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Omaha Beach, Easy Green sector, Normandy, France
Omaha Beach
Omaha was divided into ten sectors, codenamed (from west to east): Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green and Fox Red. On june 6, 1944 -D-Day - the initial assault on Omaha was to be made by two Regimental Combat Teams (RCT), supported by two tank battalions, with two battalions of Rangers also attached. The RCT's were part of the veteran 1st Infantry division ("The Big Red One") and the untested 29th ("Blue and Grey") , a National Guard unit.
The plan was to make frontal assaults at the "draws" (valleys) in the bluffs which dominate the coast in Normandy , codenamed west to east they were called D-1, D-3, E-1, E-3 and F-1 . These draws could then be used to move inland with reserves and vehicles.
The Germans were not stupid; they knew the draws were vital and concentrated their limited resources in defending them. To this end they built "Widerstandsneste" with AT guns, mortars, MG's in Tobrul's, trenches and bunkers, manned by soldiers of the German 716th and - more recently - 352nd Infantry Division, a large portion of whom were teenagers, though they were supplemented by veterans who had fought on the Eastern Front. All in all some 1100 German soldiers defended the entire Omaha beach sector of over 5 miles.
Preliminary bombardments were almost totally ineffective and when the initial waves landed on low tide they met with fiece opposition of an enemy well dug in and prepared.
Casualties were heaviest amongst the troops landing at either end of Omaha. At Fox Green and Easy Red, scattered elements of three companies were reduced to half strength by the time they gained the relative safety of the shingle, many of them having crawled the 300 yards (270 m) of beach just ahead of the incoming tide. Casualties on this spot were especially heavy amongst the first waves of soldiers and the demolition teams - at Omaha these were tasked with blasting 16 channels through the beach obstacles, each 70 meters wide. German gunfire from the bluffs above the beach took a heavy toll on these men. The demolition teams managed to blast only six complete gaps and three partial ones; more than half their engineers were killed in the process.
Situation here on Dog Green and on Easy Red on the other end of Omaha by mid morning was so bad with nearly all the troops essentially pinned down on the beach gen. Eisenhower seriously considered to abandon the operation.
As the US first waves assault forces and combat engineers landing directly opposite the "draws" were pinned down it was up to forces landing on the flanks of the strongpoints to penetrate the weaker German defences by climbing the bluffs. Doing this they had to overcome the minefields and barbed wire as well as machinegun fire from German positions but they did and they were able to attack some key strongpoints from the side and the rear, taking them out by early afternoon.
This happened on several spots at Omaha and essentially saved the day: individual acts of initiative by lower ranked officers and courage like that of First Lieutenant Jimmy Monteith, who led a group of men to take one of the key German widerstandsneste and was killed in action, succeeded where a flawed plan failed.
On the photo:
The view is towards the east overlooking Easy Red and Fox Green sector. Note the curve of the beach. At high water there is only a couple of yards of sand left. Both Easy Green and Easy Red saw heavy action on june 6, 1944. Elements of the 116th RCT and Combat Engineers landed here from 06.30 and this was one of the area's were the Combat Engineers succeeded in clearing paths through the German obstacle belt allowing reinforcements to land when the tide was rising and the Landing Craft were threatened by the mines and obstacles. It did take a terrible toll though, as their casualty rates were some 40%.
Tonemapped using three (Handheld) shots made with a Fuji X-T3 and a Fujinon XF-18-55mm, september 2019.
For a map of the eastern part of Omaha click here. The German WN's are marked as well as the Draws and beach sections.
My other Omaha beach photo's with several viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting
A set of photo's with notes of Utah Beach and the Cotentin peninsula with the Airborne sectors.">
Here's the complete set of photo's made on Pointe du Hoc over the past years
These are my photo's and notes of the British and Canadian sectors: Gold, Juno and Sword.
c/n 10MK51412.
NATO codename ‘Flanker-C’.
Interestingly, this current Russian Air Force fighter does not carry the usual ‘RF-.....’ serial.
On static display at the Aviation cluster of the ARMY 2017 event.
Kubinka Airbase, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
23rd August 2017
The car of a generation, a machine that moulded and became part of the British family scene during the 1960's and 70's. Think back to that era in motoring, where the T-Bird style wings and curves of the 50's gave way to the angles of the 60's, then this plucky car will probably be one of the first names to spring to mind. It is of course, the Ford Cortina.
Deriving its name from the Italian ski resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo, the site of the 1956 Winter Olympics, the Cortina was designed under the codename of Project Archbishop. The car's shape and general running was designed by chief designer Roy Brown, who had previously designed the infamous Edsel, one of the worst cars in the world. As punishment, he was exiled to Dagenham Plant in East London to work on a new line of family cars to ward off BMC's Morris Oxford and Vauxhall's Victor. The car went on sale in September 1962, and the car was promoted heavily in a special publicity stunt, where a selection of Cortina's were driven down the bobsled run at Cortina d'Ampezzo. The intention of the Cortina was to be more economical and cheap to run than the competition, but also cheaper to build.
The car was launched shortly before the 1962 London Motor Show, and came complete with 1.2L or 1.5L Kent Inline-4 engines. Immediately the car was praised for its ease of use and reliability, a perfect car for the British family. Mixed with a contemporary style, the car was also surprisingly spacious on the inside. Ford continued to promote the car heavily, with several Cortina's being featured in the hit 1963 film Carry On Cabby (a fantastically funny movie if I do say so myself!). That same year, a deal with Lotus produced the Ford Lotus Cortina, a high performance version fitted with a 1.6L Twin-Cam Inline-4 engine producing in excess of 200hp. The result was a car that thrashed the Group 2 Touring Car racing, with a recorded top speed of 143mph in a car designed to ferry kids to school!
1966 saw the next generation Cortina, a more angular derivative with updated interior and a larger platform for more space. This car was the product of another Roy, Roy Haynes, who you would later recognise as the mind behind the 1969 Mini Clubman, and the infamous Morris Marina of 1971. Major differences, aside from the styling, included a larger selection of engines, ranging from the 1.2L Kent Inline-4 to the 1.6L Crossflow Inline-4 and 1.6L Twin-Cam Inline-4 for the Lotus Cortina. Even though the lovable T-Bird lines of the original were now largely gone, the car still sold, becoming the highest selling car in the UK for 1967. Critically, the car was lauded for its sharp performance and beautiful styling. One of the most obscure examples of the Cortina MkII is the Ford Cortina Savage, a set of 1,000 cars modified by Basil Green Motors of South Africa, and fitted with high performance 3.0L Essex V6 engines, a little extra umph to beat the traffic at the Johannesburg stop-sign!
1970 saw the launch of the MkII, which abandoned the previous looks of the T-Bird in favour of a much more American look. Taking many cues from the Mustang, the new Cortina featured a sloping fastback, angular front, and grille similar to that found on contemporary Lincolns and Plymouths (depending on the variant). The MkIII Cortina was designed by Harley Copp, another American designer who had been shipped out to Europe for a while, and this would turn out to be his last European design before returning to Detroit. This was also the first time that Ford of Germany and Ford of Britain chose to merge their two model brands, the Cortina in Britain and the Taunus in Europe, into a single badge-engineered car. The MkIII also featured a selection of new and larger engines, with the 1.3L Crossflow Inline-4 at the bottom end, rising through 2.0L Pinto TL16 Inline-4 engines, till eventually reaching the top range 3.3L and 4.1L Falcon 200 Inline-6 engines. The MkIII also featured a variety of trim levels, the Base Cortina, the L for Luxury, the XL for Xtra Luxury, the GT Grand Touring, and the GXL, the Grand Xtra Luxury.
The MkIII Cortina has often been cited as the most popular of the Cortina models, although being built on the same platform as the MkII, it handled better, was much safer, heavier, more powerful and generally an all round winner. Sadly however, after the car's launch in October 1970, production was slow due to the various strikes at the Dagenham Plant in April and June 1971, with a loss in production of 100,000 cars, or half the annual output. This allowed contemporary vehicles such as the Morris Marina to sneak in and start to eat away Ford's profits. Eventually the strikes ended, and the combined efforts of the Cortina and the Escort put Ford back on top. The Cortina remained the UK's top selling car until 1976 when the MkII Escort took the title.
Eventually, this generation of the Cortina gave way in 1976 to the Cortina MkIV, which carried over a majority of the running gear and engines, but gave the car a new and more angular look, as designed by German based Ford stylist Uwe Bahnsen, who also designed the MkI Ford Sierra, the MkII Capri and the original Ford Scorpio of 1985.
This finally led to the last of the line MkV of 1979, which took styling from the higher range Granada. By this time the Cortina was looking tired, and its days in the sun were quickly coming to an end. Engines were downgraded to 1.3L Crossflow and 2.0L Pinto Inline-4 engines, and the general look of the car was made somewhat more mundane. Some improvements in the range included the fitting of a 116hp 2.3L V6, and improved corrosion protection so that there would be less chance of deterioration in the elements. Together, both this, and the TC3 Taunus, were able to heavily dominate the sales only losing the title of UK best seller in 1982, but the 1981 launch of the highly advanced Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier, meant that the Cortina was forced to retire. In 1982, the last Cortina/Taunus left the production lines in Dagenham and Cologne, with 2.6 million examples sold in Britain.
Many people would never believe something as mundane as the Ford Cortina would ever become a classic, but a classic it is, and a strong one at that. The Cortina has a huge following, and has one of the highest surviving rates of classic cars from the 1970's and early 80's. Although early models up to the MkIII would be harder to find, MkIII's, MkIV's and MkV's are still incredibly popular and common machines on the roads of Britain, a true example of Ford when they're on the right track.
MonkE Operative Folder
Codename: TimE
Status: Under Cover
Specialty: Urban warfare, Machete Combat, Throwing turd bombs
Inspired by Jasbrick
I made the head have a hole like a minifigs head normally would have so there might be more of these in the future :)
c/n unknown.
NATO codename ‘Midget’.
On display outside a school on the road between Nikolskoye and Selskiy truzhenik, East of Kubinka Airbase and North of the 121st Aircraft repair plant.
Kubinka Area, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
23rd August 2017
"Little Boy" was the codename for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets of the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, of the United States Army Air Forces. It was the first atomic bomb to be used as a weapon.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Sweden required a strong air defense, utilizing the newly developed jet propulsion technology. This led to a pair of proposals being issued by the Saab design team, led by Lars Brising. The first of these, codenamed R101, was a cigar-shaped aircraft, which bore a resemblance to the American Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. The second design, which would later be picked as the winner, was a barrel-shaped design, codenamed R 1001, which proved to be both faster and more agile upon closer study.
The original R 1001 concept had been designed around a mostly straight wing, but after Swedish engineers had obtained German research data on swept-wing designs, the prototype was altered to incorporate a 25° sweep. In order to make the wing as thin as possible, Saab elected to locate the retractable undercarriage in the aircraft's fuselage rather than into the wings.
Extensive wind tunnel testing performed at the Swedish Royal University of Technology and by the National Aeronautical Research Institute had also influenced aspects of the aircraft's aerodynamics, such as stability and trim across the aircraft's speed range. In order to test the design of the swept wing further and avoid any surprises, it was decided to modify a single Saab Safir. It received the designation Saab 201 and a full-scale R 1001 wing for a series of flight tests. The first 'final' sketches of the aircraft, incorporating the new information, was drawn in January 1946.
The originally envisioned powerplant for the new fighter type was the de Havilland Goblin turbojet engine. However, in December 1945, information on the newer and more powerful de Havilland Ghost engine became available. The new engine was deemed to be ideal for Saab's in-development aircraft, as not only did the Ghost engine had provisions for the use of a central circular air intake, the overall diameter of the engine was favorable for the planned fuselage dimensions, too. Thus, following negotiations between de Havilland and Saab, the Ghost engine was selected to power the type instead and built in license as the RM 2.
By February 1946 the main outline of the proposed aircraft had been clearly defined. In Autumn 1946, following the resolution of all major questions of principal and the completion of the project specification, the Swedish Air Force formally ordered the completion of the design and that three prototype aircraft be produced, giving the proposed type the designation J 29.
On 1 September 1948, the first of the Saab 29 prototypes conducted its maiden flight, which lasted for half an hour. Because of the shape of its fuselage, the Saab J 29 quickly received the nickname "Flygande Tunnan" ("The Flying Barrel"), or "Tunnan" ("The Barrel") for short. While the demeaning nickname was not appreciated by Saab, its short form was eventually officially adopted.
A total of four prototypes were built for the aircraft's test program. The first two lacked armament, carrying heavy test equipment instead, while the third prototype was armed with four 20mm automatic guns. Various different aerodynamic arrangements were tested, such as air brakes being installed either upon the fuselage or on the wings aft of the rear spar, along with both combined and conventional aileron/flap arrangements.
The flight test program revealed that the J 29 prototypes were capable of reaching and exceeding the maximum permissible Mach number for which they had been designed, and the flight performance figures gathered were found to be typically in excess of the predicted values.
In 1948 production of the type commenced and in May 1951 the first deliveries of operational production aircraft were received by F 13 Norrköping. The J 29 proved to be very successful and several variants and updates of the Tunnan were produced, including a dedicated reconnaissance variant and an all-weather fighter with an on-board radar.
A trainer variant was deemed to be useful, too, since the transition of young pilots from relatively slow, piston-engine basic trainers to jet-powered aircraft was considered to be a major step in the education program. At that time, the only jet-powered two-seater in Swedish inventory was the DH 115 Vampire. 57 of these, designated J 28C by the Swedish Air Force, had been procured from Great Britain in the late Forties, but an indigenous alternative (and a more capable successor) was politically favored.
In 1952 initial wind tunnel tests with scaled-down models were conducted, since it was not clear which layout would be the best from an aerodynamic, structural and educational point of view. After a thorough inspection of wooden 1:1 mock-ups of alternative tandem and a side-by-side cockpit layouts, as well as much political debate between Saab, the Swedish Air Force and the Swedish government concerning the costs and budget for a dedicated Saab 29 trainer fleet’s development and production, a compromise was settled upon in early 1953: No new trainer airframes would be produced. Instead, only existing airframes would be converted into two seaters, in an attempt to keep as much of the existing structure and internal fuel capacity as possible.
The side-by-side arrangement was adopted, not only because it was considered to be the more effective layout for a trainer aircraft. It also had the benefit that its integration would only mean a limited redesign of the aircraft’s cockpit section above the air intake duct and the front landing gear well, allowing to retain the single-seater’s pressurized cabin’s length and internal structure. A tandem cockpit would have been aerodynamically more efficient, but it would have either considerably reduced the J 29’s internal fuel capacity, or the whole aircraft had had to be lengthened with a fuselage plug, with uncertain outcome concerning airframe and flight stability. It would also have been the more costly option,
However, it would take until 1955 that the first trainer conversions were conducted by Saab, in the wake of the major wing and engine updates for the J 29 A/B fleet that lasted until 1956. The trainer, designated Sk 29 B, was exclusively based on the J 29 B variant and benefited from this version’s extra fuel tanks in the wings and fully wired underwing weapon hardpoints, which included two wet pylons for drop tanks and made the Sk 29 B suitable for weapon training with the J 29’s full ordnance range.
The trainer conversions only covered the new cockpit section, though. The Sk 29 B did not receive the new dogtooth wing which was only introduced to the converted J 29 D, E and F fighters. The upper pair of 20mm cannon in the lower front fuselage was deleted, too, in order to compensate for the two-seater’s additional cockpit equipment weight and drag. Performance suffered only marginally under the enlarged canopy, though, and the Sk 29 B turned out to be a very sound and useful design for the advanced jet trainer role.
However, budgetary restraints and the quick development of aircraft technology in the Fifties limited the number of fighter conversions to only 22 airframes. The aging Vampire two-seaters still turned out to be adequate for the advanced trainer role, and the Sk 29 B did not offer a significant advantage over the older, British aircraft. Another factor that spoke against more Sk 29 Bs was the simple fact that more trainer conversions would have reduced the number of airframes eligible for the running fighter aircraft updates.
All Sk 29 Bs were concentrated at the F 5 Ljungbyhed Kungliga Krigsflygskolan training wing in southern Sweden, where two flights were equipped with it. Unofficially dubbed “Skola Tunnan” (literally “School Barrel”), the Sk 29B performed a solid career, even though the machines were gradually retired from 1966 onwards. A dozen Sk 29 B remained active until 1972 in various supportive roles, including target tugging, air sampling and liaison duties, while the final Vampire trainer was already retired in 1968. But by the early Seventies, the trainer role had been taken over by the brand new Saab 105/Sk 60 trainer, the long-awaited domestic development, and Sk 35 Draken trainers.
General characteristics:
Crew: 2
Length: 10.23 m (33 ft 7 in)
Wingspan: 11.0 m (36 ft 1 in)
Height: 3.75 m (12 ft 4 in)
Wing area: 24.15 m² (260.0 ft²)
Empty weight: 5,120 kg (11,277 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 8,375 kg (18,465 lb)
Powerplant:
1× Svenska Flygmotor RM2 turbojet, rated at 5,000 lbf (22.2 kN)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1,010 km/h (627 mph)
Range: 1,060 km (658 mi)
Service ceiling: 15,500 m (50,850 ft)
Rate of climb: 30.5 m/s (6,000 ft/min)
Armament:
2x 20mm Hispano Mark V autocannon in the lower front fuselage
Underwing hardpoints for various unguided missiles and iron bombs, or a pair drop tanks
The kit and its assembly:
Another Saab 29 conversion of a variant that was thought about but never materialized, much like the radar-equipped all-weather fighter. The impulse to tackle this stunt was a leftover D. H. Vampire trainer fuselage pod in my stash (from the ‘Mystery Jet’ conversion a couple of months ago, from an Airfix kit). The canopy’s shape and dimensions appeared like a sound match for the tubby J 29, and so I decided to try this stunt.
The basis is the Heller J 29 kit, which is, despite raised surface details, IMHO the better kit than the rather simple Matchbox offering. However, what makes things more hazardous, though, is the kit’s option to build the S 29 C reconnaissance variant – the lower front fuselage is a separate part, and any surgery around the cockpit weakens the kit’s overall stability considerably. Unlike the J 29D all-weather fighter built recently, I had no visual reference material. The only valid information I was able to dig up was that a side-by-side cockpit had been the preferred layout for this paper project.
Implanting a new cockpit is always hazardous, and I have never tried to integrate a side-by-side arrangement into a single seater. The Vampire cockpit was finished first, and also mounted into the Vampire’s original cockpit pod halves, because I was able to use its side walls and also had the original canopy parts left over – and using the Vampire’s cockpit opening would ensure a good fit and limit PSR work around the clear parts. Once the Vampire cockpit tub was complete, the “implant” was trimmed down as far as possible.
Next step was to prepare the Tunnan to accept the donor cockpit. In order to avoid structural trouble I finished the two fuselage halves first, mounted the air intake with the duct to the front end, but left the fighter version’s gun tray away (while preparing it with a load of lead). The idea was to put the Vampire cockpit into position from below into the Tunnan’s fuselage, until all outer surfaces would more or less match in order to minimize PSR work.
With the Vampire cockpit as benchmark, I carefully tried to draw its outlines onto the upper front fuselage. The following cutting and trimming sessions too several turns. To my surprise, the side-by-side cockpit’s width was the least problem – it fits very well inside of the J 29 fuselage’s confines, even though the front end turned out to be troublesome. Space in length became an issue, too, because the Airfix Vampire cockpit is pretty complete: it comes with all pedals, a front and a rear bulkhead, and its bulged canopy extends pretty far backwards into an aerodynamic fairing. As a result, it’s unfortunately very long… Furthermore, air intake duct reaches deep into the Tunnan’s nose, too, so that width was not the (expected) problem, but rather length!
Eventually, the cockpit lost the front bulkhead and had to trimmed and slimmed down further, because, despite its bulky fuselage, the Tunnan’s nose is rather narrow. As a consequence the Vampire cockpit had to be moved back by about 3mm, relative to the single-seater’s canopy, and the area in front of the cockpit/above the air intake duct had to be completely re-sculpted, which took several PSR stages. Since the Vampire’s canopy shape is very different and its windscreen less steep (and actually a flat glass panel), I think this change is not too obvious, tough, and looks like a natural part of the fictional real-life conversion. However, a fiddly operation, and it took some serious effort to blend the new parts into the Tunnan fuselage, especially the windscreen.
Once the cockpit was in place, the lower front fuselage with the guns (the upper pair had disappeared in the meantime) was mounted, and the wings followed suit. In this case, I modified the flaps into a lowered position, and, as a subtle detail, the Tunnan kit lost its retrofitted dogtooth wings, so that they resemble the initial, simple wing of the J 29 A and B variants. Thanks to the massive construction of the kit’s wings (they consist of two halves, but these are very thin and almost massive), this was a relatively easy task.
The rest of the Tunnan was built mostly OOB; it is a typical Heller kit of the Seventies: simple, with raised surface detail, relatively good fit (despite the need to use putty) and anything you could ask for a J 29 in 1:72 scale. I just replaced the drop tanks with shorter, thicker alternatives – early J 29 frequently carried Vampire drop tanks without fins, and the more stout replacements appeared very suitable for a trainer.
The pitots on the wing tips had to be scratched, since they got lost with the wing modifications - but OOB they are relatively thick and short, anyway. Further additions include a tail bumper and extra dorsal and ventral antennae, plus a fairing for a rotating warning light, inspired by a similar installation on the late J 29 target tugs.
Painting and markings:
As usual, I wanted a relatively plausible livery and kept things simple. Early J 29 fighters were almost exclusively left in bare metal finish, and the Swedish Vampire trainers were either operated in NMF with orange markings (very similar to the RAF trainers), or they carried the Swedish standard dark green/blue grey livery.
I stuck to the Tunnan’s standard NMF livery, but added dark green on wing tips and fin, which were widely added in order to make formation flight and general identification easier. However, some dayglow markings were added on the fuselage and wings, too, so that – together with the tactical markings – a colorful and distinct look was created, yet in line with typical Swedish Air Force markings in the late Fifties/early Sixties.
The NMF livery was created with an overall coat of Revell 99 acrylic paint (Aluminum), on top of which various shades of Metallizer were dry-brushed, panel by panel. Around the exhaust, a darker base tone (Revell 91, Iron Metallic and Steel Metallizer) was used. Around the cockpit, in order to simulate the retrofitted parts, some panels received a lighter base with Humbrol 191.
The raised panel lines were emphasized through a light black in wash and careful rubbing with grinded graphite on a soft cotton cloth – with the benefit that the graphite adds a further, metallic shine to the surface and destroys the uniform, clean NMF look. On the front fuselage, where many details got lost through the PSR work, panel lines were painted with a thin, soft pencil.
The cockpit interior became dark green-grey (Revell 67 comes pretty close to the original color), the landing gear wells medium grey (Revell 57). The dark green markings on fin and wing tips were painted with Humbrol 163 (RAF Dark Green), which comes IMHO close to the Swedish “Mörkgrön”. The orange bands were painted, too, with a base of Humbrol 82 (Orange Lining) on top of which a thin coat of fluorescent orange (Humbrol 209) was later added. Even though the NMF Tunnan did not carry anti-dazzle paint in front of the windscreen, I added a black panel because of the relatively flat area there on the modified kit.
Decals come from different sources: roundels and stencils come from the Heller kit’s sheet, the squadron code number from a Flying Colors sheet with Swedish ciphers in various colors and sizes for the late Fifties time frame, while the tactical code on the fin was taken from a Saab 32 sheet.
Finally the kit was sealed with a “¾ matt”, acrylic varnish, mixed from glossy and matt varnishes.
An effective and subtle conversion, and a bigger stunt than one might think at first sight. The Tunnan two-seater does, hoewever, not look as disturbing as, for instance, the BAC Lightning or Hawker Hunter trainer variants? The rhinoplasty was massive and took some serious PSR, though, and the livery was also more demanding than it might seem. But: this is what IMHO a real Saab 29 trainer could have looked like, if it had left the drawing boards in the early Fifties. And it even looks good! :D
The P-72A gunship, codenamed “Skyhammer” was developed by Arcadia Aeronautics for the Kovlakian Airborn Artillery. It was devised as a counter measure to the threat of the new armoured Zeppelins, and proved extremely effective against them. It also saw extensive use in the Battle of Syrrah where squadrons flew low in night attacks to destroy the city’s heavily fortified walls. The plane here is painted in night camo colours and is piloted by Lt Colonel Dirk Salvo. It is armed with two 20mm front–firing machine guns and a 400mm artillery cannon which carries a maximum of six shells.
Omaha Beach, Widerstandsnest 60, Fox Red sector , Normandy
Omaha Beach
Omaha was divided into ten sectors, codenamed (from west to east): Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green and Fox Red. On june 6, 1944 -D-Day - the initial assault on Omaha was to be made by two Regimental Combat Teams (RCT), supported by two tank battalions, with two battalions of Rangers also attached. The RCT's were part of the veteran 1st Infantry division ("The Big Red One") and the untested 29th ("Blue and Grey") , a National Guard unit.
The plan was to make frontal assaults at the "draws" (valleys) in the bluffs which dominate the coast in Normandy , codenamed west to east they were called D-1, D-3, E-1, E-3 and F-1 . These draws could then be used to move inland with reserves and vehicles.
The Germans were not stupid; they knew the draws were vital and concentrated their limited resources in defending them. To this end they built "Widerstandsneste" with AT guns, mortars, MG's in Tobrul's, trenches and bunkers, manned by soldiers of the German 716th and - more recently - 352nd Infantry Division, a large portion of whom were teenagers, though they were supplemented by veterans who had fought on the Eastern Front. All in all some 1100 German soldiers defended the entire Omaha beach sector of over 5 miles.
Preliminary bombardments were almost totally ineffective and when the initial waves landed at low tide they met with fiece opposition of an enemy well dug in and prepared.
Casualties were heaviest amongst the troops landing at either end of Omaha. At Fox Green and Easy Red, scattered elements of three companies were reduced to half strength by the time they gained the relative safety of the shingle, many of them having crawled the 300 yards (270 m) of beach just ahead of the incoming tide. Casualties were especially heavy amongst the first waves of soldiers and the gap assault teams - at Omaha these were tasked with blasting channels through the beach obstacles. German gunfire from the bluffs above the beach took a heavy toll on these men. The demolition teams managed to blast only six complete gaps and three partial ones; more than half their engineers were killed in the process.
Situation at Dog Green and on Easy Red on the other end of Omaha by mid morning was so bad with nearly all the troops essentially pinned down on the beach gen. Eisenhower seriously considered to abandon the operation; in "First Wave at OMAHA Beach", S.L.A. Marshall, chief U.S. Army combat historian, called it "an epic human tragedy which in the early hours bordered on total disaster."
As the US first waves assault forces and combat engineers landing directly opposite the "draws" were pinned down it was up to forces landing on the flanks of the strongpoints to penetrate the weaker German defences by climbing the bluffs. Doing this they had to overcome the minefields and barbed wire as well as machinegun fire from German positions but they did and they were able to attack some key strongpoints from the side and the rear, taking them out by early afternoon.
This happened on several spots at Omaha and essentially saved the day: individual acts of initiative by lower ranked officers and courage like that of First Lieutenant Jimmy Monteith, who led a group of men to take one of the key German widerstandsneste and was killed in action, succeeded where a flawed plan failed.
The Defenses
"Widerstandsnest" 60 or WN60 is the easternmost of the 14 Widerstandsneste that guarded Omaha Beach in june 1944. It It guarded the small "Fox-1" exit and has a perfect view over Omaha beach. It was at this spot that the real Major Werner Pluskat first saw the invasion fleet approach, a scene made famous in the 1962 movie "The Longest Day" (though shot on a location several miles to the east , the Longueville Battery).
WN60 was manned by some forty soldiers of the German 716th Static Inf.Division. For armament it had a 7.5 cm Gun, several Mortar positions and some MG's as well as a 2cm Flak 38 gun.
For a map of the eastern part of Omaha click here. The German WN's are marked as well as the Draws and beach sections.
D-Day
This area was designated to the 1st US infantry division (The Big Red One) and elements of the 3/16th RCT landed here from 06.30 (writer Ernest Hemingway was among them - check his book "Voyage to Victory"). Despite the heavy casualties inflicted on them by WN60 and WN61 around 08.00 US soldiers started to climb the bluffs. Among them was 1st Lt. Jimmy W. Monteith who directed the fire of destroyers and two Sherman tanks. He was to be awarded with the Medal of Honor for his role in the taking of WN60, posthumously. The men of L/116th managed to reach te top of the bluff some time before nine 'o clock and attack the WN60 from the rear. Throwing grenades and satchel charges they blasted the Germans out and were able to report the taking of WN60 around 09.00. This was the first of the German strongpoint to be taken and it opened up the small Fox-1 exit through the bluffs though it was not before evening that the first tanks were able to use it.
the Photo
The photo shows the view from one of the "Tobruk" Mortar positions of WN60.
Even nowadays WN60 is well hidden near a wheatfield and can be reached only by using some unpaved small farmer's roads. The rocky road down to the beach using Fox-1 damn well near cost me the front axle of my car.
Photo was Tonemapped using three differently exposed (handheld) shots (august 2012) with a Nikon D7000 and Tokina AT-X Pro SD 12-24mm F4 lens.
See my other Omaha beach photo's for more viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting</a
c/n N75096900.
NATO codename ‘Fishbed-L’.
On 14th December 1989, this Angolan Air Force MiG-21 lost its bearings and eventually carried out an emergency landing on open ground in Namibia. Restored by Atlas apprentices, it is now on display in Hangar 4 at the South African Air Force Museum.
Swartkop Airfield, Pretoria, South Africa.
19-9-2014
This model was specifically built for the Arawasi Wild Eagles blog's "Hayabusa Model Contest" in April/May 2017 (arawasi-wildeagles.blogspot.de/2017/03/japanese-aircraft-...) - and it is the guesstimate, based on a conversion set and a vague frontal picture of a real aircraft.
Inspiration struck when I came across a Rising Decals conversion (from the Czech Republic)set for an experimental Ki43 with wooden, retractable skis - tested in Manchuria in 1944. The set comes with finely crafted and moulded resin skis, plus a decal sheet for the rather bleak aircraft in natural metal finish. Anyway, I found the idea worth to become an entry, and took action.
The kit and its assembly:
The basis is the venarable 1:72 Hasegawa kit of the Ki43-II, a simple kit with good detail and fit, even though you get raised (though very fine) panel lines. The kit was basically built OOB, with only some detail additions in the cockpit, and I modified the wings and lower fuselage in so far that the "butterfly flaps" were added in extended position.
Concerning the ski landing gear, I did some legwork, and eventually found a Ki43-II with the same landing gear arrangement as the conversion set, but it also featured a four-bladed propeller!
The wheeled landing gear was simply replaced by the resin struts from the conversion set, the skis are separate pieces that fit neatly into each other and into the kit.
The propeller was scratched from the three OOB blades, plus a trimmed donor blade. The spinner is the front end of a German 250 kg bomb. Inside of the engine, a styrene tube was added as propeller mount, which received a long metal axis.
A venturi tube was added under the fuselage, too, and the canopy separated into two pieces for better display.
The frontal benchmark picture of "my" Ki43-II shows the aircraft in clean configuration, but I decided to use/add the underwing tanks in order to avoid filling the respective holes in the wings - and it makes the aircraft look more interesting, IMHO.
Painting and markings:
Concerning the aircraft's livery, I basically stuck to the machine depicted in the conversion set and on the few pictures of such machines - even though the info sheet states that "markings are uncertain".
Anyway, I went the suggested overall NMF route with grey-green fabric (individually mixed from Humbrol 90 and 155) on all rudder surfaces. As a personal note, and as an interpretation of the benchmark photograph of the Ki43-II I tried to build, the model received a worn and flaking cowling in IJA Green and Grey. The latter was also used for the drop tanks, with red primer showing through the tanks' front end. A black anti glare panel was added in front of and behind the canopy.
The cockpit interior was painted, based on Hasegawa's recommendations, in a greenish brown tone (a mix of Revell 45 and 16). The landing gear wells and the interior of the flaps was painted with Aodake Iro - and instead of mixing a metallic blue tone as a single tone I rather laid down an Aluminum base and added a clear, greenish blue lacquer on top - just like the real thing. The deep yellow ID markings on the wings' leading edges were painted with RAL 1028 (Lufthansa Gelb, Revell 310).
The skis appear to be massive wood pieces, and they were painted accordingly with a wet-in-wet mix of red brown and cream, for a streaky look, mimicking the wooden structure.
After basic painting (a basic coat with acrylic Aluminum, Revell 99), everything done with brushes and minimal masking, the kit received a light black ink wash, in order to emphasize engravings. For some "depth" effect, panels were post-shaded with Polished Aluminum Metallizer (Humbrol 27002) on top of the acrylic Aluminum base. During the polishing process with a piece of soft cloth, some grinded graphite was rubbed over all surfaces, too, creating a slightly worn and uneven look. This little trick also enhances the metallic shine of the surface, making it look less "painted". Graphite was also used in order to simulate light exhaust stains on the Hayabusa's flanks.
Once the (very thin and delicate) decals were in place, they received a light treatment with Aluminium and sand paper, in order to simulate some wear on the aircraft's surface. Finally, everything was sealed with a coat of semi-matt acrylic varnish, just the rudders and the anti-glare panels received a completely matt coat.
A quick build, done in less than three days from sprues to photo shots. Anyway, the model should rather be regarded as fictional, since my information basis has been rather corny and relied on very limited references. But I am, nevertheless, happy with the result, and I hope the model conveys the original idea of the converted Ki43 with skis?
Omaha Beach, Widerstandsnest 60, Fox Red sector , Normandy
Omaha Beach
Omaha was divided into ten sectors, codenamed (from west to east): Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green and Fox Red. On june 6, 1944 -D-Day - the initial assault on Omaha was to be made by two Regimental Combat Teams (RCT), supported by two tank battalions, with two battalions of Rangers also attached. The RCT's were part of the veteran 1st Infantry division ("The Big Red One") and the untested 29th ("Blue and Grey") , a National Guard unit.
The plan was to make frontal assaults at the "draws" (valleys) in the bluffs which dominate the coast in Normandy , codenamed west to east they were called D-1, D-3, E-1, E-3 and F-1 . These draws could then be used to move inland with reserves and vehicles.
The Germans were not stupid; they knew the draws were vital and concentrated their limited resources in defending them. To this end they built "Widerstandsneste" with AT guns, mortars, MG's in Tobrul's, trenches and bunkers, manned by soldiers of the German 716th and - more recently - 352nd Infantry Division, a large portion of whom were teenagers, though they were supplemented by veterans who had fought on the Eastern Front. All in all some 1100 German soldiers defended the entire Omaha beach sector of over 5 miles.
Preliminary bombardments were almost totally ineffective and when the initial waves landed at low tide they met with fiece opposition of an enemy well dug in and prepared.
Casualties were heaviest amongst the troops landing at either end of Omaha. At Fox Green and Easy Red, scattered elements of three companies were reduced to half strength by the time they gained the relative safety of the shingle, many of them having crawled the 300 yards (270 m) of beach just ahead of the incoming tide. Casualties were especially heavy amongst the first waves of soldiers and the gap assault teams - at Omaha these were tasked with blasting channels through the beach obstacles. German gunfire from the bluffs above the beach took a heavy toll on these men. The demolition teams managed to blast only six complete gaps and three partial ones; more than half their engineers were killed in the process.
Situation at Dog Green and on Easy Red on the other end of Omaha by mid morning was so bad with nearly all the troops essentially pinned down on the beach gen. Eisenhower seriously considered to abandon the operation; in "First Wave at OMAHA Beach", S.L.A. Marshall, chief U.S. Army combat historian, called it "an epic human tragedy which in the early hours bordered on total disaster."
As the US first waves assault forces and combat engineers landing directly opposite the "draws" were pinned down it was up to forces landing on the flanks of the strongpoints to penetrate the weaker German defences by climbing the bluffs. Doing this they had to overcome the minefields and barbed wire as well as machinegun fire from German positions but they did and they were able to attack some key strongpoints from the side and the rear, taking them out by early afternoon.
This happened on several spots at Omaha and essentially saved the day: individual acts of initiative by lower ranked officers and courage like that of First Lieutenant Jimmy Monteith, who led a group of men to take one of the key German widerstandsneste and was killed in action, succeeded where a flawed plan failed.
The Defenses
"Widerstandsnest" 60 or WN60 is the easternmost of the 14 Widerstandsneste that guarded Omaha Beach in june 1944. It
guarded the small "Fox-1" exit through the bluffs and has a perfect view over Omaha beach. It was at this spot that the real Major Werner Pluskat first saw the invasion fleet approach, a scene made famous in the 1962 movie "The Longest Day" (though shot on a location several miles to the east , at the Longueville Battery).
WN60 was manned by some forty soldiers of the German 716th Static Inf. Division. For armament it had a 7.5 cm Gun, several Mortar positions and some MG's as well as a 2cm Flak 38 gun.
For a map of the eastern part of Omaha click here. The German WN's are marked as well as the Draws and beach sections.
D-Day
This area was designated to the 1st US infantry division (The Big Red One) and elements of the 3/16th RCT landed here from 06.30 (writer Ernest Hemingway was among them - check his book "Voyage to Victory"). Despite the heavy casualties inflicted on them by WN60 and WN61 around 08.00 US soldiers started to climb the bluffs. Among them was 1st Lt. Jimmy W. Monteith who directed the fire of destroyers and two Sherman tanks. He was to be awarded with the Medal of Honor for his role in the taking of WN60, posthumously. The men of L/116th managed to reach te top of the bluff some time before nine 'o clock and attack WN60 from the rear. Throwing grenades and satchel charges they blasted the Germans out and were able to report the taking of this German position around 09.00. This was the first of the German strongpoint to be taken and it opened up the small Fox-1 exit through the bluffs though it was not before evening that the first tanks were able to use it.
the Photo
The photo shows one of the "Tobruk MG Ringstand " positions of WN60 and it's entrance . Note the great view over Omaha towards the West and the curve in the beach. Some raindrops are on the photo, it was a wet day with occasional showers and also sunshine, very typical for a summer's day in Normandy.
Even nowadays WN60 is well hidden near a wheatfield and can be reached only by using some unpaved small farmer's roads. The rocky road down to the beach using the Fox-1 exit damn well near cost me the front axle of my car!
Photo was Tonemapped using three differently exposed (handheld) shots (august 2012) with a Nikon D7000 and Tokina AT-X Pro SD 12-24mm F4 lens.
See my other Omaha beach photo's for more viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting
c/n 3532431622374.
NATO codename:- Hind-F
Previously coded ’09 white’.
The ‘P’ was a gunship version with the nose mounted 12.7mm machine gun replaced with a side mounted 30mm cannon.
In a poor state, the aircraft is stored in a far corner of the site at Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
c/n 4140324, l/n 40-02.
NATO codename:- Classic
Built in October 1981 and originally operated by the Soviet government. Briefly leased to Guyana Airways in June 1984, but was back in full Aeroflot service a month later. It remained with Aeroflot for the rest of its active career, being reregisted as ‘RA-86462’ during 1992.
Retired at Sheremetyevo in 1998, it was donated to the Moscow Technical University of Civil Aviation as an instructional airframe. It moved in 2015 to its current location in front of the ATC centre on the North side of SVO and is now permanently preserved and wearing Aeroflot colours.
Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, Russia.
27th August 2017
Widerstandsnest 65, Easy Red sector, Easy-1 exit aka the Ruquet valley, Omaha beach, Normandy.
Omaha Beach
Omaha was divided into ten sectors, codenamed (from west to east): Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green and Fox Red. On june 6, 1944 -D-Day - the initial assault on Omaha was to be made by two Regimental Combat Teams (RCT), supported by two tank battalions, with two battalions of Rangers also attached. The RCT's were part of the veteran 1st Infantry division ("The Big Red One") and the untested 29th ("Blue and Grey") , a National Guard unit.
The plan was to make frontal assaults at the "draws" (valleys) in the bluffs which dominate the coast in Normandy , codenamed west to east they were called D-1, D-3, E-1, E-3 and F-1 . These draws could then be used to move inland with reserves and vehicles.
The Germans were not stupid; they knew the draws were vital and concentrated their limited resources in defending them. To this end they built "Widerstandsneste" with AT guns, mortars, MG's in Tobrul's, trenches and bunkers, manned by soldiers of the German 716th and - more recently - 352nd Infantry Division, a large portion of whom were teenagers, though they were supplemented by veterans who had fought on the Eastern Front. All in all some 1100 German soldiers defended the entire Omaha beach sector of over 5 miles.
Preliminary bombardments were almost totally ineffective and when the initial waves - on this sector units of the 1st American division "The Big Red One" and combat engineers of the 299th - landed on low tide they met with fiece opposition of an enemy well dug in and prepared.
Casualties were heaviest amongst the troops landing at either end of Omaha. At Fox Green and Easy Red, scattered elements of three companies were reduced to half strength by the time they gained the relative safety of the shingle, many of them having crawled the 300 yards (270 m) of beach just ahead of the incoming tide. Casualties on this spot were especially heavy amongst the first waves of soldiers and the demolition teams - at Omaha these were tasked with blasting 16 channels through the beach obstacles, each 70 meters wide. German gunfire from the bluffs above the beach took a heavy toll on these men. The demolition teams managed to blast only six complete gaps and three partial ones; more than half their engineers were killed in the process.
Situation here on Easy Red and at Dog Green on the other end of Omaha by mid morning was so bad with nearly all the troops essentially pinned down on the beach gen. Eisenhower seriously considered to abandon the operation.
As the US first waves assault forces and combat engineers landing directly opposite the "draws" were pinned down it was up to forces landing on the flanks of the strongpoints to penetrate the weaker German defences by climbing the bluffs. Doing this they had to overcome the minefields and barbed wire as well as machinegun fire from German positions but they did and they were able to attack some key strongpoints from the side and the rear, taking them out by early afternoon.
This happened on several spots at Omaha and essentially saved the day: individual acts of initiative by lower ranked officers and courage like that of First Lieutenant Jimmy Monteith, who led a group of men to take one of the key German widerstandsneste and was killed in action, succeeded where a flawed plan failed.
Robert Capa and the battle for Easy Red
Amongst the second wave of infantry here at Easy Red was the famous war photographer Robert Capa. He came ashore with the men of Easy Company, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. They left their LCVP at about 07.00, and waded ashore towards Widerstandsnest 62.
Judging from the photo's Capa made with his Zeiss Ikon Contax II they disembarked on the edge of Easy Red and Fox Green sectors, directly opposite where now is the US war cemetery. Capa is the last man to leave the "Higgins Boat" which probably carries the support team of the Company. His first few shots show him following these men towards the beach. In the next hour or so Capa shoots three rolls of film before he manages to embark on an LCI which takes wounded men towards the bigger ships. He hands over the rolls of film and they are shipped back to England the very same morning but in the rush to develop them all but 11 are destroyed. Those that remain are blurred, surreal shots, which perfectly illustrate the chaos and confusion of the day.
Example; See: www.flickr.com/photos/herbnl/7002443857/in/photostream (one of the first shots; note the men of Easy Company wading towards the DD tanks which arrived minutes before the infantry to support them. Most of them were either sunk before reaching the beach or consequently destroyed by the German AT fire.
On the Photo:
Omaha Beach -overlooking Easy Red Sector and the vital Easy-1 Exit, also known as the St. Laurent Draw and the Ruquet valley, from WN-65 (WiderstandsNest 65).
Note the type H667 casemate on the bottom which housed some 20 German soldiers and a PAK 37 50mm AT Gun which caused heavy casualties . Further MG nests, Tobruks with Mortars and a 75mm field gun were situated on the hill behind.
On june 6, 1944 from 06.25 this WN-65 saw heavy action when several Gap Assault Teams and Gap Support Teams from the 299th Combat Engineers landed near here . These Combat Engineers were supposed to create gaps in the German underwater defenses by blowing them up, allowing follow up forces to land safely. In the end they managed to mark one clear passage before the tide forced them off the beach around 07.00 suffering terrible losses in the proces.
After 07.00 hour other forces landed here, infantry as well as tanks and vehicles, and many of them were knocked out. The beach here became clogged with wrecks trying to get to the draw and landings here were ordered to cease somewhwere before 09.00.
The bunker was finally neutralised by a combination of naval guns, rifle grenades and a halftrack around 11.30 and WN 65 was taken around 11.40 . Easy-1 draw was then used as one of the main routes inland by tanks and armoured vehicles.
Note the tracks on the bottom right which were used by tanks and armoured vehicles to advance inland after the WN had been taken. Brushes were not there in june 1944 giving this WN an clear view over the beach.
For a map of the eastern part of Omaha click here. The German WN's are marked as well as the Draws and beach sections.
Photo was Tonemapped using three differently exposed (handheld) shots (august 2012) with a Nikon D7000 and Tamron 28-75mm lens.
See my other Omaha beach photo's for more viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting
P-9 Project was the codename given during World War II to the Manhattan Project's heavy water production program. Morgantown was one of the three project sites.
Utah Beach - Normandy, France.
Utah beach is the codename for the westernmost of the 5 Allied landing zones during D-day. It is the only beach on the Cotentin peninsula and closest to the vital harbour city of Cherbourg. Together with Omaha beach it is the sector where the American forces were disembarked. The amphibious assault, primarily by the US 4th Infantry Division and 70th Tank Battalion, was supported by airborne landings of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division. These Airborne troops were dropped on the Cotentin penisula.
In stark contrast with Omaha beach where the landing turned into a near disaster with most of the troops pinned down for hours with heavy losses in both men and material the landings at Utah went relatively smooth. This does not mean the GI's came ashore unopposed: some 200 casualties were suffered by the 4th division.
One of the factors that contributed to this success was that the preliminary bombing of the target areas here was accurate and the German forces - in contrast with what happened at Omaha beach - were in disarray at H-hour, 06:30, when the first wave of 20 landing craft approached the beach. The GI's of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry landed on Uncle Red and Tare Green sectors. What they didn't know initially was that pushed to the south by strong currents they landed some 1.8 kilometres south of their designated landing spot!
Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. was the first high ranking officer that landed and , not discouraged by the dviation, he decided to "start the war from right here". He ordered further landings to be re-routed. As it was this was a good decision because the Americans landed on a relative weak spot in the German defenses. Only one "Widerstandsnest" (WN5) opposed them and it was severely affected by the preliminary bombardments. It took the GI's about an hour to clear the defenses. Today the remains of this German widestandsnest can still be seen and are partly incorporated into the Utah beach museum. Well worth a visit.
After the succesful landings the real difficulties started because of the inundated areas behind the beach and the increasing German resistance which lead to weeks of fighting on the Cotentin peninsula.
On the Photo:
Part of German bunker of WN5 buried in the dune - Uncle red sector, Utah beach
Tonemapped using three (handheld) shots made with a Fuji X-T3 and Fujinon 16mm f/1.4 lens, september 2019.
A set of photo's with notes of Utah Beach and the Cotentin peninsula with the Airborne sectors.">
Here's the complete set of photo's made on Pointe du Hoc over the past years
My Omaha beach photo's with several viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting
These are my photo's and notes of the British and Canadian sectors: Gold, Juno and Sword.
CPGB-ML comrades aren't afraid to celebrate the achievements of the USSR under Stalin!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP-JUBAQMPI
LALKARONLINE - www.lalkar.org
Sixty years after the Soviet victory at Stalingrad - the turning point in the war against Nazi fascism.
Henry Metelmann's personal account of his experiences in the German Panzers at Stalingrad
________________
Henry Metelmann's vivid recollections of his life in the Hitler Youth and as a tank driver in the Panzer Division at the Battle of Stalingrad are reproduced below, based on his speech at the Stalin Society AGM, Conway Hall, London, 23 February 2003.
______________
I was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain until it broke up in 1991.
I would like to say that I do not consider myself a historian. I come from a poor working-class family in Germany. I only had a state education, and I am not today speaking my mother tongue.
When Harpal Brar rang me after I spoke at the Imperial War Museum, I didn't realise there was a Stalin Society. I did not know it existed. I am glad to have learnt something. I am glad to be here. It is a great honour.
The main line of my talk will be to guide you through the process of how I, a boy from Schleswig Holstein, ended up in the Napoleonic retreat at Stalingrad. I sometimes wonder why we have not learnt from history. Napoleon in 1812 invaded Russia. He started off with 650,000 from East Prussia and advanced towards Smolensk and Moscow, but had to retreat. The Russian army harassed the retreat and when the army returned to Paris, Napoleon arrived with only 1,400 soldiers. Of course, the original 650,000 had not all been soldiers, and only half of them were French anyway - others were Germans and Poles. For many illiterate peasants it seemed a good idea to join Napoleon's army. We thought when we invaded the Soviet Union in the campaign codenamed Barbarossa that we were the strongest and the most intelligent - and we now know what became of that!
I was born in 1922 in Schleswig Holstein. My father was an unskilled labourer. Up to 1866 Schleswig Holstein had belonged to Denmark. The Bismarck and the Prussian Army started a war with Denmark, after which Schleswig Holstein became German. When I was a soldier in Russia the temperature on the coldest day was -54 degrees. I wished the Danes had won that war since I would not then have been a German in Russia suffering from the terrible cold of 1942. In the end, whatever our nationality, we all belong to one big family, which I realise now, but obviously did not at that time.
The 1930s in Germany
Up to the age of 10 (from 1922 to 1932) I lived in the Weimar Republic, which came into existence after the Kaiser was thrown out in 1919. I experienced all that as a small boy. Obviously I didn't understand anything of what was happening. My parents were very loving and did everything possible for me, but I remember a tumultuous situation - strikes, shootings, recession, 7 million unemployed, blood in the streets. I lived in a working-class quarter outside Hamburg where the people were suffering great hardship. There were demonstrations where red flags were carried, women carrying children and pushing pushchairs, shouting 'Give us bread, give us work', workers shouting 'Revolucion' and 'Lenin'.
My father was very left-thinking and explained many things. The ruling class of Germany was very frightened by this situation and decided to do something about it. I witnessed street fighting that I had to run away from, and thought this was all part of life.
On Christmas Day 1932 I was 10 years old. Shortly afterwards, on 30 January 1933, a bomb exploded at the Reichstag. That was when Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. My mother kept asking how Hindenberg could allow this to happen, because we all knew the Nazis were thugs. We knew they were just a racist party who talked about revenge and beating people up.
I thought it all interesting and exciting, even though my mother told me they were gangsters. I would see brown-shirted storm troopers marching through town and I thought they were very glamorous. As young boys we tried to sing their songs and proudly marched behind them. In the last three columns, at the end of the marches, came the sweepers and if people on the pavement didn't salute the flag, the sweepers would force them to do it. Later I was in the Hitler Youth and was ashamed for my mother to see me.
Hitler appointed to quell working-class rebellion
Hitler was Reichschancellor. Yet 10 years earlier nobody knew him. The Nazi name (standing for Nationalist Socialist German Workers' Party) attracted quite a few people disillusioned with the traditional parties. Some were sincere socialists prepared to give Hitler a chance on the basis he couldn't be worse than the parties that had preceded him. When Hitler and his representatives spoke it was always about making Germany great again, attacking Jews and the lower orders as people we must do something about. It was the God given duty of the German people to sort the world out in the German way, even if they didn't like it.
There were no elections. Hitler was appointed overnight. Elections were abolished in order to put Hitler in power. Why? The Nazis had no tradition. So who put them in power? Hindenberg was a spokesperson for the German ruling classes, the military, the arms producers, the Ruhr barons, the bankers, the Church and the aristocratic landowners. My father said that when Hitler came to power he was a servant of the rich. Now I know my father was right. They had put Hitler there in order to quell the rebellion of working-class people against bad living standards. Hitler was not even a German national. He had been a corporal in the army, a vagabond in Vienna. He had had no education, he was just shouting for revenge. How can it be possible in a highly developed country like Germany, which is very cultured, for someone like him to become Head of the German state and supreme military commander? It would not have been possible for him on his own. His party was nothing. It was his paymasters who made it, wanting to prevent a repetition of the Russian revolution.
Hitler had executive power but was not a dictator. He was just a front man. He was not clever enough to run a machine like the German state.
The Nazis set up concentration camps. My father had always said we workers must struggle for our rights because the bastards only employ us if they can make a profit and that they were only afraid of rebellion that could lead to revolution. One day some brownshirts came in 2 cars at 3 a.m. and collected one of our neighbours who was a union secretary. He was taken to a concentration camp. My mother told me about this, and from then on my father instructed me to keep quiet about what he said about the Nazis as otherwise he could be sent to a concentration camp too. Taking one person from our area was a clever way of frightening and threatening all the families. I was 11 or 12 at the time and I thought he was an idiot and that I knew it all. My father thought nothing could be done and he had no choice but to keep quiet. The communists were the first ones to be taken away to concentration camps and then even progressive church people and anyone who spoke against the regime. You went if you dared open your mouth. Fear and terror was the basis of Nazi power.
In the Hitler Youth
I was in the Hitler Youth. A law had been passed saying that there could only be one youth movement and my church youth group was taken over by the Hitler Youth. I liked it. All my friends were in it. My father said I had better stay in it because under the prevailing conditions it would be bad for him, and for me, were I to leave.
When I left school at 15, my father, a railwayman, got me a locksmith's apprenticeship on the railway. The first question on the application form for that apprenticeship was: "When did you join the Hitler Youth?" You probably didn't get the job if you had never been a member - there was indirect pressure (not a law) to persuade youngsters to join the Hitler Youth. But I admit I loved it. We were poor and I had few clothes, sewn by my mother. But in the Hitler Youth I was given a brown shirt. My father would not buy it for me because he could not afford it, but at the next meeting I was given a parcel to take home. It contained two brown shirts. My father hated it and had to watch me wearing it. He understood what it meant. We Hitler Youth marched with drums and swastikas and I was so proud, accompanied by fanfares. It was a very disciplined environment.
I loved the camps which took place in lovely surroundings, such as a castle in Türingen. All of us young children had the chance to play plenty of sport. When we wanted to play football in our poor streets, nobody could afford a ball, but in the Hitler Youth all was provided. Where did the money come from? It probably came from the contributions of arms manufacturers. Hitler was put into power in order to prepare for a war which could save Germany from economic collapse.
I remember when there were 7 million unemployed. Within 18 months of Hitler coming to power there were very few unemployed left. The docks started building warships - the Bismarck, the Eugene, the Uboats. Germany was actually becoming short of workers. People thought that was wonderful, but my father said that if you can only get work by preparing for war something was very wrong.
In the Hitler Youth we learnt to shoot and throw hand grenades, occupy and attack trenches. We played great war games. We were being taught round big bonfires where we sang Nazi songs: "If Jewish blood drips off our knife", and suchlike. My parents were horrified that we were going back to barbarism. But I didn't question it. We were being prepared for fighting a war.
A few years after that Germans had occupied vast areas 4 or 5 times the size of the UK. These areas could be held down because German youth had been prepared for it in the Hitler Youth. I believed that we Germans would sort out the mess the world was in.
In the Panzer Division
At 18 I was called up and commandeered to a Panzer division. I was so proud that at such a young age I was chosen to be a member of the Panzers. The training was very hard. I came home wearing my uniform and thought the whole thing was great. Our trainers told us they would drive out our individualism and rebuild us in the Nazi socialist spirit. They succeeded. When I came to Stalingrad I still believed it.
Our officer class in the Wehrmacht was almost all of an aristocratic landowning background, the 'Vons'. War propaganda intensified the whole time. We heard 'we' would have to do something about Poland or they would attack us, to defend the freedom of the world. History is now repeating itself with Bush and Blair. We attacked Poland on 1 September 1939. When bomb blew up in Berlin, we were told this was terrorism being conducted against us peace loving people. It is the same today as we are being prepared for war. It is the same atmosphere here now - lies and misinformation.
I was called up in 1941 when Operation Barbarossa was put into action on 22 June. I was being trained at that time. When the war on the Soviet Union started the Panzers were in France. In the beginning the German army and its discipline were very superior, from a military position, to those of other nations. Our troops entered the Soviet Union relatively easily. My 22nd Panzers weren't sent there until the winter of 1941, by train. In France the weather had been OK and the first part of the journey was quite pleasant even though it was winter. It was colder in Germany, and in Poland it was snowing. In the Soviet Union everything was white.
We believed then it would be an honour to die fighting for the fatherland. We came through a town in the Soviet Union called Tanenburg. A battle had taken place there earlier, involving tanks. We looked at the scene for which we 18-year olds were unprepared. We did not know what to expect, just knew we had to obey orders. I began to wonder, for although most burnt out tanks were Russian, one of them was a German tank just like mine, and I couldn't help wondering how the driver got out, for it must have been quite difficult. And then I realised he could not have got out, but must have died there. For the first time I realised that I did not want to die. It is great to talk about big battles, but what is the reality? My national socialist spirit can't control the flight of bullets. That is how I came to have my first doubts.
We went to Crimea as part of Mannestein's 11th Army. In late winter / early spring our attack started. I fought my first battle. We won. But when I was driving my tank one day a sobering incident occurred. I had been told never to stop the tank. Stop and you're dead. I approached a narrow bridge which I had to cross. While I approached, three Russian soldiers carrying a wounded companion were being escorted by German guards. When they saw me they dropped the wounded man. I stopped in order to avoid running over him. My commander ordered me to go on. I had to run over the injured man and kill him. I became a murderer. I thought it was OK to kill in battle, but not a defenceless person. This too gave me misgivings. But it drives you mad if you keep thinking about it. After the battle we were all given medals. That was wonderful. We cleaned up Crimea. It was exciting to take villages, to conquer an army. Then we were taken back by train to the mainland where we joined General Paulus. That was in the spring of 1942. I took part in the drive to the River Volga. We beat Timoshenko. I took part in lots of battles. Then we approached Stalingrad.
On the way we had political commissars calling us together from time to time for a situation report. Our commissar was a major in our unit. We sat on the grass around him. He told us there was no need to stand in his presence. He said "Why do you think you are in Russia?" I wondered what the catch was. Someone said: "To defend the honour of the fatherland". The major said this was Goebbels rubbish, and that you didn't fight a war over slogans but over real things. When we have destroyed the proletarian rubbish army, he told us, the fighting in the south would be over. Where would we go then? The answer was to the Caucasian and Caspian oil fields, 800 km from Stalingrad. What then? We had no idea. Well, if we went 700 km south, we would get to Iraq. At the same time Rommel, then fighting in the Nile Delta, would go east, and would also arrive in Iraq. Without getting our hands on these major oil resources, he told us, Germany could not become a major power. And now I look at the situation today - it is also all about oil.
"Disturbing experiences" talking to a communist prisoner
At one point I was slightly wounded. I was taken to hospital where I was declared unfit for the front line.
I will now quote from my book, Through Hell for Hitler (Spellmount, Staplehurst, 1990, p.77-81), of which a new edition is about to be published:
"A short train transport on straw in covered wagons took us back to a Lazarett in a town called Stalino. Though an infection set in, I had a great time there. .A few weeks rest from the front was worth a pot of gold.
"Most of the hospital staff, including senior surgeons, were Russian. The treatment was efficient under tough war conditions, and when I was ready to leave, a Russian doctor said to me with a sly grin: 'Go east again, young man, after all, that is what you have come here for!' I was not sure whether I liked his remark, or indeed, whether I had any great wish to go east. After all I was not yet twenty years old, I wanted to live, not die.
"Though I was fit enough to leave the Lazarett, I was not yet in a condition to rejoin my Division, which was then battling its way towards Rostov. I was sent to join a unit which was guarding a prison camp somewhere between the Donetz and the Dniepr. In flat country the large camp had been set up in the open. Kitchen, stores etc. were under canvas, while the uncounted thousands of prisoners were left with nothing to cover themselves with but what they could lay their hands on. Their rations were very meagre, and so, though not quite as bad, were ours. However, the summer weather was fine and the Russians, used to living rough were able to withstand the conditions. The whole camp was bounded by a large circular trench, which the prisoners were not allowed to approach. Within the camp, at one side, was a Kolchose consisting of a number of buildings. The entire Kolchose was ringed by rolls of barbed wire and had only one entrance which was guarded. Together with about a dozen other semi-fit invalids. I was assigned to guard this inner compound.
"Guard duty generally was considered by most active soldiers as a mind-killing exercise and a punishment. Above all it was boring, and the goings on in the Kolchose compound were a decidedly strange affair. The clue, I suppose, was to be found in Hitler's infamous "Kommissar Befehl', according to which all political prisoners, Politruks (Political Army officers) and other members of the Communist Party were to be shot. For the Communists, the 'Kommissar Befehl' was what the 'Final Solution' was to the Jews. I suppose that at that time most of us accepted that Communism was a crime, that Communists were criminals, and that there was no legal necessity to prove any further individual guilt. It dawned on me that I was now guarding a camp which had been set up to erase the evil of Communism.
"Of all the prisoners who walked into the Kolchose compound, none walked out again. Whether they knew this would be their fate, I am not sure. Quite a number of them had been given away by their fellow prisoners in the large outer camp, and even in doubtful cases, when they claimed that they had never belonged to the Party or were Communists at all - or even that they were anti-Communists - they still did not walk out again. We being only the guards, the compound was run by a small detachment of the Sicherheits Dienst, the SD which was under the command of the SS equivalent of a Major. In each case there was a vague investigation, after which the execution was carried out, always at the same place against a wall of a burnt-out cottage, which could not be seen from anywhere outside. The burial place, consisting of a few large trenches, was further to the rear.
"Having soaked up a full Nazi 'education' at school and in the Hitler Youth, this first experience of direct contact with Communists in the flesh was very baffling. The prisoners who were daily brought into our compound, either alone or in small groups, were very different types of person from what I had expected. Indeed, they were different from the masses of the prisoners outside who on the whole looked and behaved like typical East European peasants. What struck me most about these Politruks and Party members was their intelligence and pride. I never, or hardly ever, noticed any of them whining or complaining, and they never asked for anything for themselves. When their time for execution came, and I saw many go, they did so with their heads held high. Almost all of them impressed me as persons whom one could trust, and I was sure, had we been living under peaceful conditions, that I would have liked some of them to be my friends.
"Our daily routine was monotonous. One either stood at the gate with someone else for a couple of hours, or walked about the compound alone, the heavy loaded rifle always hanging ready over one's shoulder. Usually there were about a dozen to twenty 'patients' under our care. Their 'home' was a cleaned-out pigsty, which was itself surrounded, within the compound, by barbed wire. It was a prison within a prison within a prison. Our system of guarding them gave them virtually no chance to escape and on the whole we had little trouble with them. Since we were amongst them during all hours of the day and the night, we came to know them all by sight and often by name, and of course, we were the ones who handed them over for 'investigation' and delivered them for their last walk to the firing squad.
"One of the prisoners had a fair knowledge of German, which he had learnt at school. I have forgotten his family name but his first name was Boris. As I spoke Russian fairly well in a pidgin fashion we had no difficulty conversing on most subjects. Boris was a Lieutenant, a Politruk, and about two years older than me. We discovered that we had both learnt the trade of locksmith, he in Gorlovka-Artemovsk Region in a large engineering complex, and I at the Railway workshops in Hamburg. On our advance I had passed through his town. He was blond, about six feet tall and had laughing blue eyes which even in this desperate situation had not lost their friendly twinkle. Often, especially at nights, I felt drawn to chat with him. As I called him Boris anyway, he had asked me if he could call me by my first name and I think that it surprised us both to find how easily we could get on with each other. We mostly talked about our families, our homes, our school and apprentice days. I knew the names of his brothers and sisters, how old they were, what his parents did for a living, and even some of their personal habits. He naturally was very worried about how they were faring under German occupation, and I was in no position to console him. He even gave me their address and asked me, that if ever I was going their way, to look them up and tell them. 'But tell them what?', I thought, and we both knew that I would never go, and that therefore his family would never find out what had happened to their Boris. In turn he learned all about my family and all the things which were close to my heart. I told him how in a harmless way I had had a girlfriend for whom I had felt much love. He smiled understandingly and told me that he too had had a girl-friend who had been a student. We felt very close at moments like this - until we suddenly then both realized what a gulf there was between us, that I was stand:mg there with a rifle on my shoulder and that he was my prisoner. I knew, of course, that he would never hold a girl in his arms again, but was not quite sure whether he was aware of that. I knew that his only crime had been that he was a soldier and a Politruk, and my instinct told me all right that there was something very wrong somewhere.
"Surprisingly, we talked very little about life in the army, and as regards politics we found we had no bridge of common understanding, not even a common denominator from where together we could analyse. So close in so many human ways, we both realized that in that we were a world apart.
"Then came Boris's last night. I had found out from the SD that it was his turn to be shot in the morning. He had been to 'investigation' in the afternoon, and I could see that he had been beaten and hit in the face. He had also been injured in his side, but he said nothing - and neither did I - for what was the point? I am not sure whether he was aware that he was to be shot at sun-rise, and I certainly did not tell him. But being an intelligent man, he must have come to some conclusion on why his fellow prisoners were led away after investigation and never returned.
"I was on night duty from two to four, and the night was beautifully warm and quiet. The air was full of the music of nature, with the frogs in the nearby pond croaking as if in concert. Boris was sitting on the straw outside in the pigsty, with his back leaning against the wall playing, very quietly on his small mouth-organ, which fitted unseen in his hands. It was his only possession left, every thing else had been taken from him. The tune he played when I arrived was beautiful, a typical Russian melancholic one, something about the wide steppe and love. But then there were shouts from some of his fellow prisoners inside, telling him to shut up, and he looked at me, should he ignore it and go on playing? When I shrugged my shoulder, he knocked the mouth-organ in the palm of his hand and said: 'Nitchevo, let's talk instead!' I rested my elbow on the wall and looked down on him. There was a deep tension in me, and I did not quite know what to talk about. I was sad, wanted to be friendly and perhaps help - and did not know how. Why it happened, I do not really know, but somehow he looked in a challenging way at me and for the first time our conversation turned to politics. Perhaps deep down I wanted an explanation from him at this late hour, wanted to know what it was he so fervently believed in - or at least admit to me that he had been wrong in his belief all along.
"'And what about your World Revolution?' I said 'it is all over now, is it not, and it has been a criminal nonsense - a conspiracy against freedom and peace from the very beginning...?' At that time, let us remember, it looked very much as if Germany would triumph over Russia. He kept quiet for a while, just sitting there on his heap of straw, still fiddling with his mouth-organ. I would have been satisfied, had he shown me some anger. And when he raised himself very slowly and came to the wall to look me straight into my eyes, I could see that he was very agitated indeed. His voice was calm, though with a shade of sadness and disappointment, but not for himself - but for me. 'Genry!', he said: 'You told me all about your life, you come as I do from the poor, the working people. You are friendly enough and not stupid - but on the other hand you are very stupid because you have learnt nothing from your life. I can clearly see that your brainwashers have done a very successful job on you for you have swallowed so totally the propaganda fed into your mind. What is so very tragic is that you are supporting ideas which by their very nature are directed against your own fundamental interests and which have made you a willing, sad tool in their evil hands. The World Revolution is ongoing history. Even if you win the war, which I don't think you will, the World Revolution will not and cannot be stopped by military means. Your very powerful army can do much harm to us, can kill many of our people - but it cannot kill ideas! Its movement might seem dormant to you at the moment, but it is there and will come to the fore again out of the awakening of the poor, the downtrodden ordinary people the world over in Africa, the Americas, in Asia and Europe too. People in their masses will one day understand that it is the power of capital over them which not only oppresses and robs them, but stifles their human potential, which either uses or discards them as mere pawns to make monetary profits out of them. Once the people grasp that idea, it will mature into an almost material force in popular uprisings like spreading wildfires and will do what has to be done in the name of humanity. It will not be Russia who will do it for them, although the Russian working people were the first who have broken the chains. The people of the world will do it for themselves in their own countries, against their own oppressors, in their own ways and in their own time!'
"His outburst gave me no chance to interrupt and it allowed no argument. Even though he had spoken quietly, it shook me to the core. Nobody had ever touched a chord of understanding in me that way and I felt naked and defenceless. And to give me the final knock, he pointed to my rifle, saying that 'that thing' could do nothing against his ideas. 'And if you think that you have the intellectual capacity to respond to me meaningfully', he concluded, 'please don't use any of your silly slogans about country, freedom and God!'
"Anger, almost suffocatingly, welled up in me. My natural reaction was to put him in his place. But then I thought better of it, I remembered that within a few hours he would be dead, and that perhaps this had been his way to take a last swipe at me. My guard duty was now up. And not wanting to make a final show of saying 'Do Swydanya' or 'Auf Wiedersehn to him, I gave him one last look, perhaps with a mixture of anger and sadness in which he might have detected a glimmer of almost lost humanism, turned on my heel and slowly walked over to the stables which were our quarters. Boris did not move at all, not one sound came from him and I did not turn once in my stride. But I knew for sure, I felt it, that he was watching me intently as I trotted away from him with my ridiculous rifle.
"And in the horizon there rose the first light of the coming morning.
"We guards also bedded down on straw, and I always loved my first sleep after coming in from duty. But this morning I could not sleep. I did not even undress, just lay there and watched dawn creeping up. I twisted and turned, felt sorry for Boris - and also for myself. There was so much I simply could not understand. And then, with the sun already up, I heard the shots, a short salvo, that was all.
"I got up at once and walked over to the place where I knew the graves were ready. Morning had arrived in all its pristine beauty and the birds were singing is if nothing had happened. I met the firing squad coming back with their rifles, looking bored. They just nodded at me, obviously wondering why I was going in that direction. There were two or three prisoners already shovelling earth over the bodies. Beside Boris there were three others, already partially covered. I could still recognize him, his tunic looked crumpled and his boots had been taken off but he still wore his leather belt, and I could see blood on it. The diggers looked at me, obviously wondering what I was doing there. Their expression was sullen, but I could also see fear and hatred in their eyes. I wanted to ask them what had happened to Boris's mouth-organ, had they taken it or was it still in his pocket? But then I changed my mind, thinking that they might suspect me of wanting to steal from the dead, and I walked away from it all, back to my stable, and I tried to get some sleep.
"I was much relieved when shortly afterwards I was certified 'fit for frontline service' again, and set off to rejoin my Division, which was hammering at so many gates. There, at least, things were straight-forward. Hard and tough as life was, there were no disturbing experiences to deceive one's mind and conscience.
"The lads were glad to see me back. With the Volga now so close, the Russians were fighting fiercely and showing what their army was made of. Several in my company, all close friends, had fallen. Our CO, Oberleutnant Steffan, had been shot in the head. As much as it hurt me, I could understand all that. But the execution of Boris - why? It seemed like putting Jesus on the cross all over again."
Approaching Stalingrad
We thought 1942 would be a great summer for us. We tried to catch the Red Army in pincers but they always withdrew. We thought they were cowards, but it was not so.
In the Don Bas region we came to a town where there were lots of factories. The Soviets had stripped it bare and moved all the machinery east of the Urals. That is where they mass-produced the T34 tank - the most successful tank in the history of the world. The production of the T34 turned our hope of victory into defeat.
Along with our army we had some economics officers, they wore green uniforms. They went into these factories and I saw their faces drop as they saw they had been stripped. They had counted on seizing that machinery.
I had not been to Stalingrad before. We could not capture Russian soldiers for they had melted away to form partisan groups. We had foreign troops on our side, such as the Romanians. We used these foreigners to protect our flanks behind Stalingrad, but our allies were not as well disciplined or as well armed as we were, so they got attacked. Our division pulled back behind the Romanian army, and we fought when the Russians broke through the Romanian ranks. It was November 1942. We felt something strange going on while we were on guard duty. The Russian T34 was the best tank of the second world war, and I knew the sound of its diesel engine, and thought I heard a lot of them in the distance. We told our officers that tanks were moving. The officers, however, told us that the Russians were finished and that we were frightened for nothing. As we got into position for battle, we knew it was an overture to the opera. The real thing was to come. The artillery stopped for a moment and we heard the tanks revving up. They came early in the morning with their headlights on, shooting. They came for us. I thought of the officer who said I had only heard one tank being driven back and forth, not the hundreds now advancing. In front of us was a ravine. The Russian tanks dived into it and when they came up I knew it was over. I jumped into an earth bunker like a coward, shivering with fear, and I got into a corner where it would be less easy for the tanks to crush me. They just drove through us. There was a great deal of shouting - Russian voices, some Romanian. I did not dare move. It was 6 a.m. At 8-8.30 a.m. quiet descended. One of my comrades, Fritz, had been killed. There were the agonised shouts of the wounded. The Russian dead and injured were taken away, but the Germans and Romanians were still lying there. I was 20 years old, and I didn't know what to do.
The wounded wanted my help. I had no medical knowledge or supplies and could see they had no hope. I just walked away from them. There were about 15-20 of them there. One German called out that I was a swine. I realised, however, that I could do nothing for them, and that I had to get away and concentrate totally on that. I went to my bunker where there was a stove. It was warm and there was straw and blankets. I went out to get some chopped wood. I heard an engine revving in the ravine. It was a broken down Russian jeep and there was I with an armful of wood. Two officers came to me and I stepped back. They must have thought I was a Russian soldier in a German coat. I saluted. He gestured that he had a sore arse. I made my fire and I slept the day away. I was frightened to wake up. What now?
I intended to walk in the dark. We had learnt orientation in the Hitler Youth and could find the way by the North Star. I started walking west. I did not know what had happened, or that Stalingrad had been taken by the Russians, or that the German 6th Army had surrendered. I was walking in the exact place where the breakthrough had happened.
I was not quite 20. I had to throw my blankets away - very reluctantly. Snow was covering the wounded. I took things from my dead mates - the best rifle, the best pistol, as much food as I could carry without overloading myself. I didn't know how far I would have to walk to reach the German lines. I ate as much as I could and started walking. For 3 days I slept in barns and ate snow.
One day I saw someone and he saw me. I went down on my knees, with my gun, and just waited. I was wearing a Romanian fur cap. He shouted. He asked whether I was Romanian, and I said I was German. He said he was German too. We walked together another two days. We almost got killed when we crossed the German lines as they thought I must be a deserter since I did not know what had happened to my unit.
I belonged to battle group Lindemann. There were no more divisions or regiments. We had lost everything. We put Hitler's scorched earth policy into effect. When we came across a hamlet one day of some 6-8 cottages, Lindemann told us to take possession of the cottages and burn them down. They were very poor, without a floor or anything. I opened the door of one of them. It was full of women and children and the elderly. It smelt of poverty. It smelt of cabbage. The people were sitting on the ground leaning against the wall. I ordered them out, and they started saying that they would all die without shelter. A woman with a baby asked me whether I, German soldier, had a mother. There was an old man there with a child by his side. I grabbed the child and pointed my pistol at him, and said I would shoot the child if the people did not leave the cottage. The old man asked me to shoot him instead. Lindemann ordered me to burn the house anyway, even if they didn't get out. I did as I was told. Then the people opened the door and came out screaming. I am sure we killed them.
We ordinary German soldiers, conscripts, suffered too. The Russians had attacked us. There were others, even younger than me, walking through the snow hoping to rejoin our units. Russian Stormovik planes came out of the sunlight as we walked through the snow, saw our footprints and came after us. We could see their pilots. They circled and came back to shell us. One of us was hit and torn open - Willi. He was a good friend. His situation was hopeless. We could not carry him or leave him. As the oldest I had to decide. I went on my knees, stroked his head, covered him with snow. Again, I was a murderer, but what could we do?
I was wounded again (three times altogether). I was captured once and escaped. They took me to a German hospital in Westphalia in 1944. Early in 1945 I had to join a unit on the western front to fight the Americans. It was better than fighting the Russians. Because of the crimes we had committed in Russia, the Russians really hated us, and we therefore had to fight like mad to avoid being captured.
I was sent to defend the Rhine after D-Day. Patton's army was moving in on Paris. After surrender, on 17 March 1945 I was taken to Cherbourg by train. They put us in open coal wagons - hundreds of German soldiers. They would not let us out even to go to the toilet, but we had plenty of food. When we needed to relieve ourselves we filled tins. When the French at a level crossing started abusing us, we threw our tins at them. We arrived at Cherbourg.
I saw the horror of devastation from east to west. What had we done! I saw catastrophic devastation. 50 million people had died! We wanted land, besides which Russia had some 50% of the world's raw materials, including oil. That's what it was about.
Now looking back, I salute the Red Army and what they did in saving the world from Hitler. They lost more casualties than we did. Nine-tenths of the German soldiers who died in the Second World War died in Russia. They asked me to come to a Memorial near the Imperial War Museum a couple of weeks ago. I gave a short speech in which I paid tribute to the Red Army. It was because of this I had to go on the March against war on Iraq last Saturday. That was an uplifting experience.
We Germans thought we were the strongest military force on earth, but look what happened to us - the Americans should remember that. There will be revolution all over the world, even if it does not come in the same way as Boris said it would. There will be a new awakening.
NATO gave codenames for all Warsaw Pact aircraft. All the fighters began with F, hence Fishbed, Flogger, Foxbat, Fulcrum etc. Bombers started with B - Bear, Badger, Bison, Blackjack etc. The MiG-21 was the mainstay of the Warsaw Pact air forces for years.
c/n 368558101.
NATO codename:- Hind-E
The Mi-35M3 is the export version of the Mi-24VM. This is a demonstrator with Vertolyoty Rossii (Russian Helicopters) and is seen on static display as part of the ARMY 2017 exhibition.
Park Patriot, Kubinka, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
25th August 2017
c/n 7806.
The types NATO codename was ‘Fitter-A’
On outside display at the Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego.
Krakow, Poland.
23-8-2013
Omaha Beach - Easy Red Sector - View from WN62, Normandy
Omaha Beach
Omaha beach is a stretch of beach roughly 5 miles or 8 km. long between Vierville-sur-Mer and Ste Honorine des pertes on the coast of Normandy. It was one of the five designated landing areas for the biggest invasion ever during WWII in the summer of 1944.
Omaha was divided into ten sectors by the Allies; codenamed (from west to east): Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green and Fox Red.
On june 6, 1944 -D-Day - the initial assault on Omaha was to be made by two Regimental Combat Teams (RCT), supported by two tank battalions, with two battalions of Rangers also attached. The RCT's were part of the veteran 1st Infantry division ("The Big Red One") and the untested 29th div.("Blue and Grey") , a National Guard unit.
The plan was to make frontal assaults at the "draws" (valleys) in the bluffs which dominate the coast in Normandy. Codenamed west to east they were called D-1, D-3, E-1, E-3 and F-1 . These draws could then be used to move inland with reserves and vehicles.
The German defenders were not stupid; they knew the draws were vital and concentrated their limited resources in defending them. To this end and lead by the famous "Desert Fox" Field-Marshall Erwin Rommel they built "Widerstandsneste" with AT guns, mortars, MG's in Tobruk's, trenches and bunkers. These were manned by soldiers of the German 716th and 352nd Infantry Division, a large portion of whom were teenagers, though they were supplemented by veterans who had fought on the Eastern Front . All in all some 1100 German soldiers defended the entire Omaha beach sector.
Preliminary bombardments were almost totally ineffective and when the initial waves landed at low tide they met with fiece opposition of an enemy well dug in and prepared. Most of the floating tanks (Sherman DD type) never made it to the beach due to the rough seas or were taken out by AT guns. Their role to support the infantry following them was reduced to almost zero before the battle even begun.
Casualties were heaviest amongst the troops landing at either end of Omaha. At Fox Green and Easy Red scattered elements of three companies were reduced to half strength by the time they gained the relative safety of the shingle, many of them having crawled the app. 300 yards (270 m) of beach just ahead of the incoming tide. Casualties were especially heavy amongst the first waves of infantry and the "gap assault teams" made by Combat Engineers - at Omaha these were tasked with blasting channels through the beach obstacles.
Situation at Dog Green and Easy Red by mid morning was so bad with nearly all the troops essentially pinned down on the beach gen. Eisenhower seriously considered to abandon the operation; in "First Wave at OMAHA Beach", S.L.A. Marshall, chief U.S. Army combat historian, called it "an epic human tragedy which in the early hours bordered on total disaster."
As the first waves of infantry, tanks and combat engineers landing directly opposite the "draws" were pinned down it was up to forces landing on the flanks of these strongpoints to penetrate the weaker German defences by climbing the bluffs. Doing this they had to overcome minefields and barbed wire as well as machinegun fire from German positions but they did and they were able to attack some key strongpoints from the side and the rear, taking them out by early afternoon.
This happened on several spots at Omaha and essentially saved the day: individual acts of initiative by lower ranked officers and courage like that of First Lieutenant Jimmy Monteith, who led a group of men to take one of the key German widerstandsneste and was killed in action, succeeded where a flawed plan failed. By the end of the day most of the German strongpoints had been taken and the battle was won - albeit at a terrible cost.
On the Photo
WN-62 is overlooking the Easy Red and Fox Green sectors of Omaha beach. It was 345 meters long by 320 meters wide and consisted of several blockhauses, "Tobruks" and trenches. View is towards the beach from one of two type H-669 bunkers. In 1944 it was housing a Czech made 7.65 cm gun in a perfect position to enfillade the beach towards the west while being protected from the seaside.
When the US troops landed here on july 6; 1944, WN-62 was one of their most formidable obstacles . It was of strategic importance because it is overlooking the "Colleville draw"; one of the few places where armoured vehicles and troops would be able to penetrate the inland through the hills which form a natural barrier in this area. Fierce fighting from the early morning into the afternoon of d-day resulted in numerous casualties - especially on the US side. Elements of the First Infantry Division (The Big Red One) and Combat Engineers landed in the vicinity of the Colleville draw from H-Hour (06.30) when the tide was lowest and suffered heavy casualties crossing the obstacled beach which is very exposed from the MG nests and gun emplacements of this WN.
See my other Omaha beach photo's for more viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting
Shot with a Nikon D7000 and Tokina 12-24mm f/4.0. Tonemapped using three differently exposed (handheld) shots, augustus 2011.
For a map of the eastern part of Omaha click here. The German WN's are marked as well as the Draws and beach sections.
c/n 1971105
NATO codename:- Brewer-E
The Yak-28PP was the first Soviet aircraft to carry out electronic countermeasures (ECM). The aircraft was unarmed and had the electronic equipment in the bomb bay.
This example is stored in a far corner of the site at Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
c/n reported as 31007
NATO codename:- Feather
The Yak-15 was essentially a Yak-3 airframe fitted with a copy of the Junkers Jumo 004 jet engine. It was one of only two aircraft types ever to be successfully converted from piston to jet power, the other being the Saab J-21,
This is the only known survivor of the 280 built.
On display at the Vadim Zadorozhny Technical Museum, Arkhangelskoye, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
26th August 2017
c/n T.58D-2
NATO codename:- Flagon
T-58 was the Sukhoi designation for what became the Su-15 in service. This is the second prototype, originally built as the T-58D-2, but in 1965 it was converted to the ski-equipped T-58L. After trials with skis on various surfaces, the aircraft went on to test a longer nose gear which increased the angle-of-attack on the ground.
On retirement It passed to the Zhukovski Engineering Academy as an instructional airframe, but is now on display at the Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
c/n unknown.
NATO codename:- Buck
Designed as a light bomber, the Pe-2 was regarded as one of the best ground attack aircraft of WW2. It also served as a heavy fighter, night fighter and in the reconnaissance role, not unlike the DH98 Mosquito. Over 11,000 were produced and the type continued to see oversees service postwar. The ‘FT’ was the main production variant.
The type is now very rare with only four known to exist. This is the only one in Russia and is display in the new Hangar 6B which has been built behind the entrance building. At the time of our visit the hangar had not been officially opened to the public, but we were given special permission to access it from Hangar 6A.
Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
c/n 65010809.
NATO codename:- Beagle
Previously coded ’10 red’
Although over 6,600 were built, the IL-28 is now a very rare beast.
This example is on display at the Central Armed Forces Museum,
Moscow, Russia.
26th August 2017
c/n 10041, l/n 04-1.
NATO codename:- Charger
The Tu-144 was the world’s first supersonic transport aircraft making its first flight in December 1968, some two months before Concorde. It went supersonic in June 1969 and achieved Mach2 in May 1970. Sadly, fatal accidents in 1973 and 1978 ended its passenger career, although some remained in use on cargo/postal flights and as research aircraft.
This example first flew in 1975 and spent five years as a trials aircraft before retiring for preservation at Monino. Since my last visit in 2012 her nose has been raised to the ‘in-flight’ position, making her look much sleeker.
She remains on display at the Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
The Ford Focus is a compact car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1998. Ford began sales of the Focus to Europe in July 1998 and in North America during 1999 for the 2000 model year.
In Europe, New Zealand, and South Africa, the Focus replaced the various Ford Escort models sold in those markets. In Asia and Australasia, it replaced the Ford Laser.
Design and engineering
Codenamed CW170 during its development, and briefly known to some Ford contractors as the Ford Fusion,[citation needed] the original Focus took its eventual name from a Ghia concept car which was shown at the Geneva Motor Show in 1991. Certain elements of the design had been seen even earlier in prototypes used by Ford to demonstrate forthcoming safety features, such as the eye-level rear lighting clusters. As a continuation of Ford's New Edge styling philosophy, first seen in the Ford Ka in 1996, and Ford Cougar in 1998, the Focus' styling had been often described as polarising. The styling had been overseen by Jack Telnack and executed by Claude Lobo and Australian designer, John Doughty.
The decision to name the new car the Ford Focus was made in early 1998, as Ford's overheads had been planning to keep the "Escort" nameplate for its new generation of small family cars. A last minute problem arose in July 1998 when a Cologne court, responding to a case brought by the publishers Burda, ordered Ford to avoid the name "Focus" for the German market cars since the name was already taken by the publisher's Focus magazine. This eleventh hour dispute was overcome, however, and the car was launched without a different "German market" name.
Rear suspension
Control Blade suspension
Engineers for the Focus, including Richard Parry-Jones, developed a class-leading, space-saving independent multi-link rear suspension, marketed as Control Blade suspension, combining the packaging of a trailing arm, with the geometry of a double wishbone suspension . The system was developed from that used in the CDW27 Ford Mondeo estate, but with various modifications to make it simpler and cheaper to build and therefore economically viable on a mass-market vehicle.
Where many competitors in the compact class, or small family car (European) class, used the less expensive non-independent twist beam suspension, Control Blade offered enhanced elasto-kinematic performance, i.e., strong body control, sharp and accurate steering regardless of the car's attitude, and an absorbent and quiet ride over bumps.
Unlike conventional multi-link suspension, Control Blade features a wide, simple, uniform thickness, pressed steel trailing arm with hub carrier — taking the place of two longitudinal locating rods, eliminating an expensive cast knuckle, and offering the same level of body control — with a lower center of gravity, reduced road noise, and at lower production cost. The long rear lateral arm controls toe, a pair of shorter front lateral arms, vertically above each other, control the camber, and the Control Blade reacts to brake and traction loads.
In testing the suspension in 2000, Motor Trend writer Jack Keebler noted "The Focus' average speed of 62.6 mph through our slalom makes it faster around the cones than a $62,000 Jaguar XJ8L and a $300,000 Bentley Continental. The impression is of having plenty of wheel travel for gobbling the larger stuff and big-car, full-frame isolation when encountering expansion joints and smaller road imperfections."
Following the 1998 introduction of Control Blade suspension and popularization by the Focus, other manufacturers (e.g., Volkswagen with the Golf V) began offering multi-link design rear suspensions in the compact class, or small family car (European) class.
Manufacturing:
The Mark 1 was also previously produced in factories in Saarlouis, Germany; General Pacheco, Argentina; Valencia, Spain; Santa Rosa, Philippines; Chungli City, Taiwan and Vsevolozhsk, Russia; Valencia, Venezuela.
Overall sales and history:
In Europe, the hatchback is the biggest selling body style. Ford attempted to market the saloon in Europe as a mini-executive car by only offering it in the Ghia trim level, something that it had tried before with the Orion of the 1980s. It has since given up on this strategy, and has started selling lower specified versions of the saloon.
Despite its radical styling (the hatchback version in particular), and some controversial safety recalls in North America, the car has been a runaway success across the globe, even in the United States, where Ford has traditionally failed to successfully sell its European models. In Europe, where the Focus was positioned at the heart of the largest market segment by volume, Ford's overall market share had declined by 25% between 1995 and 2000 as the aging Ford Escort failed to match up in technological terms to the Vauxhall/Opel Astra and Volkswagen Golf without being able to achieve compensating sales volumes in the low price sector where Korean manufacturers, in particular, were becoming increasingly competitive. The Focus stopped the rot for Ford in Europe, selling particularly strongly in the UK. This was the best-selling car in the world in 1999 through 2004. It was elected Car of the Year in 1999, ahead of GM's new Astra model. The Focus won the North American Car of the Year award for 2000.
Both versions of the Focus have been the 1999 and 2005 Semperit Irish Car of the Year In Ireland.
The Focus, unlike the Escort, was never offered in a dedicated panel van body style; however, a commercial Focus based on the 3-door hatch is available in Europe - most commonly in Ireland.
Ford therefore continued the Escort Van until the purpose-designed Transit Connect was introduced in 2002 as its replacement. A convertible version was another notable omission that was rectified with the Mk2 Coupe-Cabriolet.
The European Focus, in 2002, according to German reports and surveys, was claimed to be the most reliable car between one and three years old in the German car market. This was a remarkable feat as the Focus was competing against German prestige manufacturers as well as Japanese manufacturers, all of which have strong reputations for quality and reliability.
[Text from Wikipedia]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Focus_(first_generation)
This miniland-scale Lego Ford Focus Zetec 3-Door Hatch (C170 - MkI) has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 92nd Build Challenge, - "Stuck in the 90's", - all about vehicles from the decade of the 1990s.
This model is one of many 'redo' models planned for this month - many of the early Lego models that I have posted on the internet have come from this time period. And they are a bit tired looking.
Omaha Beach - Widerstandsnest 65 - overlooking Easy Red sector and the "Ruquet valley" aka Easy-1 exit.
Omaha Beach
Omaha beach is a stretch of beach roughly 5 miles or 8 km. long between Vierville-sur-Mer and Ste Honorine des pertes on the coast of Normandy. It was one of the five designated landing areas for the biggest invasion ever during WWII in the summer of 1944.
Omaha was divided into ten sectors by the Allies; codenamed (from west to east): Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green and Fox Red.
On june 6, 1944 -D-Day - the initial assault on Omaha was to be made by two Regimental Combat Teams (RCT), supported by two tank battalions, with two battalions of Rangers also attached. The RCT's were part of the veteran 1st Infantry division ("The Big Red One") and the untested 29th div.("Blue and Grey") , a National Guard unit.
The plan was to make frontal assaults at the "draws" (valleys) in the bluffs which dominate the coast in Normandy. Codenamed west to east they were called D-1, D-3, E-1, E-3 and F-1 . These draws could then be used to move inland with reserves and vehicles.
The German defenders were not stupid; they knew the draws were vital and concentrated their limited resources in defending them. To this end and lead by the famous "Desert Fox" Field-Marshall Erwin Rommel they built "Widerstandsneste" with AT guns, mortars, MG's in Tobruk's, trenches and bunkers. These were manned by soldiers of the German 716th and 352nd Infantry Division, a large portion of whom were teenagers, though they were supplemented by veterans who had fought on the Eastern Front . All in all some 1100 German soldiers defended the entire Omaha beach sector.
Preliminary bombardments were almost totally ineffective and when the initial waves landed at low tide they met with fiece opposition of an enemy well dug in and prepared. Most of the floating tanks (Sherman DD type) never made it to the beach due to the rough seas or were taken out by AT guns. Their role to support the infantry following them was reduced to almost zero before the battle even begun.
Casualties were heaviest amongst the troops landing at either end of Omaha. At Fox Green and Easy Red scattered elements of three companies were reduced to half strength by the time they gained the relative safety of the shingle, many of them having crawled the app. 300 yards (270 m) of beach just ahead of the incoming tide. Casualties were especially heavy amongst the first waves of infantry and the "gap assault teams" made by Combat Engineers - at Omaha these were tasked with blasting channels through the beach obstacles.
Situation at Dog Green and Easy Red by mid morning was so bad with nearly all the troops essentially pinned down on the beach gen. Eisenhower seriously considered to abandon the operation; in "First Wave at OMAHA Beach", S.L.A. Marshall, chief U.S. Army combat historian, called it "an epic human tragedy which in the early hours bordered on total disaster."
As the first waves of infantry, tanks and combat engineers landing directly opposite the "draws" were pinned down it was up to forces landing on the flanks of these strongpoints to penetrate the weaker German defences by climbing the bluffs. Doing this they had to overcome minefields and barbed wire as well as machinegun fire from German positions but they did and they were able to attack some key strongpoints from the side and the rear, taking them out by early afternoon.
This happened on several spots at Omaha and essentially saved the day: individual acts of initiative by lower ranked officers and courage like that of First Lieutenant Jimmy Monteith, who led a group of men to take one of the key German widerstandsneste and was killed in action, succeeded where a flawed plan failed. By the end of the day most of the German strongpoints had been taken and the battle was won - albeit at a terrible cost.
For a map of the eastern part of Omaha click here. The German WN's are marked as well as the Draws and beach sections.
The Action
On june 6, 1944 from 06.25 this WN-65 saw heavy action when several Gap Assault Teams and Gap Support Teams from the 299th Combat Engineers landed near here and struggled to open gaps in the beach defenses for follow-up waves. In the end they managed to mark one clear passage before the tide forced them off the beach around 07.00 suffering terrible losses in the proces.
After 07.00 hour other forces landed here, infantry as well as tanks and vehicles, and many of them were knocked out. The beach here became clogged with wrecks trying to get to the draw and landings here were ordered to cease somewhwere before 09.00.
The bunker was finally neutralised by a combination of naval guns, rifle grenades and a halftrack around 11.30 and WN 65 was taken around 11.40 . Easy-1 draw was then used as one of the main routes inland by tanks and armoured vehicles. Brushes and houses on the right were not there in june 1944 giving this WN an clear view over the beach.
On the photo:
Blockhaus which was part of WN65 - view from the front. Note the 50mm AT Gun still inside the bunker and the damage caused by a Naval gun on top. This type of H667 casemate was commonly used on many parts of the Atlantic Wall as it's shape guards the gun opening from direct fire from the sea and it's placed in a position the enfillade the beach . In 1944 it housed some 20 men and a 50mm gun. Also note the hill to the left with the trail which was used on D-Day by US troops to move inland.
WN-65 or "widerstandsnest 65" guarded the Easy-1 exit (a.k.a. Ruquet valley) on the Easy Red sector of Omaha.
For a photo of WN-65 in june 1944 click here
See my other Omaha beach photo's for more viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting
Tonemapped using three (Handheld) shots made with a Nikon D7000, augustus 2012.
I suppose that if people can learn to play the piano, with enough training and practice people could also learn how to work this forest of valves. The difference is that unlike the piano, which will just strike the wrong note in case of operator error, a mistake with these valves might leave the sub stuck on the bottom of the sea.
========================================================
Vesikko is a submarine (the single ship of her class), which was launched on 10 May 1933 at the Crichton-Vulcan dock in Turku, Finland.
Until 1936 it was named by its manufacturing codename CV 707.
Vesikko was ordered by a Dutch engineering company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw (a German front company) in 1930 as a commercial submarine prototype.
Purchased by the Finnish before the war, she saw service in the Winter War and World War II, sinking the Soviet merchant ship Vyborg as her only victory.
After the cease-fire with the Allies in 1944, Vesikko was retired. Finland was banned from operating submarines after the war and she was kept in storage until she was turned into a museum ship.
Vesikko was one of five submarines to serve in the Finnish Navy. The other four were the three larger Vetehinen-class boats Vetehinen, Vesihiisi, Iku-Turso and the small Saukko.
The word "vesikko" is the Finnish name for the European mink.
Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw (IvS), was a German front company in the Netherlands, established to secretly design a new German submarine fleet.
According to the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty after World War I, Germany was banned from building and operating submarines among other "offensive" weaponry.
This resulted in moving the armaments' research to foreign countries. For example, German tanks and aircraft were tested and developed in the Soviet Union. Therefore, unlike the other submarines in the Finnish Navy, Vesikko was not part of the Naval Act.
Instead, it was part of the secret rebuilding of the German Navy, the Reichsmarine. The objective of Germans was to design a modern submarine type to be used during general mobilization; technology and standards were to be new and not based on World War I designs.
For this purpose two prototypes were built, E1 in Spain and CV 707 in Finland.
The latter was later chosen as a first submarine type for the new fleet. Construction of both of these experimental submarines was funded by the Reichsmarine.
Commander Karl Bartenbach, who had retired from active service in the Reichsmarine, worked as secret liaison officer in Finland.
His official title was Naval Expert of the Finnish Defence Forces, and it was under his leadership that the 496-ton Vetehinen class and the 100-ton Saukko were built in Finland. Both submarine types were designed by IvS.
For the German Navy, his mission was to oversee the developing and construction of a 200–250 ton submarine, which would still equal the combat effectiveness of the Vetehinen class.
The whole task was named The Lilliput Project. The official decision allowing Vesikko to be constructed in Finland was made in 1930 after several meetings with the Finnish Government.
Since The Liliput Project broke the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, there was no mention of Germany in the agreement, and it was decided that the new submarine could only be sold to nations belonging to the League of Nations.
The would-be buyers also had to have the rights to own such a weapon. The Finnish Government gained primary rights to purchase the submarine. The construction of CV 707 begun in 1931 at the Crichton-Vulcan dock in Turku.
At the time of its construction, CV 707 was one of the most advanced submarine designs. For example, the maximum depth was over twice that of earlier German submarines, and its hull could be built completely by electric welding. By eliminating rivets there was increased resistance to water pressure, decreased oil leakages, and the construction process was faster.
Germans tested CV 707 in the Archipelago of Turku during 1933–34. Vesikko was a prototype for the German Type II submarines. Six Type IIA submarines (U-1 to U-6) which were almost identical to Vesikko were built in the Deutsche Werke dock in Kiel, and after these, 44 Type IIB, IIC, and IID submarines were built before and during World War II.
According to the agreement between the Finnish Ministry of Defence and the Crichton-Vulcan company, Finland had the primary purchase option until 1937, and the Finnish Government took over the submarine during August 1934.
After the Finnish Parliament had approved the acquisition in 1936, the submarine joined the Finnish Navy under the name of Vesikko.
Vesikko was deployed with Vesihiisi to the Hanko region on 30 November 1939 as several Soviet surface combatants were headed towards the area.
However the submarine failed to arrive in time to intercept the Kirov and its escorts. Vesikko was able to get close enough to see the cruiser but was unable to reach firing position as it had to evade shellfire.
When on 17 December and on two following days the Soviets sent the battleship Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsiya to bombard Finnish positions at Koivisto, the Finnish Navy decided to send out Vesikko to hunt for it.
However, by the time the submarine reached the area a day later the Soviet battleship Marat which bombarded on that day had already departed and temperature had dropped to −15 °C (5 °F) which prevented the submarine from diving.
In summer 1941 all Finnish submarines were once again readied for combat operations and they sailed to the staging area in the Gulf of Finland.
Vesikko's base of operations was to be Vahterpää island near the town of Loviisa. When the Continuation War started on 25 June, all submarines were ordered to patrol the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland.
On 3 July 1941 Vesikko sank a Soviet merchant ship named Vyborg east of Gogland island.
The attack was made 700 metres (770 yd) from the target; first one torpedo was launched at 13:25 which hit the stern of the target. The target stopped but did not appear to be sinking so Vesikko fired another torpedo which failed to explode.
Very soon after the strike, three Soviet patrol boats started to chase Vesikko and tried to destroy it with depth charges and salvage the damaged ship but failed to accomplish either task. Vyborg sank on 3 July at 14:15.
Soviet historiography later downplayed the sinking of Vyborg, insisting that several submarines and German naval bombers had assaulted the ship simultaneously, and that over twenty torpedoes had been launched against it.
During fall 1941 Vesikko operated from Helsinki and made three patrols to the coast of Estonia. In 1942, equipped with depth charge rack, she acted as an escort to convoys in the Sea of Åland, and hunted suspected hostile submarines near Helsinki.
In the beginning of June 1944, Vesikko escorted the convoys which were evacuating people from the Karelian Isthmus.
Due to the armistice between Finland and the Soviet Union, Vesikko was ordered to return to port on 19 September 1944. Vesikko sailed the last time as a combat vessel of the Finnish Navy in December 1944.
During wartime, several officers were commanders of the submarine: Ltn. Kauko Pekkanen (1939), Capt. Ltn. Olavi Aittola (1940 and 1941), Capt. Ltn. Antti Leino (1942), Capt. Ltn. Pentti Airaksinen (1942), Capt. Ltn. Eero Pakkala (1943), Capt. Ltn. Olavi Syrjänen (1943), and Capt. Ltn. Lauri Parma (1944).
In January 1945, the Allies' Commission responsible for monitoring the observance of the Peace treaty ordered the Finnish submarines to be disarmed, and in 1947 according to the terms of the Paris Peace Treaty, the Finnish Defence Forces were forbidden to have any submarines.
The Finnish submarines Vetehinen, Vesihiisi, Iku-Turso, and Saukko were sold to Belgium to be scrapped in 1953.
Vesikko was spared because the Finnish Defence Forces hoped that Finland could in future gain permission to use submarines again, and Vesikko was then meant to be used for training purposes.
Vesikko was stored at the Valmet Oy dock in Katajanokka district in Helsinki. In 1959, the Finnish Navy decided to sell Vesikko because Finland had not managed to obtain the right to use submarines again, and because Valmet Oy complained that the old submarine hampered the work in the dock.
Thanks to the Institute of Military History and the former submarine officers, the sale was cancelled and Vesikko was conveyed to the Military Museum.
The Military Museum moved Vesikko to Susisaari island in Suomenlinna, on the shores of Artillery Bay, and restored the submarine. The restoration process lasted over a decade and was very difficult; most of the equipment had been removed after the war and put to other use. In addition, Vesikko had been subject to vandalism in the dock. However, with donations and voluntary work, the restoration was completed, and Vesikko opened as a museum on the anniversary of the Finnish Navy 9 July 1973.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_submarine_Vesikko
Suomenlinna Sea Fortress, Helsinki, Finland.
Access Vesikko virtually here: www.thinglink.com/video/913675598549745665
c/n 22018174.
NATO codename:- Foxbat-C
The ‘PU’ was a two-seat conversion trainer for the MiG-25P all weather interceptor. It had no combat capability.
This example was previously on display at the Savasleyka base museum.
It was refurbished by the 121st Aircraft Repair Plant at Kubinka in early 2016 and now on display in Area 1 of the Patriot Museum Complex.
Park Patriot, Kubinka, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
25th August 2017
c/n 17532372510.
NATO codename:- Fitter-G
The UM-3 was the trainer equivalent of the M-3 fighter-bomber. It was exported as the Su-22UM-3.
Since my previous visit in 2012 this is one of many exhibits which have been moved from their previous location under a covered pavilion and are now on display in a new ‘Cold War’ area of ‘Victory Park’.
Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Poklonnaya Hill, Moscow, Russia.
26th August 2017
Funkmeßstellung 2. Ordnung, Codename "Panther":
32. mittl. Flugm.-Leit-Kompanie IV./LN-Rgt 231
Ausstattung:
2x Würzburg-Riese
1x Freya
c/n 0903716.
NATO codename:- Flogger-C
Previously in store at Kubinka coded ’17 red’. Refurbished by the 121st Aircraft Repair Plant in early 2016 and now on display in Area 1 of the Patriot Museum Complex.
Park Patriot, Kubinka, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
25th August 2017
c/n 36603608.
NATO codename:- Beagle.
Previously part of the museum collection at the old Khodynka Airport site in Central Moscow.
Now on display at the Vadim Zadorozhny Technical Museum, Arkhangelskoye, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
26th August 2017
The original Rover 200 (sometimes referred to by the codename SD3) was the replacement for the earlier Triumph Acclaim, and was the second product of the alliance between British Leyland (BL) and Honda. Only available as a four-door saloon, the 200 series was intended to be more upmarket than the company's Maestro and Montego models, which the 200 Series came in between in terms of size. It was launched on 19 June 1984, at which time there was still a high demand for small family saloons, with many manufacturers selling this type of car under a different nameplate to similar-sized hatchbacks. For example, Ford was selling the saloon version of the Escort as the Orion, the saloon version of the Volkswagen Golf was called the Jetta, and Vauxhall would soon launch an Astra-based saloon called the Belmont. The Rover 200 Series, however, was not based on a hatchback.
Essentially, the 200 series was a British-built Honda Ballade, the original design of which had been collaborated upon by both companies. Engines employed were either the Honda Civic derived E series 'EV2' 71 PS (52 kW; 70 bhp) 1.3 litre 12 valve engine, or BL's own S-Series engine in 1.6 litre format (both in 86 PS (63 kW; 85 bhp) carburettor and 103 PS (76 kW; 102 bhp) Lucas EFi form). The resulting cars were badged as either Rover 213 or Rover 216.
The 213 used either a Honda five-speed manual gearbox or a Honda three-speed automatic transmission. The British-engined 216 also employed a Honda five-speed manual gearbox, unlike the S-Series engine when fitted in the Maestro and Montego. There was also the option of a German ZF four-speed automatic on some 216 models as well.
The Honda-badged version was the first Honda car to be built in the United Kingdom (the Honda equivalent of the 200 Series' predecessor, the Triumph Acclaim, was never sold in the UK). Ballade bodyshells, and later complete cars, were made in the Longbridge plant alongside the Rover equivalent, with the Ballade models then going to Honda's new Swindon plant for quality-control checks.
This model of car is well known as Richard and Hyacinth Bucket's car in the BBC Television sitcom Keeping up Appearances (1990–1995). A blue 213 model was also used in the Series 2 episode "Think Fast, Father Ted" of comedy series Father Ted.
See more photos of this, and the Wikipedia article.
Details, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay":
Boeing's B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Although designed to fight in the European theater, the B-29 found its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a variety of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.
On August 6, 1945, this Martin-built B-29-45-MO dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Bockscar (on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Great Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on both missions.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Date:
1945
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft 6 5/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)
Materials:
Polished overall aluminum finish
Physical Description:
Four-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and high-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish overall, standard late-World War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial number on vertical fin; 509th Composite Group markings painted in black; "Enola Gay" in black, block letters on lower left nose.
Long Description:
Boeing's B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated, propeller-driven, bomber to fly during World War II, and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Boeing installed very advanced armament, propulsion, and avionics systems into the Superfortress. During the war in the Pacific Theater, the B-29 delivered the first nuclear weapons used in combat. On August 6, 1945, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., in command of the Superfortress Enola Gay, dropped a highly enriched uranium, explosion-type, "gun-fired," atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Major Charles W. Sweeney piloted the B-29 Bockscar and dropped a highly enriched plutonium, implosion-type atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. On August 14, 1945, the Japanese accepted Allied terms for unconditional surrender.
In the late 1930s, U. S. Army Air Corps leaders recognized the need for very long-range bombers that exceeded the performance of the B-17 Flying Fortress. Several years of preliminary studies paralleled a continuous fight against those who saw limited utility in developing such an expensive and unproven aircraft but the Air Corps issued a requirement for the new bomber in February 1940. It described an airplane that could carry a maximum bomb load of 909 kg (2,000 lb) at a speed of 644 kph (400 mph) a distance of at least 8,050 km (5,000 miles). Boeing, Consolidated, Douglas, and Lockheed responded with design proposals. The Army was impressed with the Boeing design and issued a contract for two flyable prototypes in September 1940. In April 1941, the Army issued another contract for 250 aircraft plus spare parts equivalent to another 25 bombers, eight months before Pearl Harbor and nearly a year-and-a-half before the first Superfortress would fly.
Among the design's innovations was a long, narrow, high-aspect ratio wing equipped with large Fowler-type flaps. This wing design allowed the B-29 to fly very fast at high altitudes but maintained comfortable handling characteristics during takeoff and landing. More revolutionary was the size and sophistication of the pressurized sections of the fuselage: the flight deck forward of the wing, the gunner's compartment aft of the wing, and the tail gunner's station. For the crew, flying at extreme altitudes became much more comfortable as pressure and temperature could be regulated. To protect the Superfortress, Boeing designed a remote-controlled, defensive weapons system. Engineers placed five gun turrets on the fuselage: a turret above and behind the cockpit that housed two .50 caliber machine guns (four guns in later versions), and another turret aft near the vertical tail equipped with two machine guns; plus two more turrets beneath the fuselage, each equipped with two .50 caliber guns. One of these turrets fired from behind the nose gear and the other hung further back near the tail. Another two .50 caliber machine guns and a 20-mm cannon (in early versions of the B-29) were fitted in the tail beneath the rudder. Gunners operated these turrets by remote control--a true innovation. They aimed the guns using computerized sights, and each gunner could take control of two or more turrets to concentrate firepower on a single target.
Boeing also equipped the B-29 with advanced radar equipment and avionics. Depending on the type of mission, a B-29 carried the AN/APQ-13 or AN/APQ-7 Eagle radar system to aid bombing and navigation. These systems were accurate enough to permit bombing through cloud layers that completely obscured the target. The B-29B was equipped with the AN/APG-15B airborne radar gun sighting system mounted in the tail, insuring accurate defense against enemy fighters attacking at night. B-29s also routinely carried as many as twenty different types of radios and navigation devices.
The first XB-29 took off at Boeing Field in Seattle on September 21, 1942. By the end of the year the second aircraft was ready for flight. Fourteen service-test YB-29s followed as production began to accelerate. Building this advanced bomber required massive logistics. Boeing built new B-29 plants at Renton, Washington, and Wichita, Kansas, while Bell built a new plant at Marietta, Georgia, and Martin built one in Omaha, Nebraska. Both Curtiss-Wright and the Dodge automobile company vastly expanded their manufacturing capacity to build the bomber's powerful and complex Curtiss-Wright R-3350 turbo supercharged engines. The program required thousands of sub-contractors but with extraordinary effort, it all came together, despite major teething problems. By April 1944, the first operational B-29s of the newly formed 20th Air Force began to touch down on dusty airfields in India. By May, 130 B-29s were operational. In June, 1944, less than two years after the initial flight of the XB-29, the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) flew its first B-29 combat mission against targets in Bangkok, Thailand. This mission (longest of the war to date) called for 100 B-29s but only 80 reached the target area. The AAF lost no aircraft to enemy action but bombing results were mediocre. The first bombing mission against the Japanese main islands since Lt. Col. "Jimmy" Doolittle's raid against Tokyo in April 1942, occurred on June 15, again with poor results. This was also the first mission launched from airbases in China.
With the fall of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in the Mariana Islands chain in August 1944, the AAF acquired airbases that lay several hundred miles closer to mainland Japan. Late in 1944, the AAF moved the XXI Bomber Command, flying B-29s, to the Marianas and the unit began bombing Japan in December. However, they employed high-altitude, precision, bombing tactics that yielded poor results. The high altitude winds were so strong that bombing computers could not compensate and the weather was so poor that rarely was visual target acquisition possible at high altitudes. In March 1945, Major General Curtis E. LeMay ordered the group to abandon these tactics and strike instead at night, from low altitude, using incendiary bombs. These firebombing raids, carried out by hundreds of B-29s, devastated much of Japan's industrial and economic infrastructure. Yet Japan fought on. Late in 1944, AAF leaders selected the Martin assembly line to produce a squadron of B-29s codenamed SILVERPLATE. Martin modified these Superfortresses by removing all gun turrets except for the tail position, removing armor plate, installing Curtiss electric propellers, and modifying the bomb bay to accommodate either the "Fat Man" or "Little Boy" versions of the atomic bomb. The AAF assigned 15 Silverplate ships to the 509th Composite Group commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets. As the Group Commander, Tibbets had no specific aircraft assigned to him as did the mission pilots. He was entitled to fly any aircraft at any time. He named the B-29 that he flew on 6 August Enola Gay after his mother. In the early morning hours, just prior to the August 6th mission, Tibbets had a young Army Air Forces maintenance man, Private Nelson Miller, paint the name just under the pilot's window.
Enola Gay is a model B-29-45-MO, serial number 44-86292. The AAF accepted this aircraft on June 14, 1945, from the Martin plant at Omaha (Located at what is today Offut AFB near Bellevue), Nebraska. After the war, Army Air Forces crews flew the airplane during the Operation Crossroads atomic test program in the Pacific, although it dropped no nuclear devices during these tests, and then delivered it to Davis-Monthan Army Airfield, Arizona, for storage. Later, the U. S. Air Force flew the bomber to Park Ridge, Illinois, then transferred it to the Smithsonian Institution on July 4, 1949. Although in Smithsonian custody, the aircraft remained stored at Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, between January 1952 and December 1953. The airplane's last flight ended on December 2 when the Enola Gay touched down at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. The bomber remained at Andrews in outdoor storage until August 1960. By then, concerned about the bomber deteriorating outdoors, the Smithsonian sent collections staff to disassemble the Superfortress and move it indoors to the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland.
The staff at Garber began working to preserve and restore Enola Gay in December 1984. This was the largest restoration project ever undertaken at the National Air and Space Museum and the specialists anticipated the work would require from seven to nine years to complete. The project actually lasted nearly two decades and, when completed, had taken approximately 300,000 work-hours to complete. The B-29 is now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.