Hi Steve I'd be keen to see a bit more on it. From what I know the place was defended by the replacement battalion of 12th SS, which was based in Langendamm, just down the road from Schessinghausen (my uncle served in that same barracks in the 70s and 80s). And yes, quite the fight, I think they had to dig out the defenders by bringing in Wasps? All the best Andreas
Gosh! Not seen that photo before: quite a find. S54: that looks like a photo of a photo. Any chance of a scan which might pick up better detail?
As already said, almost deffo not Belgium. There is a Schneidermeister Dankert recorded in Bad Segeberg during the war? Would that fit? All the best Andreas
The address today (it's still a tailor) is Hamburger Str. 5. Streetview does not work in Germany though. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Hans-Heinrich+Dankert/@53.936575,10.3061076,127m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m3!3m2!1s0x0:0xe9420f2ef7148ebc!4b1!6m1!1e1 All the best Andreas
Bless him he is still with us at the ripe age of 91! It's his daughter that is on 'Facebook'. I've joined Facebook! Would be grateful if you could send me a PM with contact details for them. Would be brilliant to establish contact with 'someone who was there'!
Andreas Could you possibly identify the location of this bridge, the person who posted it put the caption 'The 3rd crossing the Kiel Canal'!
The impossible is done immediately. Miracles may take a bit longer. :p I'll see what I can do. All the best Andreas
Andy and Andreas Assuming we are still talking 3RTR, this photo will have been taken (just?) post-War. That makes it a bit more complicated! 3RTR finished the War at Bad Segeberg, which is well to the south of the Kiel Canal, and then moved around as per my post #119. This certainly took them north of the Kiel Canal. Hopefully that helps narrow down the search. PS: I'm not convinced that that's the Kiel Canal. The bridge doesn't appear to be high enough over the water or, indeed, long enough. Certainly has a post-War feel about it in the casual way people are moving around.....not that that necessarily means anything! PPS: I've also done a quick Maps surf down the whole length of the Canal and can't readily locate any likely location (shortish bridge, fixed gantry type and not high over the water).
It did take a moment, but the miracle was achieved. Hallelujah! It's apparently the rotating bridge at Rendsburg in central Schleswig-Holstein. http://www.akpool.de/ansichtskarten/24066496-ansichtskarte-postkarte-rendsburg-blick-auf-die-drehbruecke-ufer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GylOISfphpc https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Rendsburg,+Germany/@54.2507225,9.6931446,9.7z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x47b3a5c41fa09b21:0x4248963c6582820 Many thanks to bettika61 on forum.marinearchiv.de All the best Andreas
Andreas Brilliant! Well done. Am I correct in thinking that the bridge has now been removed? (I can't seem to find it on my iPad Maps app).
Yes, the turning bridges are all gone since 1964 and have been replaced by tunnels. All the best Andreas
Thanks Andreas. That makes sense and also accounts for my original doubt about whether the film was of the Kiel Canal. As a matter of interest, I will look up the location of the rotating bridge on a period map.
I've located the bridge on a period 1944 Army/Air map. This shows it as carrying a Tram line which is confirmed on those period photos which also show the large railway bridge in the background. I will edit this post hopefully later today to include an extract from that map.
Well done with the bridge identification! I thought we had tidied up the Bad Segeberg photo back in Nov 12 (see posts 28/29 Nov 12). Fascinating 'new' photo of F01. I never thought there would be anymore. The feel of the photo indicates it was taken shortly after F01 was knocked out: smoke still seems to be coming from the cupola; 3 RTR tank tracks obvious on the left as the squadrons bypassed the hulk to press on towards Ostenholz; possibly 3 RTR and 4 KSLI's officer in conversation at F01's glacis - sensible place to be with action still in progress up the road. Surrendering soldier at the tank's rear? JDKR
Bit slow (!) on the uptake in responding to this picture. As the Cromwell is from HQ 29 Armd Bde then it is either one of the two command tanks or one of the eight OP tanks. Given that F01 is still on the road, as opposed to its later position shoved to the roadside, the photo would seem to have been taken relatively soon after its destruction. At this stage in the battle 4 KSLI and A Sqn 3 RTR are either still in action clearing the remainder of the forest about half a mile further up the road or have cleared the forest and are advancing across the open ground beyond it; to my mind the Cromwell is therefore more likely to be an OP tank rather than one belonging to Brig 'Roscoe' Harvey or his BM. None of the figures look too vexed about the likelihood of enemy fire so I reckon the photo was taken early afternoon on 13 April, by which time 4 KSLI had completed the clearance of the forest and were starting the advance beyond.