Robert Capa article.

[Highway 61]

Capa parachuted into Germany during Operation Varsity in March 1945. 😉
Some US divisions had already broken through the Siegfried Line in November/December 1944 or were slogging their way through it at Huertgen forest. I don't rightly recall if Capa actually covered any of those units in Germany before Varsity.

Yes he parachuted into actual Germany in 1945 not 1944, true, this is how he arrived in Leipzig in April 1945 to take his "Last man to die" photo in a large house facing a park, which has recently been re-named the "Capa Haus", see this old RFF thread which has raised very little interest if any :

https://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157432&highlight=capa+haus

😉

What I was thinking of is his covering of the "Battle of the Bulge" (unofficial name of the German Ardennes counteroffensive) in the Germany occupied Belgium (near Bastogne, the Belgian city in which the American 101st Airborne Division as well as the 969th Artillery Battalion, and the Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division where encircled by Von Rundstedt's troops), in December 1944. Capa was attached to the 4th Armored Division then and he took photos of the US infantry and artillery in the snow, then of German troops surrending - this is where he noted that they wouldn't run towards the US soldiers asking questions about their cousins of Brooklyn, contraringly to Italian people and ex-Mussolini's regime Italian soldiers. He told that they only asked for cigarettes.
What to be noticed on those Ardennes battle photos is the extrem youth of the German soldiers made prisoners or war. The agonizing IIIrd Reich was sending teenagers to the front.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

What I was thinking of is his covering of the "Battle of the Bulge"

Ah.

I myself am more interested in Capa's work during Operation Cobra and the Normandy Breakout.
Particularly his few days following the 41AIR / 2AD prior around the time of the Roncey Pocket.

I've been on that specific spot on the D-51 near Hambye where he photographed Jules Lecouer offering Calvados to the Armored Infantry in the halftrack.

 

[Highway 61]

I've been on that specific spot on the D-51 near Hambye where he photographed Jules Lecouer offering Calvados to the Armored Infantry in the halftrack.

I know this photo for sure. Has the landscape changed much since ?

You have read this already, probably, but just in case :

https://elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com/2018/10/yes-its-him-robert-capa-in-action.html

 

[davidnewtonguitars]

On D-day morning, and all along miles of Normandy beach, were thousands of boats going in waves. When the boat Capa went in on, on that bit of beach, and no other group of foot soldiers had gone in precisely there, I would believe he went on on "the first wave". Thank God that some heavy equipment went ahead of the foot troops to follow.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

I know this photo for sure. Has the landscape changed much since ?

This was in 2006, the man offering up the bottle was a descendant of Mr Lecoeur

Another one of Capa's photo at this location popped up on a 2nd Armored Hell on Wheels facebook group recently.
Showing the GIs shaking hands with French civilians on the right side of the Halftrack.

You have read this already, probably, but just in case :

https://elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com/2018/10/yes-its-him-robert-capa-in-action.html

I had not seen that link, but I have seen several of those images in it before.

Interesting enough, the big leather camera bag used by Capa visible in some images is a Gadg-it bag. Not uncommon amongst both accredited civilian war correspondents and US military photographers.

 

[Highway 61]

A recent excellent France 5 TV broadcast offers some new and very interesting investigation journalism matter about the background of Capa's famous photo taken in Chartres on August 18th 1944 (link to the photo on Magnum Photos website), just after the Normandy battle. It explains who Simone Touseau and her Swiss citizen neighbour Ella Amerzin Meyer were, and also delivers an excellent pictorial analysis of Capa's photograph. Highly recommended and available here on YouTube.

For the record, Capa's photo had been published in September 4th 1944 "LIFE" issue, in two articles titled "The French get back their freedom" and "The girl partisan of Chartres", illustrated with five photos by Ralph Morse and two by Capa, his iconic one included.

 

[johnkunstadter]

A recent excellent France 5 TV broadcast offers some new and very interesting investigation journalism matter about the background of Capa's famous photo taken in Chartres on August 18th 1944 (link to the photo on Magnum Photos website), just after the Normandy battle. It explains who Simone Touseau and her Swiss citizen neighbour Ella Amerzin Meyer were, and also delivers an excellent pictorial analysis of Capa's photograph. Highly recommended and available here on YouTube.

For the record, Capa's photo had been published in September 4th 1944 "LIFE" issue, in two articles titled "The French get back their freedom" and "The girl partisan of Chartres", illustrated with five photos by Ralph Morse and two by Capa, his iconic one included.

Many thanks to you and to Rick for sharing your knowledge of both Capa's work and the campaign from Normandy to VE-Day.