Below is a pic of infantrymen from an anti-tank company who have un-assed their truck because some inconsiderate German machinegunners shot it up while they were swanning about enjoying the sights of wartime Holland in 1944. They are trying to find said Germans so as to properly express their annoyance at how the german army was treating Allied tourists then swarming over Holland at the very first instance of the "Nijmegen Marches."
I just find the pic fascinating, and the careful eye will see why. The pic should embiggen upon being caressed by your mouse cursor and a concomitant push on the appropriate button.
I just find the pic fascinating, and the careful eye will see why. The pic should embiggen upon being caressed by your mouse cursor and a concomitant push on the appropriate button.
Yeaj, I was gonna say because they are on a huge pile of sugar beets? Or would those be turnips? Both would look similar in a B&W image.......
Possibly some sort of support unit, even medics, or cooks, clerks, staff weenies or the like who suddenly realized the wisdom ot the Marines' "Every man a rifleman" philosophy.
The photo does look staged, not under actual fire, so this could have been one taken after they had been out souvenir hunting.
Also- that's a mighty dangerous way to look for a machine gun...
Unless you are talking about the fact that they're wearing one another's underwear. In which case, how would anyone know?
Oh, and the Mausers.
one might almost wonder if this isn't a still from a Reifenstahl movie made for Axis markets during the war.
It's a US Army Signal Corps photo. I believe the guy in the middle actually has a Garand, but it was the Mausers that caught my eye. When I first glanced at it, I thought the less obvious Mauser (the one on the right) might actually have been an 03A3, but it didn't look quite right, that's when I realized it was a Mauser, too.
Just serves as an example of how our brains apply templates to initially make sense of things - US troops, so I expected to see US weapons.
Not seen in the picture (because the one I scanned from is too big for the scanner I have) is the truck and 57mm A/T gun. I'll scan that and put it up for tomorrow.
And while I like the level of thought that went into the "UFO" comment - the pic is from a calendar, and that's the hanging hole, not a UFO.
This wasn't really intended to be a hard one. I like how you guys made it that way. Og wins with most creative.
Yes, he did land in Holland via a glider during Operation Market Garden.
Weapons could be 'anything'. Read 'Eisenhower's Lieutenants' by Russell Weigley. Lots of enemy weapons got picked up and used for one reason or another, especially by support troops. My dad got into Germany as a Combat MP replacement with only a week + left before the armistice; and was never issued ammunition. It just wasn't available. He found the tag end of a Browning belt in a ditch with eight rounds in it; kept five for his Springfield and gave the other three to his Sergeant.