So went to Grans as planned to help clear the attic, I had to wear some white suit that was given to me by my aunt, My Uncle had bought them home from his job, from where he would go and inspect progress on some of the building projects the firm he was in were doing, he had brought them to do work arround the house before he found he had cancer, so when clearing through his stuff my Aunt found them and gave them to me and my bro for if we were to do work arround the house. Which is odd as my Gran died a few weeks after that, so they have come in handy as I've had to use one when I went into the attic, which was dusty as hell.
My Grandad had built a Dark Room up there so were clearing through rubish, some old magazines about photography (taking and developing your pictures) strange old tools and equipment, and most intresting, was a newspaper from 1953, lots of old photos including from the war, pictures of his regiment, his unit, proper squad pictures, and then pictures of them relaxing, and just of each other.
But then, something unusual, we have found some simply amazing pictures, one is on a road, there is a troop truck, the driver is out of the cab waiting, a motorbike ready to lead the scouting, and APC where someone is giving the driver some instructions and a soldier is sat patiently ontop of it, and behind is (doing some quick net research) what looks like a sherman, but could be a Churchill type Tank, he used to be a radio-opperator in the signalers, and would also go on reconasance, so from what this picture looks like is, he may have taken this pic, looking from the back off his APC while waiting for the move to come.
There is a picture of some parade, looks like either after the Germans surrendered, or after some town/city was liberated.
A picture of another town with a half-track and a jeep, all german, and what looks to be more german vehicles all down the side of the road, there is a crowd milling arround, and what looks to be a German soldier in the Half-Track, head down so you can clearly see the German helmet, but the way he's sat is either that he's feeling defeated at surrender, or is dead...
There is another picture, this is a lone half-track, with what looks like german soldiers, without helmets, only soft hats, no weapons, sat on the half-track, one stood by the side, almost posing, if my Grandad has taken these, then either they are allied troops posing as Germans on a captured vehicle, or they have captured and taken these aparent Germans prisoner.
Finally, there is one picture that is simply amazing, I mean, I never expected to see such a picture, to find it with my Grandads stuff is, well, almost incredible, and I honestly don't know if he took these or was given these photo's, it is an incredible photo.
In the centre at is two German officers, one is mostly obscuring the other, both with the peaked caps they used to wear, one at the front has a big winter trenchcoat and leather gloves, he doesn't look too happy, slightly anoyed I should say, one hand by his face, other by his side with banoculars, his feet are obscured by the coat and the snow. There is thick heavy snow in the picture, to the right of the group is what looks like another officer, without a cap or coat, slowly walking away seems like he's looking at something, then on the far right hand is a trooper with fur hat, but has a white winter camoflagued coat, he looks quite glum. On the far left is a group of two men, one is clearly a German soldier, he has the helmet, and a warm dark winter coat on, he's looking at what I shall discribe later. Oddly if they have been captured, his has a rifle on his shoulder, so I'm inclined to think they have come across to seek somekind of truce or surender, the final man, he's the closest to the photographer, half out of frame, and can't tell if he's German or British.
The amazing thing about this snow field with the group of German officers and two soldiers is in the background, unevenly spread out are corpses, weapons lying on the ground, what looks like ski poles are sticking out of the snow near one of these corpses, ther are atleast 6, with a possible 3 more in the far distance. This picture is so strange and almost stunning, I honestly don't know if my Grandad took this picture or not, but he had it in a draw with the others... I knew he was in the war, I assumed he saw action, but if this is something he took, it's unexpected, it would have been just after they have seen some action, the story behind this picture is lost, but it really does bring it all home, make what happened all that more real. The war was such a long time ago, that we pay it little intrest, we have no need to pay it much intrest. And then you see this, which was probably such a normal scene for the picture to be so casually taken of, and then you kind of realise and I mean really realise that they were out there, they could have easily died, yet they were out there and this is what they saw. In the UK especially this is true, for I think almost everyone here had a grandparent who was involved in the War.
This is kind of a powerful picture, as you see it in the movies, on TV, but these in the picture are real people and it's not entertainment and that there is whats hardest hitting about it, it's been trivialised, and how can we really, truely understand.
This picture alone has chilled me, and caught me offguard
My Grandad had built a Dark Room up there so were clearing through rubish, some old magazines about photography (taking and developing your pictures) strange old tools and equipment, and most intresting, was a newspaper from 1953, lots of old photos including from the war, pictures of his regiment, his unit, proper squad pictures, and then pictures of them relaxing, and just of each other.
But then, something unusual, we have found some simply amazing pictures, one is on a road, there is a troop truck, the driver is out of the cab waiting, a motorbike ready to lead the scouting, and APC where someone is giving the driver some instructions and a soldier is sat patiently ontop of it, and behind is (doing some quick net research) what looks like a sherman, but could be a Churchill type Tank, he used to be a radio-opperator in the signalers, and would also go on reconasance, so from what this picture looks like is, he may have taken this pic, looking from the back off his APC while waiting for the move to come.
There is a picture of some parade, looks like either after the Germans surrendered, or after some town/city was liberated.
A picture of another town with a half-track and a jeep, all german, and what looks to be more german vehicles all down the side of the road, there is a crowd milling arround, and what looks to be a German soldier in the Half-Track, head down so you can clearly see the German helmet, but the way he's sat is either that he's feeling defeated at surrender, or is dead...
There is another picture, this is a lone half-track, with what looks like german soldiers, without helmets, only soft hats, no weapons, sat on the half-track, one stood by the side, almost posing, if my Grandad has taken these, then either they are allied troops posing as Germans on a captured vehicle, or they have captured and taken these aparent Germans prisoner.
Finally, there is one picture that is simply amazing, I mean, I never expected to see such a picture, to find it with my Grandads stuff is, well, almost incredible, and I honestly don't know if he took these or was given these photo's, it is an incredible photo.
In the centre at is two German officers, one is mostly obscuring the other, both with the peaked caps they used to wear, one at the front has a big winter trenchcoat and leather gloves, he doesn't look too happy, slightly anoyed I should say, one hand by his face, other by his side with banoculars, his feet are obscured by the coat and the snow. There is thick heavy snow in the picture, to the right of the group is what looks like another officer, without a cap or coat, slowly walking away seems like he's looking at something, then on the far right hand is a trooper with fur hat, but has a white winter camoflagued coat, he looks quite glum. On the far left is a group of two men, one is clearly a German soldier, he has the helmet, and a warm dark winter coat on, he's looking at what I shall discribe later. Oddly if they have been captured, his has a rifle on his shoulder, so I'm inclined to think they have come across to seek somekind of truce or surender, the final man, he's the closest to the photographer, half out of frame, and can't tell if he's German or British.
The amazing thing about this snow field with the group of German officers and two soldiers is in the background, unevenly spread out are corpses, weapons lying on the ground, what looks like ski poles are sticking out of the snow near one of these corpses, ther are atleast 6, with a possible 3 more in the far distance. This picture is so strange and almost stunning, I honestly don't know if my Grandad took this picture or not, but he had it in a draw with the others... I knew he was in the war, I assumed he saw action, but if this is something he took, it's unexpected, it would have been just after they have seen some action, the story behind this picture is lost, but it really does bring it all home, make what happened all that more real. The war was such a long time ago, that we pay it little intrest, we have no need to pay it much intrest. And then you see this, which was probably such a normal scene for the picture to be so casually taken of, and then you kind of realise and I mean really realise that they were out there, they could have easily died, yet they were out there and this is what they saw. In the UK especially this is true, for I think almost everyone here had a grandparent who was involved in the War.
This is kind of a powerful picture, as you see it in the movies, on TV, but these in the picture are real people and it's not entertainment and that there is whats hardest hitting about it, it's been trivialised, and how can we really, truely understand.
This picture alone has chilled me, and caught me offguard