Leica LTM Father in Law in the '40s

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
The mess of destroyers is a great shot. British destroyers were very distinctive; very low silhouette and windage - Americans put a ton of crap high, which doesn't help in a seaway.

The dispatch rider shot may be earlier. The large circled star insignia on the front of vehicles made excellent bulls-eyes for the German gunners in Italy and a for a short while after D-Day... Mr. Fibble may know the exact date they switched to the simple star.
 
The gun in img012 is a Bofors 40mm - the shells in clips of four are the giveaway (tangent - in the early '90s I lived on the Kent coast, and we often heard weird bangs, always eight in a row, when the wind was from the North. Apparently it was Bofors ammunition being disposed of at Shoeburynesss on the other side of the estuary - 4 shells being fired, each self-destructing after X seconds).

I ought to recognise the vehicle, but can't put a name to it. Possibly a Bedford of some sort?

Adrian
 
Encircled stars are referred to as 'Invasion Stars' these days, vehicles that came ashore as part of the Normandy invasion forces (and Operation Torch in Africa) were marked thusly. In this case I think they left them on the hoods and roofs for aerial recognition by the 8th Luftwaffe...euh...Airforce ;) .

The truck in the photo with the Dispatch rider is a Bedford MWD 15cwt GS
The ones with the Bofors gun on them are a military version of the Morris C8; the C9/B
 
This is something a little different. I think it is some later variant of the Blohm und Voss BV138. Bearing in mind the Elbe connection, were the Blohm und Voss works on the river? Or is Travemunde in the area?
Presumably it had been stripped for spares...any flying boat afficionados out there?


img014 by dralowid, on Flickr

Most of the prints are 3 3/4" x 2 1/2" which I remember being called enprints??? paper was hard to come by.

Mr Fibble, when you mention a ban on crossing the Elbe, was this an agreement with the USSR? My history of this time is very weak.

Thanks for all the information so far.

Michael
 
It appears to be a BV138 C-1 Seedrache ("sea dragon") reconnaisance sea plane, with the nose turret removed. they were nicknamed Der Fliegende Holzschuh "Flying Clog".
Plenty of photos on www.luftarchive.de and other sources as well.

Not sure about the location, they were stationed all over the coast lines of the Reich, in Norway and Denmark as well. The "C" might give an indication of which squadron it belongs to. Have no idea myself.


The River Elbe was the agreed boundary between the Allies and the Soviets. It was chosen specifically because it is easily distinguishable both on the ground and from the air. At Torgau the Americans of the 1st US Army "officially" met Russians of the 5th Guard on 25 April 1945.
 
Oh I love these history threads!

Only goes to show that you simply need to shoot everything slightly interesting you come across, slip it in a shoebox under the bed and sleep on it for fifty years+ to give somebody a good time in the future ;)
 
Dralowid said:
This is something a little different. I think it is some later variant of the Blohm und Voss BV138. Bearing in mind the Elbe connection, were the Blohm und Voss works on the river? Or is Travemunde in the area?
Presumably it had been stripped for spares...any flying boat afficionados out there?


img014 by dralowid, on Flickr

Most of the prints are 3 3/4" x 2 1/2" which I remember being called enprints??? paper was hard to come by.

Mr Fibble, when you mention a ban on crossing the Elbe, was this an agreement with the USSR? My history of this time is very weak.

Thanks for all the information so far.

Michael
Click to expand...

Wow! That's a very rare aircraft! B&V aircraft building is odd story - they were (and still are) a shipbuilding company when someone had the great idea, "we make ships, so let's make flying boats, too." A ambitious stretch in engineering strategy, by any measure.

- Charlie
 
Major or not one wonders whether he was allowed to take these photographs... but by this stage of the war did anyone care?


img015 by dralowid, on Flickr
Captioned: HQ N.O.I.C.S (what does that stand for? I guess this is on the Elbe



img016 by dralowid, on Flickr
Captioned: Our landing craft



img017 by dralowid, on Flickr
Captioned: Landing craft with prisoners on board



img018 by dralowid, on Flickr
Captioned: First British Destroyer arriving under High Level Bridge on Kiel Canal




img019 by dralowid, on Flickr
Captioned: Stork's nest just outside Lubeck, not sure I can see the stork...so at least we know where he got to!
 
HMS Zodiac (R54) Transferred to Kiel with HMS ZEALOUS, May 13th, 1945.

The NOICS might relate to the BAOR (British Army of the Rhine) occupation force. Perhaps, the Naval HQ component?
 
I was wrong...It wasn't Bellerophon+Pegasus but a Charging Knight as someone over at the WWIIreenacting.co.uk forum pointed out:

The Marking on the Moris C9Bs is for VIII Corps. as the pegusas faces the right on vehicle and the VIII Corps horse faces the left as seen in the picture.

VIII Corps LAA RA Regiment was the 121st (Leicestershire Regiment) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA

They were formed in jan 42 from the 44th Search light Battery and spent the years 42 to 44 on home defence before joining VIII Corps within 2nd Army in june 44.

http://www.royalartilleryunitsnetherlan ... iment.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIII_Corps_(United_Kingdom)
http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30071533
Click to expand...
Seems to match with your Father-in-law's story.
 
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Reading the RA history of this Unit in the Netherlands, they were deployed pretty close to where I work at some point. And it looks like they managed to shoot down a couple of German Aircraft on January 1st 1945 during Operation Bodenplatte.
 
buzzardkid said:
Oh I love these history threads!

Only goes to show that you simply need to shoot everything slightly interesting you come across, slip it in a shoebox under the bed and sleep on it for fifty years+ to give somebody a good time in the future ;)
Click to expand...

Exactly why I've made a point of never tossing my negatives. The shots may be mundane at best when taken, but you'll never know what's in them that will be lost & forgotten, sometimes even in a few short years...

I also love how a thread like this proves that lots of knowledge can still be attached to lots of unknown images & vice versa :cool:

Derk
 
Hi Mr Fibble,

Many thanks for all the info, it is starting to come together. We now think he never made Major, only just made Captain, allegedly with some help, a bit of a 'free thinker'. We think D Day +2 not +7. In the earlier part of the war he specialised in ack ack particularly with regard to range finding using searchlights where we believe he made some significant developments. Spent some time in the defence of the Cuckmere Valley in Kent where the planes would come in below the batteries and later at a range at Watchett or Willerton in Somerset, primarily for training...presumably before going to France. Somewhere I think I can find pictures of a march past of Russian soldiers, not sure where...I will dig further into the box!

Michael
(If only the WWII service records were available!)
 
Dralowid said:
Top Brass judging by the uniforms and the size of the print!
L to R looks like Navy/Army Air Force
I wonder where? Lubeck?
Click to expand...

Agree with your assessment of the uniforms - I wonder whether the chap in the middle is Monty? It's not his usual headgear, but the cheekbones are similar. His "fruit salad" on his chest suggests considerable service, whoever he is.

Adrian
 
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