Imprints of WWII: RAF

Showing posts with label RAF. Show all posts

Monday, 17 July 2017

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!

Thursday, 6 July 2017

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!