This is Volume 1 showing the first 250 photographs from a very exciting collection of photos taken by many Allied servicemen during the Normandy Campaign of the Summer of 1944. Following the D-Day Landings on 6th June 1944, the Allies attempted to breakout from the bridghead throughout June. The Americans drove up the Cotentin peninsula towards Cherbourg and then across through into Brittany. Many of the photos show the devestation of battle of just the ordinary little villages that were destroyed in the name of the Liberation. If you are a military vehicle enthusiast who owns and loves their Jeeps, Dodges and Jimmies, then see your vehicle in it’s environment. Who knows maybe your actual vehicle may be in one of the photos. Looking at many of the photos the Summer of ’44 looked pretty dry and dusty, with many vehicles covered in a light dust. Again a useful observation for model makers amongst us.
NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 7 DECEMBER 2009
Hello again and welcome to this week’s newsletter of what’s new on Miliblog.
Well my trusty little scanner has been working flat out and we have now completed 500 photos in our Eastern Front Collection. We still have some more to bring you, but I think maybe we all fancy a change ! Below I’ve added some smaples from this week’s additions, and the first one shows again that there were many horse-drawn transports in the German Army. Just look how tired these guys are. Next is one for you aircraft enthusiasts, which is a Fiesler Storch (Stork) communications and reconnaissance aircraft. If you would like to see a preserved example, the Aircraft Museum at RAF Cosford, in Shropshire UK has a fine example on display. The next photo shows a load of early Russian T-34 tanks after a battle. What force it must have taken to flip over one of them. Ideal photo for our modelling friends shows a Pak 37 37mm anti-tank gun, complete with crew in firing position. The last sample for the week shows just how unprepared the German Army was for the cold and for winter camouflage, having to use ‘liberated’ white bedsheets to cover their field grey uniforms.
So let’s have a look in the scanner box and see what we have for you for next week !
Cheerio !
Simon
Eastern Front Collection No 487
Eastern Front Collection No 489
Eastern Front Collection No 491
Eastern Front Collection No 493
Eastern Front Collection No 494
NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2009
Hi and welcome to another late weekly report of what’s new on Miliblog this week.
Sorry but scanning over 500 photos of the Eastern Front certain takes a load of time and so the report this week is just a short one. Below are some samples of the photos we have added to the Eastern Front Collection with the first one showing two soldiers using a local hand cart to transport their radio. Useful photo for modellers who may want to reconstruct this scene in miniature and also shows detail of the army radio. Next we have a nice Horch field car stuck in the deep snow and illustrates just how hard the conditions were. Following that is a photo of an early Russian T-34 tank with it’s turret completely blown off. We often think of huge columns of motorised transport heading East in the invasion of Russia in 1941, but this next photo reminds us that a great part of the German Army’s transport consisted of horses. There have been many stories of good strong farm-horses being conscripted from farms all over Germany and Austria to be used to pull wagons on the Eastern Front and I think this photo just illustrates what we have been talking about. Next photo is one for the modellers and shows a strongpoint made from logs. Who knows, we may even see a copy of this at the War and Peace Show in Kent next July ! And the final sample photo this week shows a nice convoy of Opel and Mercedes 3 Tonners, but in better weather. Again another interesting photo for our modelling friends as it shows just how the canvas cover hangs loose on the truck.
So it’s back to my trusty scanner and wish you all well !
Cheerio !
Simon
Eastern Front Collection No 458 Eastern Front Collection No 462
Eastern Front Collection No 476
Eastern Front Collection No 478
Eastern Front Collection No 480
Eastern Front Collection No 482
During WW2, many different nationalities came to the UK to enlist in the Army, Navy or Air Force. Some like Canada, Australia, New Zealand were part of the Commonwealth and answered the call to fight for the ‘Mother country’. Others such as from Argentina or Brazil came to fight or were living in the UK at the time. The badges below are from the RAF and were worn on the battledress to show where these voluteers had come from.
A nice badge showing the lionhead of the Belgian Army
