Heres a puzzle, another picture of this 2nd Division carrier and mortar have surfaced and it is marked as La Bassee canal , which is about 50 kms north from Grottes Naours , this seems a long way away to be putting up ' Visitez Grottes Naours ' signs which can be seen in pic . Does the German caption on back give any other clues ? Craig
Rear inscription: "B-Stille (?) la Bassee kanal wo bei ihr Panzer, in vordergrund gefallene Englander' very roughly translates ' la Bassee Canal, where - in foreground, Englishmen have fallen by their tank' The bottom bit just says '1940 Frankreichenfeldzug' - '1940-Battle of France'. No clues as to the location though.
The 'La Bassee' location fits in much better with 2nd Division's actions. The caves at Naours are located further south than they are likely to have been. It would take a study of 1930s French marketing to understand why the advertising is there but it's not an area with a lot to offer non-battlefield tourists. Maybe on a Departement boundary or on a main road heading in the right direction ?
Photo of British / French defence. I think the sign says no photography, military area?. you can see a british tin hat on the left. on the back of the photo is german. Keith
I get, "Picture of a French/English flak tower. On the left is the English barracks accomodation (unreadable) in front an English steel helmet with an English sign/insignia/badge." Nice picture thanks for posting.
Hello again Earlier in this topic I've already postend this photo of left behind vechicles supposibly near Ghyvelde well... if there's a number 14 then there must be also a number 15... and they seem to come in pairs not shure... but the many electricmasts seem to indicate that this could be near the same location as the previous photo?? greetz Jean
In the first picture can anyone make out what the VRN is on the Carrier on the right? The Carrier on the left HMH 266 is T.2713. Anyone know who she belongs to? cheers Kevin
From: http://france1940.free.fr/armee/colours.html#Other%20Markings "Another unique set of markings was used by the 2e DLM's 71e Régiment d'Artillerie to identify its 75mm batteries. The system, illustrated on the right, used coloured stars to identify each of the groupes (battalions) with a letter.number combination to identify each of the batteries. These markings were worn on the front doors of its Laffly S 15 T tractors. A variant of this system seems to have been used by the 3e DLM's 76e Régiment d'Artillerie on its tractors. In this case however, the individual batteries were identified by a coloured disc in the centre of the stars, these discs following the same colour order, black, brown and yellow, as the battalion stars." But also "An order issued on 11 January 1940, made it compulsory for all unarmoured vehicles to display a 20 cm white square bearing a coloured geometric shape indicating which service it belonged to. The shapes and colours were as follows : Infantry 10 by 15 cm yellow rectangle, Cavalry 15 by 10 cm blue diamond, Artillery 15 cm red triangle, Engineers 15 by 10 cm brown oval, Supply and Transport (Train) 15 cm green circle and Air Force 15 cm orange six-point star. This symbol was to be worn on the front left side of the vehicle (usually the front left wing or mudguard or the the left side of the cab) and sometime during the Spring it was added to the rear left side also. Motorcycles were to have a smaller version painted on the front mudguard or on the front of the sidecar when one was used. These symbols were almost universally worn by soft vehicles by May 1940." So in this case, no red triangle? The star could be part of the painting of Janine? Also on the above site, a mention of the infamous white square: "Finally, it was decreed in early 1940 that a reflective surface in the form of a white circle or horizontal rectangle be painted on the back of trucks and lorries for station keeping during night convoys."
Just putting up the names, (as I read them) in case someone knows of them. Top Row Frank Pollard Joe Curtis Jenks Bottom Row Frank Newton Gordon John Sutton Donald
Thanks dbf, This is what i found under the paper when i took it off , on the back of the photo. Keith
I wonder if anyone is assidiously collecting the 1940 France aircraft photos from German ebay like enthusiasts are with BEF vehicle photos. Their are loads of aircraft pics turning up and it appears that every downed RAF aircraft was well photographed by the Germans. For example-
The back says "B-Stelle - La Basse Kanal. Eroberten Panzer, in Vordergründ gefallene Engländer". B-Stelle = (most of the time) Beobachtungsstelle (observation post or outfit), belonging to an arty battery or battalion. La Basse Kanal = Canal de la Basse Colme, northernwestern France. The Belgian part is known as the "Bergenvaart". Eroberten Panzer = seized APC in Vordergründ = in the fore ground Gefallene Engländer = fallen English
good day drew 5233.r,u.26th oct,2010.10:07.re:1940 Dunkirk france Belgium related pictures.thank you for posting your photo collection.on the following post's and #no's 153to159 and others.they are very descriptive,regards bernard85
good day drew 5233.rm.27th oct 2010.07:13am.re:#166,1940.dunkirk,france Belgium related pictures.she would bring a smile to anybody.great post regards bernard85
Another Bren Carrier fitted with the same bracketry. Unfortunately, no formation sign visible but the '18' Arm of Service serial that the Wehrmacht has not yet removed is once again an infantry battalion. A nice picture as it shows one of the blighters camera in hand.
Being a carrier owner I find the tow bracket quite interesting. Nigel Watson does mention a tow bracket (as above) in vol 1 of his book but the picture isn't very clear at all. The picture from eBay is much clearer, if the picture from Nigel's book wasn't known then I'd have suggested it was a german addition but Nigel's picture shows one in British use. The interesting aspect is that a Bren never had a towing attachment as official kit. The two pictures show enough detail to suggest they're the same and on different vehicles. Were they made locally by the BEF or fitted before leaving Britain? Is there a picture showing a Bren carrier (not universal) actually towing something? There have been a couple of nice photos recently on eBay showing a variety of vehicles at a german compound with a windmill in the background. Ben