A nice selection of Yankee Division portrait photos to add to my growing collection! An incredible set of three photos of a 101st Field Artillery doughboy wearing his helmet with painted unit insignia as well as his town medals and victory ribbon with multiple clasps. Also included is a shot of an engineer officer with the division.
One of my favorite current WWII publishers has to be the tag team duo of Lee Archer and Bill Auerbach of Panzerwrecks. This international dreamnteam has been meticulously researching and compiling books on knocked-out German armor since 2005; focusing on amateur photographs of (often) never-before-seen scenes of German armor moments after destruction by US forces during WWII.
In a world filled with overused and reprinted images, it’s a refreshing relief to open a new copy of Panzerwrecks and see new images of late war German armor with wonderful descriptions. A balance of tongue-in-cheek humor mixed with meticulous research offers the reader with a book worthy of a well-stocked research library or office coffee table.
I recently finished my review copy of Duel in the Mist 2 published by Panzerwrecks and written by Timm Haasler, Roddy MacDougall, Simon Vosters and Hans Weber. With nearly 700 footnotes (really!), this book is well reseached, cited, and backed up with primary source documentation that includes first hand accounts, after-action reports, photographs and veteran interviews. A well balanced piece; Duel in the Mist 2 views the initial battles of the Ardennes Offensive through a non-biased lens. Interviews with US veterans easily mesh with similar accounts from SS veterans.
The superlative collection of wartime images compiled for the book is, by far, the most amazing part of the book. Images from the deep collections of David Thompson and Stefan De Meyer of AMC, Bill Auerbach, Jeff Tomkinson, Freddy Lemaire, Gerard Gregoire, Eddy Monfort, Tom Fischer and many others supplement the written component.
Artistic representations of German armor were intricically detailed by Simon Vosters, with a special attention to detail regarding camo patterns. This, combined with actual portraits of the men involved in the battles, provides the reader with an intimate view of WWII not often seen in other publications.
A series of intensive maps follows the progression of the battles using modern day color and figures. An easy-to-follow chart accompanies each map, allowing the reader to follow the battle with relative ease. Flipping back and forth between maps is made easier by the 8.5 in by 10.25 in format of the book. The pages want to be turned!
A special thanks to the guys at Panzerwrecks for providing me with a review copy of Duel in the Mist 2, and a special thanks to Timm Haasler, Roddy MacDougall, Simon Vosters and Hans Weber for their fantastic work. Keep up the good work, and I hope to review Duel in the Mist 3 by 2014!
Interested in picking up a copy of Duel in the Mist 2? Check out Panzerwrecks website for a compendium of top notch WWII material!
All in all, a pretty well rounded collection. The unnamed photographer made sure to captured shots of German equipment, a few Panther tanks, U.S. aircraft, lots of vehicles and trucks, destroyed buildings, local people and some great painted signs. Essentially this collection contains everything that makes a good wartime ETO photographic grouping.
226th Signal Corps – From what I can tell they were in charge of transmitting info from the front back to London. They operated specially fitted trailers with radio and signal equipment. I found the address of the 226th historian and will write him a letter.
D-Day Southern France
German Panther Tank
I was able to pick up an additional 40+ color slides taken on Guam, Tinian, and Siapan during WWII. Pacific Theater color shots are hard to come by due to the high temperatures and scarcity of color film in the far reaching islands of the Pacific. By my estimation, PTO color slides are outnumbered 2:1 by ETO shots.
Here’s a stunning example of a heavy truck carrying wheels and tires. Enjoy!
From the vaults of PortraitsofWar comes an amazing archive of images taken by an enlisted paratrooper with the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. The collection is comprised of roughly 225 images taken between 1945 and 1948 with a small portion of wartime material compared to the postwar activities of the 82nd. Included in the collection are a grouping of shots of the 555th PIR “triple nickles” as well as airborne drops, life around camp, tank maneuvers, and paratrooper horseplay. Please enjoy and don’t hesitate to contact me with any requests.
Rare Color Transparency
Airborne Drop
Jeep and Glider
Our Photographer
WACO Glider Landing
Bazooka Girl
758th Tank Battalion
Division Cartoonist
Fort Bragg PX
555th Vs. 325th Boxing
Kissing Booth
Fayetteville Lions Club
Some of the best images in my collection come from my grouping of 42nd Rainbow Division negatives. A stunning range of images depicting combat situations, German POW’s, disabled tanks, downed planes, the Dachau liberation, and many other amazing scenes. The quality is superb.
From the negative grouping of Edward Majchrowicz
From time to time I will cull through my backlogged collections and pull out interesting images for posting here to PortraitsofWar. My collection of 42nd Division negatives from a member of the 222nd Anti-Tank Company is comprised of nearly 600 B/W negatives and an additional 200 prints. The collection is one of the best I own, and is ripe with juicy frontline photos. I’m even friends with a veteran from the company, who can tell me the stories behind the images. Here’s a nice shot of a group of dejected German POW’s. Apparently, the line consisted of nearly 1,200 soldiers who surrendered somewhere outside Schweinfurt, Germany.
Occasionally I revisit my WWII photo collection to cull through material I’ve overlooked. In this instance, I found a real gem that I somehow never took the time to research. I remember buying this photo at a local flea market with the intention of doing some research on the crash incident, but never got around to it. I assumed that the wreckage in the image was from a B-17 or C-47, but it turns out to be from two B-18 bombers that collided mid-air over Bellerose, Long Island on June 17th, 1940. Eleven men died in the crash, and one Bellerose citizen died of burns following the event. Scanning the internet, I was able to find an advertisement for asbestos siding from 1940 that makes reference to the event. This photo is an incredibly close up shot of the event. A fireman’s hat and jacket can be seen on the wing of the B-18 in the backyard of the burned home. Incredible.
I was able to find an article written by one of the local survivors of the crash:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2009/june-online-only/survivingaplanecrash.html
Also, a minor league baseball played died in the fiery inferno. Here’s an excerpt from the Baseball in Wartime website:
“On Sunday, June 16, 1940, Bedient sent his parents a telegram stating that he was spending the day with his wife at Great Neck. At around 9:00 A.M. on Monday, June 17, two twin-engined Douglas B-18 Bolo bombers, escorted by two fighter planes, left Mitchel Field on a routine training flight. The two bombers carried a crew of 11, including Second Lieutenant Bedient. Just 15 miles from Mitchel Field, above the densely populated area of Bellerose Manor on the eastern edge of Queens, New York, the two bombers were executing a maneuver at 2,500 feet. One plane had to pass under the other and there was not enough clearance. The two planes collided and crashed in flames. One landed within a block of a school and the second smashed into a one-story residence that instantly went up in flames. All 11 crewmen — two of whom unsuccessfully attempted to escape by parachute — perished in the wreckage.”
http://www.baseballinwartime.com/in_memoriam/bedient_hugh.htm
UPDATE
An author who is writing a book on the B-18 emailed me with the following technical info on the two planes that crashed.
Douglas B-18A – AAC 37-576 Accepted 17 May 1939 and immediately assigned to Langley Field, VA. To Mitchel Field, NY 10 November 1939. Accident 17 June 1940 at Bellerose, Long Island, NY 1LT P. Burlingame, collided with B-18A 37-583 (q.v.), w/o. Coded 9B45 and 9B43 at the time, order uncertain.
Douglas B-18A – AAC 37-583 Accepted 9 June 1939. Assigned to Langley Field, VA 10 June 1939. To Mitchel Field, NY 12 November 1939. Accident 17 June 1940 at Bellerose, LI, NY, 2LT R. M. Bylander, collided with B-18A 37-576 (q.v.), w/o.
Thanks!
Amateur combat snapshots are nearly impossible to find. I only have a handful in my personal collection, and have only seen them for sale on rare occasions. In this photo, a veteran named Earl Reese snaps a photo while his squad is attacking through a forest on April 13th, 1945 while in the “Ruhr Pocket”. I have a collection of Reese’s photos and personal memoirs that were saved from the trash bin at an estate sale in California. Imagine images like these rotting away in a landfill?
Is that a ricochet dent on the M1 helmet?
Portraits of War 