Air Raid on Bangkok 2nd January 1944 - 40th Bomb Group USAAF

The photo below shows the impact of bombs landing close to the Rama VI Bridge in Bangkok. The photograph was probably taken from a B-29 of the 40th Bomb Group, however the date appears to be incorrect as the Group did not arrive in the area until later in 1944.

The 40th Bomb Group carried out a number of raids targeting the Rama VI Bridge during 1944-1945, flying from their base at Chakulia in India.

The paddyfields in the photographs below are long gone, as you can see in the modern Google maps version of the same shot, although the Wat Soi Thong temple complex which appears to be north of the bridge is still there. The explosions detailed in the middle photo are approximately where the modern map shows King Mongkut's University. Note that the photo is actually showing the view South-to-North, so it is upside down.

1944 photo showing Rama VI Bridge and surrounding area

Detail of exploding bombs close to tributary flowing into the Chao Phraya River

Modern day image of the same view as the first photo. The countryside has been extensively built over, but the Chao Phraya River, Rama VI Bridge and Wat Soi Thong remain.

Unidentified Russian Lieutenant

Photograph of an unidentified Russian Lieutenant, undated. 
The medal is possibly the USSR Victory Medal, or the Combat Merit Medal - thanks to @ArmyHRLviv and @Webinfused for the suggestions. Photo purchased at a collectors fair in Stratford-upon-Avon, England in 2016.

Air Raid Precautions for Animals - Home Office pamphlet 1939

Prior to the start of the Second World War, the Home Office in the UK issued a range of pamphlets to held prepare the populace for the outbreak of war. These ranged from how to put up an air raid shelter in your garden, to first aid, to somewhat more unusual topics.

The leaflet below is entitled 'Air Raid Precautions for Animals'. As many businesses still relied on horses to move materials, rather than lorries, such a leaflet was actually required. It also includes information on protecting cattle and pets. And, rather inevitably, the final chapter does give advice on how to put a wounded animal out of its misery...

This copy came from a shop in Hastings. I haven't seen this one before, but I assume they were fairly well distributed. I will try and post some additional pages soon.

German POWs in England June 1944 - but where?

This photo was one of a batch of press photos I purchased from an auction from a seller in the US.

Dated 11th June (1944) it shows columns of German POWs in a barbed wire compound

The photo was taken by 'Shivers' of the US Signal Corps. The caption, stamped on the rear of the photo, says:

Here's one Hitler promise which came true - in part. These Germans set foot on English soil, but not quite according to the Fuehrer's plan. Instead of coming as conquerors, they reach England as prisoners of war and arrive in ever-increasing numbers as the Allied Forces move onto the Continent. 

There is a SHAEF Field Press Censor stamp, a 'Confidential' stamp, and a handwritten note 'Cut on fold'.

But where was the photo taken? 

The first clue was the fact the photo was taken by the US Signal Corps, and the two men in the centre of the photo, marching down the column, are in US Army uniforms.
 
The US Army used a number of ports in England to supply their troops during the campaign in North West Europe. And while these ports were used to despatch materials to the Continent, they were also used to receive wounded and POWs.


One of the largest and busiest ports used by the US Army for supplies was Portland, in Dorset. Other ports were further away from Normandy, or where being used by the British Army. So I thought this may be the place. I was also aware that there were US Army hospitals in the Weymouth area where POWs were also treated and these POWs were obviously captured in Normandy due to the date.
 
The big clue is of course the houses in the background. These have been edited by the censor, and any published version of the photo would not include these, to ensure the location was difficult to identify. They back onto a large cliff or hill, and in front there is a graveyard or cemetery.

So, with these ideas I turned to Google Maps. Portland is correctly called the Isle of Portland - it is not an island separated from the mainland, but it is a large limestone 'isle' joined by a thin strip of land. It has one of the largest man-made harbours in the world, and is a Royal Naval base.

A quick check of cemeteries on the island identified the location of the photo. It was taken on ground in front of the Strangers Cemetery at the northern tip of the isle.

The large houses are still there - as can be seen in the image above, but the POW compound has been wiped away, with an estate of houses and new roads in its place. The compound would have been immediately behind the wall on the left of the image. Unfortunately the new houses make any attempt at a comparison photo impossible.

The new roads have however kept some reflection of history in their names - Officers Field and Victory Road.

Dunkirk #3 - last unseen photos from my collection

Since the last post I put up, there has been a bit of interest in my Dunkirk photos (to say the least), and they've been featured on the websites of the Daily Mail, the Express, the Sun, the Mirror and Bild, plus an article in the printed version of the Times.

I am of course pleased, and amazed, by the level of interest in them, but the articles don't link back to the blog unfortunately, so whether people will see the new photos below - I don't know!

Anyway, here are three final photos. Two are taken from a ship, looking towards Dunkirk and De Panne. The last one is another of captured troops - in this instance men from a Scottish Regiment - and I am sure someone will inform me which one. This is one of my favourite photos, purely for the expressions on the POWs faces - of defiance.

I hope you've found these interesting - I'll be posting items regularly from now on - when I get a chance!

Oil tanks on fire in Dunkirk, with clouds of billowing smoke visible for many miles.

Albert Henry Powell was a lorry driver in the Royal Signals and had been in France since January 1940. His unit was attached to the 3rd Corps, Medium Artillery HQ. He was on the beach, and describes his experiences in an account on the BBC People's War site:

"On the beaches we huddled together in the sand dunes for protection from the constant bombing and machine gunning from the air. The bombing was ineffectual, just blowing up loads of sand, but the machine gunning was another matter. 

Lying across the scene was a huge cloud of smoke coming from the oil tanks on fire in Dunkirk."

This photo is captioned 'La Panne' however it seems that it is most likely to be the oil refinery to the west of Dunkirk (thanks @dunkirk1940).

The expressions of these POWs show a mixture of fatigue and defiance. I believe these men are from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders,therefore this photograph may have been taken after the fall of St Valery en Caux, but this is an educated guess so feel free to correct me.

Unseen photographs from Dunkirk Part #2

Here are a few more photographs which I have picked up over the years showing Dunkirk and the surrounding areas in the summer of 1940.

Grave of an unknown British soldier, burnt out lorry in the background. The grave has been adorned with flowers, presumably by French civilians.

British and French POWs being marched towards the Belgian border

While the reviews of Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk have been overwhelmingly positive, some criticism as been leveled due to the lack of French troops in the movie. Many of the troops fighting in French uniform were from the French colonies, including Senegal, Mauritania and Niger. German troops, as pictured above, often took photos of these men when captured, as colonial troops were seen as a novelty to the German soldiers. Over 100,000 French colonial soldiers were held captive during the war. However, despite the smiling faces in this picture, tragically some POWs were killed by their captors close to the battlefield. See the review of French Colonial Soldiers in German Captivity during World War II for more details.

 German troops on the beach at Dunkirk next to the remains of a crashed plane. In the distance you can see ships, sunk during the evacuation, and a row of lorries used as a temporary bridge to help soldiers reach ships in deeper water.

German soldiers inspecting abandoned vehicles somewhere near Dunkirk. Whether these have been brought to this location after being removed from roads and ditches is unclear. But the sheer number of vehicles gives an indication of the material left behind. Damage to the original negative obscures the picture slightly.

Captured British officers and men, May/June 1940. The man of the right seems resigned but also defiant as he stares at the camera. To the left are more French colonial POWs.  

The beach at Dunkirk, presumably in June 1940. The Germans have been clearing the beach of material and ammunition boxes have been neatly lined up. Note the four Vickers machine guns which have been recovered. In the distance abandoned lorries and boats rest on the beach.

ARP & Civil Defence unit in Cornwall during WW2

A nice group shot of a mixed ARP (Air Raid Precaution) and Civil Defence unit in Cornwall during the Second World War.
The photo isn't dated unfortunately, but the uniforms date from after May 1941. The group includes a number of First Aid and St John's Ambulance members, identifiable by their shoulder insignia and badges on right chest pocket.

Read more about the Air Raid Precautions in the UK during the Second World War.

Photos of the aftermath of the attack on the Scharnhorst at Kiel, 1/2 July 1940

These three photos show the damaged caused by 83 and 58 Squadrons RAF on the Kiel Kreigsmarinewerft (German Naval Shipyard) on the night of the 1st/2nd July 1940. The principal target of the raid was the dry dock in which the Scharnhorst was being repaired. Guy Gibson (of Dam Busters fame) dropped the first 2,000 lb bomb of the war during the raid.

These photos were taken by an unknown German, and show both destruction to the Shipyard and also what appears to be an unexploded bomb.

Read a report of the raid from the Australian newspaper The Advocate .

If anyone can decipher the writing on the rear, let me know!

Nachrichten für die Truppe - News for the Troops - Allied newspaper for German soldiers

Nachrichten für die Truppe (News for the Troops) was a daily newspaper, aimed at German troops. Created by Sefton Delmer, who was employed by the British to develop black-propaganda, the newspaper was written by British & American journalists.

Copies of Nachrichten für die Truppe were dropped on German occupied territory in Western Europe by the US Eight Air Force. Copies were also dropped by the RAF (I have met an RAF pilot whose logbook recorded such operations over the Channel Islands).

The contents of the newspaper were aimed to create concerns amongst the Germans who read them - worries about how the war was going, what was happening at home and their families.
While millions of copies were dropped on German troops, penalties for keeping copies would have been severe, so most would have been destroyed.

This copy was dropped on the Channel Islands, and retained by a local person. I purchased it at an auction in 2014.

If anyone wants to translate it I'd be grateful!

More information on Nachrichten für die Truppe can be found at:
http://clutch.open.ac.uk/schools/emerson00/pwe_nachrichten.html
https://www.psywar.org/nachrichtenproject.php

Photo of an unidentified RAF Flight Engineer

Photograph of an unidentified RAF Flight Engineer, undated. Purchased from a flea market in Brighton, UK in 2016.

HMT Nevasa - WW2 Troopship

HMT Nevasa was built in Glasgow and launched in 1913. In the First World War, she was used as both a troopship and a hospital ship, in the North Atlantic, and East Africa, Persian Gulf, Salonika and Mesopotamia campaigns. In between the Wars she was used as a commercial ship for a short period, but was then rebuilt as a troopship with a capacity of 1,000 soldiers. In the Second World War she was used extensively - between the UK, India, Basra, Madagascar and for the Normandy Landings. She was scrapped in 1948. 

This postcard was found in a box of mixed cards at a flea market in Oxfordshire, UK. 

Sources
http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Ships/HMTroopshipNevasa.html
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?t=4225

Unseen photos from Dunkirk

I recently supplied copies of a number of photographs from my collection to the Channel 4 documentary Dunkirk: The New Evidence.

The photographs were all taken by German soldiers either during or shortly after the campaign in France in 1940, and show the destruction in Dunkirk and De Panne (also spelt La Panne), further up the coast.

Read an account from James Horner, a Sapper with 253rd Field Company Royal Engineers, who escaped from De Panne.

These photos were not used in the Channel 4 documentary, but I thought they would be of interest - so I am sharing them here. Comments and corrections to my captions are welcome!

Abandoned boats and vehicles, Dunkirk. June 1940.

Material left on the beach, and washed ashore. Dunkirk, 4th June 1940.

Abandoned vehicles and boats, Dunkirk. May/June 1940.

French Sub-Chaser CH-9, Dunkirk. 4th June 1940.

The beach at Dunkirk after the evacuation. In the background is the French Destroyer L'Adroit. June 1940

German troops investigating burnt out Bedford lorries. De Panne, May/June 1940.

Ambulances and lorries, on the beach front at De Panne May/June 1940.

Abandoned BEF vehicle, De Panne. May/June 1940. Note the rifles.

Abandoned vehicles, including ambulances. De Panne, May/June 1940

British soldiers carrying their belongings, including what appears to be tins of food. This photo was taken by one of the German soldiers who was taking them prisoner. May/June 1940. The rear of the photo is marked 'Engländer'

British & French POWs being marched into captivity, June 1940. The German lorry shows the markings of a Panzer unit.

Four British soldiers who did not make it back home. The rear of the photo is marked 'Calais'.

What is Imprints of WWII all about?

I have been collecting items relating to WWII for a number of years. Not weapons, uniforms, equipment or anything like that. I don't get fascinated by bayonets or medals, so I am afraid I won't be sharing any photos of these as I don't have any.

My interest is in the printed material - the old fading photos, the documents carefully folded kept in shoe boxes, and the long forgotten letters which have been held by people for many years, but then sadly often get discarded. These are all items which have a direct link to the men, women and children who lived through the Second World War.

Most of the items I will be sharing have been picked up at flea markets, car boot sales, junk shops, auctions and the like. I don't spend a lot on collecting, as there is actually little monetary value associated with most of these items. But they do have a value - their value is that direct link with history.

Some of these items are personal items and unique, others were mass produced and were then thrown away once their use was fulfilled. I will be posting items from many nations. The majority will be from the UK, as that is where I live and where most of these items have been purchased, but there will be documents and photos from other countries too. 

I have built up quite a large collection, and I realised that these items should be seen more widely, therefore I have created this blog. I hope to post regularly, as I have a lot of items to share. Please feel free to comment on the posts, and provide suggestions, corrections and any feedback.
I will also be posting on Twitter (@wwiistories) so please also follow me there.

Finally, if you have any family photos, documents or ephemera from the period that you'd like shared on the site, please get in contact - I'd be very pleased to hear from you.

A word about reproducing images
I am happy for people to reuse images from this blog, but please quote the source and provide a link back (and let me know!). If you want to use any images for commercial use, please contact me first.