sapper, is this your lot?

[von Poop]

Originally Posted by Rich Payne

What sort of camera equipment were the official photographers using in 1944 ? Was it still the old large format stuff ?

Full/half plate stuff would still be available and occaisionally used for more formal work but medium format and 35mm were widely available and officially issued. We have their versatility, portability, & improving quality to thank for the many fine photographs obtained in ww2.
Some examples:

American Kodak 35 combat camera:


German Leica, this one being investigated at the moment. They're widely faked due to the enormous values they now carry for collectors:


British Ensign Commando, medium format rangefinder. I have one rare example issued to British Officers to photograph the effects of the war in it's last year (this one is slightly postwar, but largely the same.):


Robert Capa's Iconic shots of DDay (most of which were lost to an office processing error ) were most likely taken with a pair of Contax II's:


Didn't know Kriegsberichter's could wear cuff titles??:

[Kyt]

Originally Posted by Owen D

A Sherman Crab and Royal Engineers in Overloon, 14 October 1944.

Must be 3rd Div sappers?

That picture also appears on page 130 of "Monty's Iron Sides" by Delaforce. Will have another read to see if there's any clues to identities.

the caption reads:

Divisional sappers and flail tank advance through Overloon

[Owen]

Regards cameras , just found this. Although it is a cine camera.





Cameramen in uniform: Sergeant Mike Lewis of the Army Film Unit posing with a De Vry, the camera most widely used by British combat cameramen. Mike Lewis transferred from the Parachute Brigade to the AFU, and filmed Arnhem and the liberation of Belsen.




A photographer and cameraman of the Army Film and Photographic Unit, Sergeant W A Greenhalgh, uses a daylight changing bag to load his camera during Exercise FABIUS, a training exercise for the D Day landings in Hampshire, England. The photograph clearly shows how the AFPU were equipped for the landings. With only a few minutes’ worth of film to use before they had to re-load, cameramen had to learn to be careful about what they chose to film.

[Philip,ABRG]

Sergeant Petrie was at Arnhem with 553 Company, I think Sapper Roberts was killed later in Germany