The crew of a knocked out tank destroyer, attached to the 137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Division, take cover behind it. In the foreground are horses killed by the same gun that knocked out the tank.
B-17 "Hells Bells" after a mission to Kassel, July30,1943. With severe battle damage made a forced landing in England. The aircraft was salvaged for parts. The crew flew another B-17 on the August 17 "Double Strike" mission and were KIA
German POWs crammed in a hastily erected collection site created by the U.S. Seventh Army to hold the massive amount of captured and surrendering German forces during its drive to Heidelberg. 4 April 1945.
This is in Malmedy, Belgium. the road going up in the background (Avenue Monbijou) goes to the Massacre Field (Five Points Crossroads) Baugnez. Troops are either from the 291-ECB, 99-IB(S) or 565-FAB
This is in Malmedy, Belgium. the road going up in the background (Avenue Monbijou) goes to the Massacre Field (Five Points Crossroads) Baugnez. Troops are either from the 291-ECB, 99-IB(S) or 565-FAB
Friends....for the time being at least.
A "Capitalist" US Army armored officer...carrying two cameras...gets close-up and personal with a "Communist" female officer of the Red Army during the link-up between US and Soviet forces at Torgau on the Elbe, 25 April 1945.
Accounts from the time suggest that behind this outward display of Allied "bonhomie" there was great suspicion on the part of the Soviets with NKVD troops carefully monitoring the fraternisation between their troops and the Americans.
Although at a glance these men look rather like paratroopers, they are in fact AAF glider pilots being ferried from a Normandy beach to a waiting vessel offshore which will transport them back across the Channel to Britain.
Glider pilots were a valuable asset and after landing...assuming they were still in one piece...they were expected to fight their way back to friendly lines for evacuation. Thus, they were armed in the interests of self-defence.
Note the AAF "winged-prop" device on the collar of the pilot with the scrimmed helmet in the foreground and the AAF patch on the field jacket of the pilot just behind him
Liberation of Miniac-Morvan in Brittany France - August 4, 1944
Pictured are elements of the US 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion, part of the Task Force during the Allied “Calvary Charge” through Brittany. https://www.facebook.com/groups/195...HALCIXjYBB_wqtivATHrHC0rSisxaBSU&__tn__=-]K-R
LIFE Magazine Archives - Ralph Morse Photographer
Five photos taken in January 1945 in Marseille by Thomas McAvoy, co-founder of LIFE. McAvoy followed GIs in a replacement trip. There are so many photos taken by McAvoy, in various places that it'll take me quite some time before to sort them all out.
Yesterday I was in Marseille to shoot some more photos taken by Mydans in Aug 1944 .. I included some of McAvoy, taken 6 months after the liberation of the city by the Free French troops.
On the hills of Marseille was an enormous camp of several thousand men, POW and men in disciplinary detention. Men were regrouped here, waiting for their transfer to other fronts ... or home ! This is why there were so many US troops wandering the streets, still six months after.
US airmen check out the Junkers Jumo 004 jet turbine of a captured Me 262 "Schwalbe".
The airman on the left appears to have customised horn grips on his .45 auto ( see image below)....or else Lucite "picture grips"?
Both ends of the aviation spectrum in one picture.
In the sky an L-series "Grasshopper" liaison plane of wood, tubular metal and doped-linen construction...old school technology.
On the ground, a captured Me 262 "Schwalbe" jet fighter...state-of-the-art in 1945.
Alongside it on the ground appear to be a pair of rocket motors?
(LIFE Collections)
A GI's eye-view of the massed ranks of the US 28th "Keystone" Infantry Division as it marched beneath the Arc de Triomphe and along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées beyond during the liberation celebrations in Paris, August 29th, 1944.
This is a text-book example of the United States' logistical planning and capabilty in WW2.
The planners were well aware that the Alled air forces had blown the French rail network and rolling-stock to smithereens ahead of D-Day.
No problem...we'll bring our own.
And so they did.
(US National Archives)
Humorous military signage # 6.
More GI black humour!
Basically, proceed with caution or you may well end up as a recipient of a Purple Heart!
Note the GI has two 30 round mags taped together on his M1A1 Thompson for a quick re-load.
GIs of the 733rd Field Artillery Battalion with captured German 88mm guns, outside of Metz France on October 3, 1944
The one gun being fired is a German 8.8 cm (88mm) Pak 43
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