NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2010
Hi there again and welcome to our newsletter of what’s new this week on Miliblog. Our Normandy Collection continues to be very popular with you all so here we have five more samples to show you. The first photo shows to destroyed German vehicles which would be worth a fortune now ! A VW Schwimmwagen and a Marder self-propelled gun.
Normandy Collection No 921
A nice convoy of GMC 6×6 trucks loaded with equipment ready for the 5th General Hospital being constructed at Carentan. Click and zoom on the photo and the equipment appears to be wooden tables and. Maybe the shelving we showed last week being stocked with medical supplies?
Normandy Collection No 922
Our next photo is of the Town Hall in Cherbourg and is labelled as US Troops awaiting the arrival of their General Lawton Collins.
Normandy Collection No 923
The next photo shows the effects of an artillery bombardment, on this occasion the railway station at Carentan.
Normandy Collection No 926
Our final sample shows a lovely GMC 353 Le Roi Compressor truck providing pneumatic power to some tools being used by some US engineers. They are repairing the quay in the port of L’Entrepot to enable Allied shipping to potentially land some supplies.
Normandy Collection No 939
So I hope you enjoy these photos once again and we will see you soon. Don’t forget we love to receive your emails with your news or comments on info@miliblog.co.uk
Cheerio !
Simon
NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2010
Hello again to you all and welcome to this week’s newsletter. Looking through the collection of photos from over the years, it is always good to come across some photos that you had forgotten about. As we have been adding to our Normandy Collection this has been the case which our first photo illustrates. It shows British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, on route to the Normandy beaches, post D-Day of course. ‘Winnie’ had wanted to go over on D-Day itself, but the King forbade it.
Normandy Collection No 901
Normandy Collection No 906
Re-enforcements coming a shore from Mulberry A, before it was destroyed by a great storm. They are walking on a pontoon which I believe was only used on Mulberry A. Mulberry B at Arromanches wasn’t close enough to the shore to use these pontoons. In the back of the photo, you will see the landing craft that brought the troops over from the UK.
Normandy Collection No 911
This next photo is labelled as a Barber-Greene trenching machine, made in Aurora, Illinois, USA, being used to build the 5th General Hospital at Carentan. Anyone out there come across this machine before ? I always thought that Thornycroft Nubian Trencher (see our photo of a couple using the search facility) was the first automatic trencher!
Normandy Collection No 913
Our final sample this week is of the same 5th General Hospital but at the final stages of being kitted out. Here we see medical supplies being set up in the medical stores ready for use.
Normandy Collection No 918
So I hope you enjoy looking at these photos and all the others in the collection. So until next time, have a great week !
Cheerio !
Simon
A few photos of troops out in the Far East with the jungles and mosquitoes.
NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 1 NOVEMBER 2010
Hi there ! And what a month October was for visitors to Miliblog, our best yet with over 16,000 people visiting our little website, so a BIG thank you ! It makes it all worthwhile ! We love to read your emails with all sorts of queries on military vehicles and to let us know we have a photo of an old military vehicle you used to own. So please, keep them coming in to info@miliblog.co.uk
With our Normandy Collection being so popular, we’d though we would add some more for your pleasure. So as usual, I’ve brought some samples below for you to see. We start with a photo of General Dwight D Eisenhower giving a press conference to journalists. Quite an unusual photo as it show ‘Ike’ looking quite relaxed, so it must have been taken probably in August 1944 after the Breakout.
Normandy Collection No 880
After featuring Mulberry A at Omaha beach a couple of weeks ago before the great storm, here we have a photo after the storm, which shows just how much damage had been done and leading to it being abandoned.
Normandy Collection No 883
Labelled as the US 42nd Field Hospital at St Mere Eglise, here we can see how the wounded were cared for, whether Allied or Axis, with a German soldier with a head wound on a stretcher next to what appears to be US soldiers next to him.
Normandy Collection No 884
The next photo shows some US engineers investigating some german Goliath mini-tanks. These were small vehicles that were powered by an electic motor and remotely controlled by an operator at the end of a long cable. They would guide it to an enemy tank and then press the button and 110lbs (50kgs) of high-explosive would blow up the tank.
Normandy Collection No 892
Finally we have a GMC cargo truck hosing the road with water in an attempt to keep the dust down. Remember, in Normandy 1944, dust was a big problem as it not only caused mechanical problems by getting into engines and suspension units but also it gave away to the enemy the position of vehicles travelling along roads making them a target for the enemy artillery.
Normandy Collection No 898
So have a great week and enjoy visiting Miliblog when you have a coffee break or your lunch while in the office !
Cheerio !
Simon
NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 25 2010
Hi there again ! Well the old scanner has been busy again this week and we’ve added a few more to our Normandy Collection, which is proving very popular with you all. So down to business with this week’s samples from the new additions.
We start with a Stuart M3A3 light tank of the Free French Forces liberating their fellow countryfolk. Just look at the joy on the faces of those being liberated.
Normandy Collection No 859
Normandy Collection No 863
A nice collection of Sherman tanks also of the Free French Forces. Just think of the value of all this equipment at today’s prices. Millions !!!
Normandy Collection No 865
And finally, we have a highly technical piece of telecomms equipment. We just had to include this photo of a communications centre complete with plug-ins.
Normandy Collection No 875
So have a great week and we will get back to the scanner for some more additions to the collection.
Cheerio !
Simon
NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 18 OCTOBER 2010
Welcome to this week’s newsletter of what’s new on Miliblog. Well we have some more lovely additions to our Normandy Collection which feature original photos back in 1944. Don’t forget, if you click on any of the sample photos shown below, they will enlarge so you will be able to see all the detail.
Our first sample this week shows a US Technical Sergeant talking with two WAC’s under some trees.
Normandy Collection No 801
Next is a nice photo of aconvoy of jeeps passing a GMC truck. Click on the photo to enlarge and you will see that the jeeps have a metal upright pole attached to their front bumper. The enemy often used to string wire across the roads in Normandy and any jeep driver with the windscreens down on the jeeps had their heads chopped off. So these anti-decapitation devices were welded onto the front bumper. Crude, but very effective, often using pieces of metal from the anti-landing devices on the Normandy beaches.
Normandy Collection No 811
An unusual photo next, with either part of Mulberry or a Rhino ferry being used to load German POW’s onto a ship to take them to England and then probably onto the USA.
Normandy Collection No 823
Next we have some GI’s enjoying a beer at a French cafe.
Normandy Collection No 837
Finally we have some US engineer’s building a forward airbase for the USAAF, ready to take some P-47 Thunderbolts to provide aircover for the forward troops.
Normandy Collection No 845
So we hope you continue to enjoy all the photos we have on Miliblog. If you have any comments or have any photos to share with us all, then please email us on info@miliblog.co.uk
Cheerio !
Simon
NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 11 OCTOBER 2010
Hi there and welcome to this week’s new items. We’ve been delving into our photo collection again and bring you some more brilliant additions to our Normandy collection. These have proved really popular with you from the emails we’ve received, where they feature uniforms, vehicles or just the general atmospherics of the battlefront. As usual, we’ve brought some samples below for you to see.
We start with a nice photo of Omaha beach well past the landings date with a metalised sheet road laid to bring vehicles over the sand.
Normandy Collection No 782
Next is a rare photo of Mulberry Harbour A, just off Omaha beach. Looking into the photo, it’s still being built with cranes lifting the final pieces into place. Not long after the D-Day landings, the American artificial harbour was assembled but was destroyed beyond repair after a huge storm came up the English Channel.
Normandy Collection No 793
Another fine photo of Mulberry A, but this time after it has been completed. It features an M8 armoured car with a half-track following it, while on the right are a pair of COE GMC 2.5ton 6×6 trucks.
Normandy Collection No 795
A great photo of a group of US 82nd Airborne paratroopers just relaxing after the hard fighting in Normandy. Very useful for details of uniform and the kit that was used.
Normandy Collection No 796
Finally, we have a photo of some US nurses doing their washing up after ‘chow time’. Useful photo for our re-enactor friends who want to set up an authentic camp at War & Peace Show.
Normandy Collection No 792
So my friends, back to the scanner and let us see what next week brings !
Cheerio !
Simon
NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 4 OCTOBER 2010
Welcome to a look of what’s new on Miliblog this week. Following on with our Normandy 1944 collection of photos from last week we have four more samples of new additions to the collection. Starting off with some more German POW’s but this time sunning themselves on the decks of the ships taking them into captivity.
Normandy Collection No 771
Staying with the POW theme, we next have a photo of what appears to be a group of Waffen SS troops being marched off, with their camouflage M43 jackets.
Normandy Collection No 776
Like a tin of sardines, these GI’s are on their bunks for the crossing across the Atlantic Ocean.
Normandy Collection No 779
And finally, these 4 US Navy sailors find a way of letting us all know what it’s like over on the beaches !
Normandy Collection No 780
So have a great week and we’ll be back soon !
Cheerio !
Simon
NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2010
Hi and welcome to this weeks newsletter and after the cold or the dusty Eastern Front, it’s back to La Belle France for the next few weeks as we look at a few samples added to our Normandy 1944 Collection.
Briefly we have three nice samples for you this week, starting with a photo of some German POW’s boarding a boat back to England and then possibly onto USA.
Normandy Collection No 764
Once on board a US Navy vessel, they all look as if they are enjoying a good meal and perhaps relieved to be safe and away from the battlezone.
Normandy Collection No 765
Meanwhile going the other way into France as these GI’s. How does that record player with a wind-up handle compare to modern iPods, I wonder. Good photot of the US Army M-1941 combat jacket, which to many look like a militarised golfing jacket.
Normandy Collection No 770
Hi there once again and welcome to this week’s newsletter, which is long overdue. We had some naughty person trying to hack into our website and cause mischief. It took a while to sort the issue out but it came from one of the small plug-ins that we used. Now all hopefully sorted and ready to go again !
We’ve still been adding new photos to Miliblog over the past few weeks but not been able to tell you all about them. Our Eastern Front Collection is still proving very popular with all of you out there according to the mails we’ve received, so here’s a few more samples of what went on this week.
We start off with a nice photo of a group of German soldiers posing for the camera. I’m pretty sure the one in the middle is a Panzer, or tank crew member, judging from the design of his jacket.
Eastern Front Collection No 1547
Eastern Front Collection No 1557
For your delight we have a Panzer II tank ploughing down a muddy road. Nice diorama potential for our model makers. A 1/35th scale from Tamiya or an older 1/48 scale from Bandai.
Eastern Front Collection No 1566
Eastern Front Collection No 1584
And finally we have a pair of broken down Russian tanks. Not too sure what model of tank they are though. Perhaps one of you out there knows and can email us ?
Eastern Front Collection No 1588
So we will close this week’s newsletter by saying that if you like these samples, then theere are nearly 1600 original WW2 photos in our Eastern Front Collection. So whether you are an historian, a model-maker or a re-enactor, I’m sure you will find some photos there to interest you. Next week we’re back to the Atlantic Wall of Normandy !
Cheerio !
Simon
