to be using a 3.7-cm Pak anti-tank gun, also I belive its the same type in the first shot, correct me if I’m wrong?

#10

uhhhh, the first two looks like its in a war torn city,lots of fires,rubble,infantry units, trees, and a road, and directly under the sun nnnnnow!

#11

The top one looks like France to me during the early stages of the war.

#12

Fourth one is a U.S. antiaircraft gun (obviously). With a couple of GI’s

Although carrying a “US” star, by 1944 most allied armies used the “US” symbol for recognition purposes (edit - BT White in "British Tank markings & Names, A &AP, 1978, ISBN 0-85368-222-4, dates this practice from mid 43 in preparation for D Day) , so a white 5-pointed star with or without a circle does not always mean the equipment is from the US Army / AF.

Edit - the Free French used both the “US” star and Free French symbol (a stylised white outline map of France in a blue circle, with Cross of Lorraine) at the same time on the same vehicle (plate D, Vanguard pub 31 - US Half Tracks of WW2, S J Zaloga, Osprey, 1983) and the Brazillians used their own white cirle containing 5 small white stars (plate C, ibid).

The equipment shown is actually British, a Mounting, Triple, 20mm Mk1, probably in British service but may be from another Commonwealth army (note the British pattern helmets thus very unlikely to be US or Free French).

The guns are either 20mm Oerlikon or 20mm Polsten. I think they are Oerlikon as the barrels seem to be stepped into three parts, as opposed to the Polsten which has a much less pronounced second step.

However, as the Polsten was pretty much a simplified version of the Oerlikon (modified initially in Poland, then made by the STEN company in the UK) they are very difficult to tell apart. The usual recognition point of the magazine shape (rectangular for Polsten, round for Oerlikon) cannot be seen in this photo, which leads me to think it may be a staged photo.

I shall cogitate on the other pictures and see if there is more information I can give. I’ve seen pic 1 before, but I can’t remember in which book.

#13

The first picture, suitably cropped is on the cover of a book I have about WW2. Sadly, the pic isn’t anywhere else in the book and isn’t captioned for the cover.

Anyone know the locations in the first two pictures? In second shot the Germans seem to be using a 3.7-cm Pak anti-tank gun, also I belive its the same type in the first shot, correct me if I’m wrong?

I think this is correct.

The top one looks like France to me during the early stages of the war.

again, I think this is probably about right. It may be Poland, Belgium or similar (or possibly even Russia in 1941) but I’d guess pre-1942.

I think 1 & 2 are from a set of pictures. However, my book collection focusses on Allied subjects, so I don’t have much on the Germans to help identify them more.

#14

In the gallery, this picture is called battle_of_the_bulge.jpg

It shows an M 18 HELLCAT tank destroyer with some JEEPs and either an M2 or M3A1 (can’t tell from this perspective) half track with M49 ring mount for the HMG. If anyone has a better resolution copy of the picture I might be able to tell the half-track variant.

This may be a real WW2 picture, or a still from a film. As it has an M18 in it (fairly rare post War) it may be real.

#15

Thanks for contributing fluffybunny. Anyone want to make some captions, short but sweet?

#16

The fourth one looks like its manned by some british troops, I noticed the helmets.

#17

The fourth pic actually shows a Canadian AA gun crew in southern England. I’ve seen this picture in the canuck national archives database.

#18

<img src=\west\users\studentfiles\rosenblad_jeremy\My Documents\My Pictures\194847826242fa3e1e65494.png

#19

Let me get some pictures then I will post.

#20

Here is one without captions.

Looks like some American Troops in France.