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Destroyed bridge and a french village - probably in Lothringia?

A french tank, is it a Char B1 bis?

And a german Panzer III Ausf. E

inspecting a french gun..

And a bath in the sun..

Telumar -

a PAK (calibre?), maybe he was an AT-Gunner.

Looks like a Czech 47mm ATG - tho, I could be wrong...

BTW - Wildflecken is the only place in the FRG where it was 75F every place else, but you were cold there. Every time we were deployed there to train, it was muddy, rainy, and almost God-forsaken... gloomy comes to mind.

Reminds me of Harry Potter's Dementors

ORIGINAL: Jeff Norton

Telumar -

a PAK (calibre?), maybe he was an AT-Gunner.

Looks like a Czech 47mm ATG - tho, I could be wrong...

BTW - Wildflecken is the only place in the FRG where it was 75F every place else, but you were cold there. Every time we were deployed there to train, it was muddy, rainy, and almost God-forsaken... gloomy comes to mind.

Reminds me of Harry Potter's Dementors

God, I hated Wildflecken (we called it "Wild Chicken"). It's a German training area now, since we closed our presences down in 1994.

ORIGINAL: Telumar

A french tank, is it a Char B1 bis?

THAT is a Char Lourd 2C. Only eight were active in the campaign, and did not fight, so it's actually quite an unusual sight. Also I believe the heaviest tank in service with the Western Allies during the war, at a whopping 69 tons.

Number 91 is Provence. Along with 7 of the 8 it was scuttled to avoid capture.

EDIT: here is a view from the other side, presumably in the same location (you can see some of the same poles in both pictures);
http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/fran ... troyed.jpg

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

ORIGINAL: Telumar

A french tank, is it a Char B1 bis?

THAT is a Char Lourd 2C. Only eight were active in the campaign, and did not fight, so it's actually quite an unusual sight. Also I believe the heaviest tank in service with the Western Allies during the war, at a whopping 69 tons.

Number 91 is Provence. Along with 7 of the 8 it was scuttled to avoid capture.

EDIT: here is a view from the other side, presumably in the same location (you can see some of the same poles in both pictures);
http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/fran ... troyed.jpg

Wow. What a surprise! And what a monster! Looks much bigger on the pic you posted. Feel free to save the image to your HD.

Do you know anything about the location or the circumstances under which these tanks fell in german hands?

ORIGINAL: Telumar
Do you know anything about the location or the circumstances under which these tanks fell in german hands?

This page;
http://www.1939-45.org/articles/fcm2c3.htm

Gives the location of the tanks when they were scuttled;
"Arrivés à l'entrée du village de Meuse, à une dizaine de kilomètres à l'ouest de Bourbonne-les-Bains, les deux trains portant les engins du 51e BCC sont bloqués dans une courbe en déblai de la voie ferrée par un convoi en flamme."

If you look on google maps you can see the rail line which runs west of the town. 10. Panzer Regiment of 8. Panzer ran across the tanks somewhat later. Quite how your relative fits into this isn't clear. 169. Infanterie was part of 16. Armee at this time, which did pass through the identified area. It was probably clearing an area after the panzertruppen had passed on.

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

ORIGINAL: Telumar
Do you know anything about the location or the circumstances under which these tanks fell in german hands?

This page;
http://www.1939-45.org/articles/fcm2c3.htm

Gives the location of the tanks when they were scuttled;
"Arrivés à l'entrée du village de Meuse, à une dizaine de kilomètres à l'ouest de Bourbonne-les-Bains, les deux trains portant les engins du 51e BCC sont bloqués dans une courbe en déblai de la voie ferrée par un convoi en flamme."

If you look on google maps you can see the rail line which runs west of the town. 10. Panzer Regiment of 8. Panzer ran across the tanks somewhat later. Quite how your relative fits into this isn't clear. 169. Infanterie was part of 16. Armee at this time, which did pass through the identified area. It was probably clearing an area after the panzertruppen had passed on.

Thanks Ben, btw, i remember a photo that showed some disabled french tanks in the open, but this is probably still at my mother's home.

I don't know if he was in the 169th, it was just an assumption based on the fact that he was on the Wildflecken in the Winter 39/40. But it would fit.

EDIT: Looking at three other pics it would fit with the area the 169. was sent to. One pic with a destroyed bridge across a big river, probably the Rhine, in the Freiburg/Breisgau area, a pontoon bridge across it and a destroyed village with a road sign showing the direction to "Mühlheim".

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

ORIGINAL: Telumar

A french tank, is it a Char B1 bis?

THAT is a Char Lourd 2C. Only eight were active in the campaign, and did not fight, so it's actually quite an unusual sight. Also I believe the heaviest tank in service with the Western Allies during the war, at a whopping 69 tons.

Number 91 is Provence. Along with 7 of the 8 it was scuttled to avoid capture.

EDIT: here is a view from the other side, presumably in the same location (you can see some of the same poles in both pictures);
http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/fran ... troyed.jpg

Quite a beast!

Thanks for the ID Ben.

Thanks for the photos Telumar.

Great photos Stefan! And what a neat coincidence about the tank!

Nice work GD! I'll bet you never thought you'd use that knowledge.

Hi all

Junior Leaders Regiment Royal Engineers 1986 to 1987 based at Dover Kent

3 Training Regiment RE until early 1988 at Camberly Surrey

Then over to BAOR posted to 32 Armoured Engineer Regiment based at Munster Lager spent my time there with 6 troop 31 sqn where we generaly supported the 11th and 20th Armoured Bdes posted from BAOR back to UK 1991.

Served with Allied Command Europe mobile force attatched to the Duke of Wellingtons Regiment then posted to 22 Engineer Regiment at Tidworth Garrison initially with 8 Field Sqn RE then 8 Armd Engr Sqn when the regiment reroled to close support.

Finnished my time with CATC BG at warminster where i live now left the forces in 1997.

Liked the photos unfortunatly all my grandads photos were destroyed always remember one where he was sat on the barrel of a captured coastal gun somwhere near the d day beaches he was one of the first ashore 3rd Division i think,my grandparants never realy spoke about the war.
My other grandad was a profesional soldier joined as a boy soldier in 1937 they told him he would travel and he certainly did western desert,sicily then later to Italy until VE.
Sent to Palastine in 1947 until discharge,then called up for Korea but stayed in UK as an instructor.

Okay, how do I insert an image into my post? I've tried several way, to include the buttons, but it doesn't work.....

ORIGINAL: Trick37

Okay, how do I insert an image into my post? I've tried several way, to include the buttons, but it doesn't work.....

Small files can be uploaded to the Matrix site. Don't use quick reply, use the normal reply. Directly below the text box, on the left side you can click to upload a file and check the box 'Embed picture in post'

The photos i posted were too big for an upload. I uploaded them to http://www.imageshack.us and used the direct link url to embed it as an image. On imageshack, mark and copy the 'direct link url' you receive for your image. In the forum, when in the post new message window, click image from the boxes above the text box and paste your url.

My Papa's father (my great-grandfather on my mom's side) joined the Northern Cyclist Battalion in Berwick when WW1 broke out in 1914. His unit never left England as a whole, but he was called up to be sent to France as a replacement after the fateful attack by allied forces on 1 July 1916. He was assigned to the 21st Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers (aka the 2nd Battalion of the Tyneside Scottish Brigade), 34th Division. He was first on the line in the Lille sector (Armentierres) from July 1916 to February 1917. They then moved to the Arras sector, and he was in the line there until September 1917, when they were moved down to the Villeret lines (just north of St Quentin) for a surprise attack on the German lines. He was severely wounded here, and was sent back to England for treatment of his wounds. He lost an eye and was partially blinded in the other. He was then sent back to France after the Germans attacked in March 1918. He was assigned to the Queen's Westminster Rifles of the 16th London Brigade, 56th Division, and was just in the lines when 5 German divisions attacked the Arras lines in the Battle of Gavrelle (the British units destroyed the 5 German divisions, and the held the line, although the lines bent.....but never broke, thus saving Arras). He was wounded again in July 1918 during a trench raid, and then he was fatally wounded on 4/5 November 1918 during the Battle of Sebourg (near Vallenciennes). He was taken to the 1st Casualty Clearing Station in Cambrai, and this is where he died on 6 November 1918. He's buried in the Cambrai East Military Cemetery, plot II.A.42.

I've uploaded a picture of my great-grandfather into this post. I'll drop another one in to the next post, too.

Here's another one of him, as stated before. (Note that I took digital pictures of the pictures while I was visiting my parents, as I didn't want to take them....in case they got lost.)

By the way, I f*&ked up my post about my military family's history (back on page 2). Namely, I deleted everything that I wrote, except for my great-grandfather's info. I propbably know the answer to this, but is there a way to recover that?

Thanks.

And finally his deather certificate. [:(]

PS---Vielen dank, Telumar, fuer deine Hilfe. [:)]