Is Your Grandpa (or Grandma) in these pictures? Previously Unseen WWII Photos!
I apologize for the late post but as you know with the trouble going on yesterday, I didn't want to mess anything up so here we go!
Welcome back to my WWII photo series. These are pictures taken by my grandpa Joe, in Germany, during WWII. If you would like to learn more about this story, please refer to my first post here. Unfortunately, today we don't have any action pictures, but these are just as interesting! There are plenty more action shots to come :)
In today's series of photographs, we have a few shots of American troops standing in formation. It is really awesome to see these after all those years of not being developed, you rarely see such quality of photographs where you can see each individual soldiers face like that. Is it possible that your grandpa is one of these you men? Likely not, but you never know. It would be quite something if he was!
Using my own experience as a soldier in the army, I would say that this is a company sized formation. Each group is a platoon, with their respective platoon leaders standing in the front. These photos were taken near the Switzerland border, you can check out my last post if you would like to know more about that.
The wooden shingles on the parkhaus are really cool! Also, it doesn't look at all like a modern parkhaus so I wonder where everyone is parking? Maybe in the back?
Here we have a formation in the field. I can only assume that they marched outside of town, for some reason or another, and here my grandpa snapped another picture. This is just really odd to me (and maybe you other Army guys out there can chime in) that my grandpa was allowed to take photographs out there in front of the formation like that. My only guess is that he was acting in some sort of official capacity, but his discharge papers only state he was an infantryman.
Another quick note about this shot. It appears to be a platoon-sized formation but there is a captain in front. By modern standards, he would usually lead a larger, company-sized element. He could have just been with the platoon for the day, or maybe it's a really small company like headquarters company or something. Hard to say.
This is another amazing shot captured in a courtyard and is the only one where we have a group of soldiers without their weapons. We also have that jeep parked there in the back unattended, so I have to assume we are on some base or an outpost. The first thing to catch my eye was the short guy front and center, out of uniform, with his dirty boots on. I thought to myself its gotta be an officer, but where he is standing doesn't make sense and there is no rank on his helmet.
Next to catch my eye is that tall angry looking staff sergeant in the right side. He looks pissed! I would not want to be yelled at by him. I can see what he is thinking ”I'm gonna kill you for taking my picture, Private!”. It's really interesting to zoom in on this one to see each man’s individual facial expression. Some are looking directly at the camera, and some are looking straight ahead like they are supposed to!
Lastly today, in Wirklich hübsche Deutsche frau ;) Is this your grandma? How cool would that be? Anyways, I have to assume this is in the same town these formations took place. Maybe he was there for a little while and got to know some locals. He took several pictures of this young lady and she seems pretty sweet! She is definitely sporting some nice shoes there!
There are many more photographs, so please come on back next Monday and join me on this amazing journey through Germany during World War II!
Thanks, everyone for stopping by and please upvote and Re-steam this post! I am really enjoying all the comments and feedback from all you folks, thank you very much! If you have any information on any of these photographs, please, please share it in the comments.
I own all of these photographs so please respect my family history and ask permission prior to use.
howdy sir badger! another super interesting look into what it was like there in WWII, too bad your grandfather isn't in many of them but he was taking them so that makes sense, he must have been pretty good at it too.
another great post!
Thank you very much @janton! I actuality Ja ě quite a few pictures of my grandfather. I think next post I will do one with only pictures of him. Tha KS for the great idea!
howdy sir badger! well sir I think it's a wonderful series and many people are enjoying it with you! it's very unique and so many had grandparents that served in the war.
Me too truly amazing
Perhaps "near the Swiss border" isn't quite correct (or the house has a twin) - search for the "Hotel Parkhaus" in Altenau ;) Altenau is in the Harz mountains close to the part of Germany close to the where the Soviets were.
The name might come from a nearby spa garden or something like that, even if you only could see it from an upper window if you really lean out...
An interesting detail is the basement window in the picture with the German woman. Did they put the bricks there because they used the cellar as a bunker? Or were the glass windows destroyed due to fighting and they put the bricks in to keep rodents out?
I don't know where my grandfather was but my father was in rehab. He was in the Navy on a minesweeper and (that was the only thing he really told us about the war) "twice we found one too well but fortunately I could swim". He got wounded in late '44 by a British bullet in the arm and then met my mother in the military hospital. Months later his arm got worse and he had to be operated several times so they had to postpone the marriage till September 46.
Oh my gosh, you're absolutely correct about the parkhause. Now I am really confused. Only a few photographs prior to this one, it was a picture taken at the French, Switzerland, and German border. Thank you so much for this valuable information, this is amazing information you have contributed to my family history I am very grateful! My father pointed out to that it appears to have a surrender flag hanging off the window.
It sounds like our father had quite the an intense time in the service, and a true Hollywood love story. Would be nice to have one from the German side for once, there were great stories from both sides. I live only a couple hours drive from this hotel, I promise you I will stay there in my lifetime. Thank you again it means so much to me.
What an interesting observation about the window. That's the thing with these photographs, there are endless possibilities. Have a great day
You earned a follow my friend. Really cool.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! Much more to come
Memories flood in that is for sure, my Dad fought for the African Corps up through North Africa then onto Italy, he spoke little of war years.
He did write and article when laid up with shrapnel in his back and bum for a stint while in hospital, in North Africa. Very few photographs, if someone recognized a father or grand father through this content it would be super exciting.
#steemitbloggers
Wow, what an amazing story and scary! Truly amazing that he survived. Unfortunately, that is often the case with these war veterans. The same goes for me difficult to talk about our experiences, but I'm am trying to work through that and I hope my children will be interested. Often times for me, I have opened up about it to someone then you can see they are terrified or it just goes completely over their head. And that can be difficult. Eventually, you realize no one can understand what you have been through so you just try to forget about it and move on with your life. But it always comes back to me in the most inconvenient times. That's for sharing your story! Have a nice day.
I love these war pictures @balticbadger. I was staring at that officer for a while thinking he was gonna get in some trouble . 😂😂. None of them look over the moon but they were probably seeing bad stuff.
That dude is angry!!! Looks like @janton after the Texans loose the Superbowl 😂😂😂
😂😂😂😂
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Wonderful work. Keep em comming
I will do that! Thank you
As "Muscara" pointed out the hotel is in Altenau in the Harz Mountains. The other two parade pictures have been taken more likely in nearby Clausthal-Zellerfeld. You sure know by now that the Jagdtiger photos are also from the Harz Mountains. Was your grandfather a member of the 1st Infantry Division or 8th Armored Division?
Regarding Altenau, these are two pics taken from the 8th AD website. Same street in Altenau, the "Parkhaus" hotel is behind the bend at the end of the street.
Omg crazy
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Pretty cool, huh?
My grandfather was a marine in WWII, so these pictures really hit home for me because he would tell us stories of places he visited growing up and my grandmother still has some photographs like this around somewhere that he was able to get his hands on before his discharge.
Photos like this are such a wonderful look into history, too. Not sure how your grandfather pulled it off, but they are beautifully detailed photos indeed. Thank you for sharing with us!
Thanks for your grandfather's service! Marines are a gift to America, tough guys and gals. That's what I can't understand how he took so many pictures! There are over 400! He must have been assigned a camera or something. I spent a year in Afghanistan and only have 30 pictures :(this is definitely a wonderful thing he did.
What a unique peek into our past and into history. Thanks for sharing.
It's really interesting. Unfortunately, I was three when my grandfather passed away so never go to talk to him about it. Coming up I have some pictures from a concentration camp I am doing some research to try and find out where exactly it was.