nudist camp?

Discussion in 'General' started by lumpylegs, Dec 26, 2012.

  1. lumpylegs

    lumpylegs Junior Member

    Hi
    I'm reliably informed that my title will grab your attention. My father and I have a few photographs of my great uncle and we would love to know more about him, who is was serving with and a little about the vehicles he is pictured with.
    One of the pictures I will post is supposedly of a German nudist camp taken by my uncle from his aircraft. Was he in the army air corps? Family legend has it he was and he was a photographer.
     
  2. lumpylegs

    lumpylegs Junior Member

    Hi

    here's the first 4 pictures.

    Have you any idea of who he is serving with and what type of aircraft this is?

    Cheers

    Tim
     

    Attached Files:

    von Poop likes this.
  3. lumpylegs

    lumpylegs Junior Member

    Some more shots with his mates
     

    Attached Files:

  4. lumpylegs

    lumpylegs Junior Member

    Hi

    I'm really interested in the unusual Jeep he is stood by and what looks like a Citroen of some sort.
    The piece de resistance though, has to be the shot of the German nudist camp allegedly taken from the cockpit of the plane he was previously photographed next to! Any ideas?

    Tim
     

    Attached Files:

  5. lumpylegs

    lumpylegs Junior Member

    Hi again

    apparently as the allies moved through Germany, my Uncle Arthur was occupied as a military photographer. Somewhere in Germany he befriended a couple of ladies who ran a photography shop as he was in need of chemicals and a dark room. in exchange for food he was given free run of the shop. The photographs are of the son of the Family (Kurt) and his wife and baby. Can anyone shed any light of Kurt's uniform or rank?
    Lastly, in my own possession i have a camera tripod in a leather case which also managed to fall into Arthur's hands at the same time from the same shop presumably. He was also said to have been given a rather nice Leica camera by the couple.

    Cheers

    Tim
     

    Attached Files:

  6. RemeDesertRat

    RemeDesertRat Very Senior Member

    Interesting photos, the Citroen Tempo , seems to have been a German make, probably exported before the war to various countries? Click Here for more info.
     
  7. Badger2

    Badger2 Member

    Great pics, the aircraft looks to be an Auster V.
     
  8. lumpylegs

    lumpylegs Junior Member

    en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorcraft_Auster
     
  9. Vitesse

    Vitesse Senior Member

  10. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Can you take a close up of the Officers cap badge in Pic 3?

    Pic 7 is either RA or RE.

    Pic 1 and Pic 5 look like Glosters ish cap badge? I'll let someone else decide on that although Pic 1 has something on his epaulette?

    I take it you don't have a copy of his service records? They will reveal all if you get a copy :)

    Looking at the officer again in Pic 3 it looks Royal Engineers as do the chaps on each side and the other one is RAF. I think he may have been infantry during the early part of the war and then RE for the rest?
     
  11. Son-of-Thor

    Son-of-Thor Junior Member

    Where not AOP squadrons a mix of Army and Air Force personnel? The pilots where army (??) with ground crew RAF (??) and support staff Army (??)
     
  12. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Hi Lumpy.

    It looks like someone used a couple of pieces of barn siding or similar building material to make the side panels on the jeep. Notice the wooden cleat on the bottom of the panel that they used to clip it to the jeep side. The canvas top and pipe supports are standard equipment but the clamp on each pipe support attaching it to the siding is not. Who knows, the clamps might have been barn door handles and the panels the doors.

    This jeep is also missing its hood hinge and the hood isn't sitting flat.
    The hinge was a piano type in between the windshield and the hood. 'Bonnet' to you guys? :)
     
  13. lumpylegs

    lumpylegs Junior Member

    Hi

    thanks for all your help so far

    Tim
     
  14. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  15. Five-Five

    Five-Five Senior Member

    I'd say Feldwebel

    World War II German Army ranks and insignia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    [​IMG]

    Feldwebel

    Aye, I quite agree.

    Uniform-wise it looks to be either a 1935 or 1936 Feldbluse (the two can only be told apart by lines of stitching above the breast pockets which are almost always not visible in photos). Waffenfarbe is that of the Infanterie.

    The early Feldbluse, combined with the Schirrmutze, the aluminium tress on the 'bottle green' collar, 'bottle green' shoulderboards and collar litzen of the type introduced on 10th September 1935 lead me to suspect that this is an early war photo.

    I'm afraid I can't put a name to the ribbon as I don't specialise in Axis.

    All the best,
    Five-Five
     
  16. Bond

    Bond Senior Member

    The medals from left to right that I can make out are the war merit cross 2nd class with swords (KvK 2nd Klass mitt schwerter), not sure on the midlle one and the other is the Sudetenland with Prague bar (Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938 ("Prager Burg") (1938).

    Useful link for German medals.

    Orders and Decorations of the Third Reich
     
  17. chick42-46

    chick42-46 Senior Member

    Hi Tim

    I too thought the cap badge in Pic 1 looked like a Gloucesters badge but the bottom sticks out more than it should for them. Could it be a Lincolnshire Regt badge?

    See this - Lincolnshire Regiment Cap Badge | Cultman Collectables

    But the cap badges in the third pic in your third post look like grenades. Agree with Drew that might be RA or RE.

    Cheers

    Ian
     
  18. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    There is mention of a German nudist camp near Hanover that the SRY unexpectedly had to guard in May 1945...

    I was just looking at something (entirely unrelated) re. Magdeburg as James Holland's out there at the mo. and sharing a few tweets of his trip: James Holland (@James1940) | Twitter

    In James Holland's: Englishman at War

    ...and saw this in the postscript to “An Englishman at War” – the wartime diaries of Stanley Christopherson – ed. By James Holland - when in May 1945 the SRY arrived in the vicinity of Hanover and were tasked with guarding the many displaced persons camps in that area…

    - “Roger Nelthorpe,” Stanley noted, “discovered that as well as three displaced persons camps he had a nudist camp in his area. He asked for instructions, to which I replied that the matter rested entirely with his discretion, but I forbade any Sherwood Rangers to join the camp!”
     
    Last edited: May 17, 2018
  19. chrisgrove

    chrisgrove Senior Member

    Interesting thread. I just wish I could see any vehicles or aircraft in any of the pictures!
    Chris
     

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