Summar Timewarp..well maybe

[Mr_Flibble]

A couple weeks ago I spent the weekend at Fort Veldhuis, near Heemskerk as part of a Living History display with several Dutch Living History groups.

The Fort holds the Aircraft Recovery Foundation 1940-1945 Museum, where the public can wonder through the Chambrés between the recovered parts of crashed WW2 aircraft and see what life was like in WW2 Holland.

It was by the Museum's invitation that the field outside the fort was dotted with a number of encampments featuring World War II US Army and German Wehrmacht units.
Some of the groups represented were the 17th Combat Engineers, 7th Armored Tank Destroyers, 29th Infantry Division and Panzergrenadiers from Der Windhund division.

The event was an opportunity for me to test my Leica IIIc that had remained unused since February, when I encountered some shutter bounce or drag or possibly a light leak. I had given it a good clean and was wondering if the problems had been fixed.

Normally I prefer a 90mm Elmar at events but my Summar had been neglected for long enough. I loaded the camera with Kodak BW400CN and put a No.2 Yellow filter over the lens. Of course in my haste to get out of the house I left the FIKUS-hood on my desk.

I used my CV II lightmeter to confirm my guesses before snapping, to correct my personal tendency under-expose.

17th Engineer loading blanks into 8-round clips for the Mock Battles and Weapon/Equipment Demonstrations

German Sniper armed with a Mauser Kar98k with ZF.41 scope

German Funker (Radioman); Cropped from a landscape image and sharpened. Of course his cap was already cut off at the top.

Our freshly-promoted Corporal taking a break in the shade. (Image slightly cropped)

A 'POW' being served some soup by a French Resistance fighter.

A fellow classic-camera enthusiast in his Wehrmacht uniform. This image was smart-sharpened and cropped slightly for a better composition.
All negatives were scanned at 600dpi, 300% scaling, adaptive lighting and scratch/dust correction on, on my HP G4050 (which is sooo darn slow 🙁 )

Hope you like them,

Rick

 

[LeicaTom]

Amazing!

I wish we had some reenactment groups around here (in central Florida) the Korean War one we had I think has disbanded 🙁 (I wanted to put together a civilian War Corespondent impression for them), complete with 1945 Leica IIIC K Grey and lenses (the Nikkor f1.4/ & f2 50mm "Tokyo" versions for absolute authenticity.

Your shots are great Rick ~ my Favs are the GI reloading and the Corporal ~ (the German sniper is good too), but he`s commo`ed too well he almost blends into the high grass.

I hope to come to GOODWOOD races someday and also attend some Militray functions in the UK, it`s just money and well that extra 60 lbs I have to lose first before squezzing back into some WW2 ERA unifroms.

If you haven`t been there, I also suggest going the the Britsh Airborne Museum at the Hotel Hartenstein in Oosterbeek (SPELLING CORRECTED THX Rick!)
(near Arnhem ~ I sure hope that`s spelled right, for everyone out there from Holland, if not please forgive me)
Maybe one of the nicest militray trips I ever took, we went there in 1985 and I was dressed up as a Major of the Parachute Regiment, (my German girlfriend at the time was dressed up as a WAAF officer) the folks in Arnhem and at the hotel were very impressed ~ they said we both went back to looking like actors from the movie
"A Bridge Too Far" my uniform was very correct down to the webbing and patches and red beret, and her`s too down to her hat and correct military era purse/gas mask case.........but, that was a long time ago, I miss dressing up like that, (back in the 1980`s it was politcality incorrect to wear that type of stuff while stationed in Germany) , but when I went abroad into Holland and Belgium and the UK, I was always greeted well from the locals and I sat with many a person and reflected about how horrible and how wonderful those times really were, the reactions in Amsterdam were also so, we really did hear alot of stories about the Dutch people, and how difficut it was for them.

I had a wonderful time in Holland, the people were just amazing, and all the older people there who loved and respected the brave American and British Airborne units who fought and died trying to save their little country from the Nazis, it was a holiday I`ll never forget.

Tom

 

[sleepyhead]

Great stuff, great stuff. My favorite is also the one of the corporal smoking a ciggy - it has a very authentic feel.

 

[johannielscom]

Well done Rick! That last shot looks the works, it's almost an authentic shot by tone and crop!

Now, if I could only find the time to visit one of the events you mailed me so kindly... The September weekend at Fort Vechten I probably cannot make either... Too bad, would have loved to visit that WW II press room you wrote about!

Keep them shots coming!

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Thanks everyone, after a day without comments to this topic I thought I had done a really bad job 😉
These are of course the images that passed my personal scrutiny, the other 30 were more like snapshots.
I guess the Camera passes mustard for the Big Trip over 8 days (together with my Leica IIIa, a bunch of lenses and a Speed Graphic)

Tom, I have been to Hartenstein in Oosterbeek once almost 10 years ago. Back then I didn't know a thing about re-enactment or photography but History has always been a main point of interest for me, especially WW2 and other conflicts.
There are some good events in the UK too, though I've only been to Beltring War & Peace twice (last time in 2007 was a total washout) and on other WW2 Railroad event in Foxfield.

There will be a number of events held in September in the area between Eindhoven and Arnhem commemorating Operation MarketGarden. If I'm not too worn out from the Tour in Belgium I will probably be at an event in Eerde (19th & 20th of September), where the US 502nd Airborne Landed.

There are still many folks who lived through the war and are very grateful for the Allies that came and liberated them from oppression. And my parents, who were both born in the war, instilled in me that same gratitude. But I feel the a lot of the younger generation are forgetting; History lessons in schools here aren't what they used to be.


Johan, on that last picture someone commented that it was very reminiscent of German Propaganda photos of the period. And everyone seems to like the smoking corporal. For some reason I always have a picture of this guy with a cigarette in his mouth.

Now for the LPLG-event in September I'm going to need a FED-NKVD or a Zorkii camera. Apparently they want to do some a East-West Elbe meet-up scenario and I was asked if I wanted to attend in Russian kit.

Cheers,

Rick

 

[direwolf101]

Rick these are great! Thanks for sharing (and please post more).

 

[Ronald M]

Nice pictures. But the low responses are a result of people who hate war in principle or people who want to forget that really bad time. The war movies are really sanitized versions of what happened and few people who participated in actual combat want to talk about it.

One very good friend of mine for the past 30 years was in intelligence because he spoke 5 languages. Today he is still well armed at 80 + and is willing to defend his home and family. He tells me the first was hard, after that it is easy. He is at the stage where a few more will not make any difference.

I know everything about his life and career, but no combat details about 1940 to 1945.

I know fathers and sons from where I worked. The sons tell me their dads still will not tell them what they did in the war, this is 40 years later. Others will say they were on Omaha beach before the landing as navy underwater demolition teams, these predated the seals, but again no details are ever forthcoming.

Let us hope nothing like this ever happens again.

 

[charjohncarter]

Top stuff Rick, keep it coming: the Summar looks like it works fine. I wish I still had mine.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Ronald, I go to these events hoping to give the people something to take home;

"Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it"



For Direwolf101 and the others who asked for more. Though not as nice as the others:

Field repair

German radio, the owner is a collector of German Army radios from the period. He had no power for this one so he used a retro-looking modern radio hidden under a cloth to play some radio sounds (focus is a little off I think)

Uniform and equipment demonstration. The same myth about the US Army camouflage uniforms used in Normandy was perpetuated, which I will soon be correcting in a stern email. Note the M1893 Trench gun. (smart sharpened again)

Another field repair, hobnails for all (Leaves me wishing I had my lens hood)

My shelter for the weekend (and some blown highlights)

More blank loading


A few more images can be found here (including some promotional stuff I shot with my Epson R-D1 + Jupiter 3)