Hi,
Attached are scans of photos from my dad’s WWII collection. He served in an Engineering company. I believe it’s the 74th. These photos appear to be taken in Germany. My assumption is they are from a German POW but it’s really a mystery. Any info is appreciated.
All I can say offhand is that firstly, the 2 U boat photos are WWI and the last photo is of The Place Vendôme Column in Paris.
Pic 4 is showing a typical make-shift POW camp in Germany at the end of the war.
I am certainly not an expert concerning submarines but I dare to disagree here.
If I’m not mistaken photo 2 shows U-2 and U-4, both Typ II A models, flying the old German naval flag which was used until 1935 officially. In common pre-war manner the boats’ ID’s were displayed on the turret.
In photo 3 the later naval & war flag (incl. swastika) can be seen on at least three boats in the front row.
I’m no naval expert either, but those U-boats are definitely not WWI vintage, but are prewar or WWII…
Photo one looks like a manipulated photo.
It would be an extraordinary occasion for so many weapons to be firing tracer from so many positions and a photographic miracle for it to be captured at exactly the same moment with even the best of the low light lenses available during WWII while still managing to capture any definition of the building lower right. I say this from my ancient experience in photography of the black and white film with negative type which is this sort of photo.
Moreover, most of the tracer trajectories are fairly low and not consistent with a bomber attack which has been attributed to this photo:
“21 juli 1940: The intense flak faced by aircraft attacking German warships (Admiral Scheer) in Wilhelmshaven on the night of 20-21 July 1940. No.61 Squadron lost three Hampdens during this raid.” http://www.dagelijksestandaard.nl/2010/07/dwarsdoorsnede-van-een-oorlog-21-juli/
Clearly there is no flak in the picture while the fireworks are at least 10,000 feet below the minimum likely range for flak.
It may be that this photo was a postcard or stock photo given or sold to German troops from whom your father obtained it, or one given or sold to Occupation troops like your father rather than one taken by him or his mates.
Unless, perhaps, and it’s a very, very slim perhaps, this was a major, major, major yippee shoot by Allied troops after the surrender.
It would be an extraordinary occasion for so many weapons to be firing tracer from so many positions and a photographic miracle for it to be captured at exactly the same moment with even the best of the low light lenses available during WWII while still managing to capture any definition of the building lower right.
Might it be a time-lapse photo?
Great feedback.
Photo 1 does look like a stock photo. There is writing in German on the back dated 1940. I have always assumed that some (just a few) of the photos in my fathers collection came from the belongings of a German.
I also have other items ie. a Nazi swastika that are gathering dust in a closet. Creepy to me. We were never told about the origins of how these were acquired.
I think you might mean a time or long exposure photo, being in this case one taken in low light with the shutter left open for a long time which, for example, if pointed at a clear night sky will show the stars leaving trails as the earth moves, like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/blyzz/4133624072/
Time lapse is used for movie rather than still film. It’s when frames are taken at intervals to show changes, such as the petals of flower opening in a few seconds rather than the hours or days it took in real time.
The photo could be a time exposure one, but it seems manipulated to me if only because, as I mentioned earlier, the ‘tracer’ in the lower third of the picture is horizontal and much of the rest isn’t much above horizontal. It’s not what one would expect in a night air raid when bombers would be considerably higher.
German National War Flag 1933 pattern (Reichskriegsflagge)
I stand corrected. My apologies.
German National War Flag 1933 pattern (Reichskriegsflagge)
I think you might mean a time or long exposure photo,
Works for me! I’m not a camera guy. 
Why don’t you post the German from the back of the pictures as well?
