Field Rations

 

 I don't know when or where this photo was taken, but if I were to guess, I would say World War 1.  The helmets don't look like the flat type worn by the U.S. or British armies.  I think, though I'm not sure, these are French troops.  

The M2 Light Tank

  

I've tried to do a bit of research on this photo, and while I'm not 100% sure, I think this is a photo of an M2 Light Tank, made by the Rock Island Arsenal Company that went into production in 1937.  It was equipped with a 37mm M5 gun and machine guns.  Mostly, it was used for reconnaissance.  It was under armed for serious combat operations.

La Turbie

 

 Another colorized postcard taken from a black & white photograph.  Take a close look and it can be seen that the postcard's publisher didn't bother to add color to the soldiers.  So, La Turbie is a commune in southern France near, the Mediterranean Sea.  The building that dominates the scene is the Church of St. Michael, and that blob in the upper left is the Trophy of Augustus which celebrates the Roman Empire's defeat of the local tribes.  The back has the standard divided back, but no publisher's name.  

The French are Coming

As we inch ever closer to World War 3, here's a nice photograph of French cavalry inching ever closer to World War 1. 

Soldiers and Civilians

I think those are American uniforms and I think they're from the World War 1 era.  If I were guessing, I'd say that the men in uniform are visiting college classmates.  No real reason to think that, it's just a gut feeling.

The Black Watch

In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an end to the Russo-Japanese War.  The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced this week, and no, I don't think it will be going to Donald Trump.  Then again, I once said that only a fool could think that Bob Dylan would win the Literature prize, so what do I know.

On Pass

One of the first people I worked for after arriving in Los Angeles loved to tell stories about his less than stellar past.  One of my favorites was about a weekend trip he took to Tijuana.  He had rode down on his motorcycle and was wandering around back streets looking for a good place to have a drink.  Suddenly, a door flew open;  one of those doors that's below street level.  There stood an American sailor.  "Help me," he cried.  My boss looked down and saw that the young American was being chased by half a dozen Mexicans.  So, my boss put his foot on the guy's chest and pushed him back into the bar.  "Weren't you worried those guys were going to kill him?" I asked.  "No, I worried they were going to kill me." 

So, a few Americans on a pass, having a drink or two and not being chased by the locals. 

Fraternizing With Bicycles

So, if you were an American soldier stationed in England, France, or on occupation duty in Germany, and you needed to meet your girlfriend, you used your bike. 

Written on the back, "Myself, Lise, Davidson, Bottoms." 

Lost 10-Won 1

Well, it says soccer, rather than football on the front, so I'm going out on a limb and say that a team of American soldiers got beat big time by locals who had been playing the game for most of their lives.  I also suspect that that one win might have been thrown to make the Yanks feel a bit better about themselves.

Private DeFay

Don't these two photographs look peaceful?  With the trees in the background, it gives the impression of a kid playing soldier, with no real war in the future.  I don't know when these were taken, but it seems that we can't go a decade with out some sort of war.  With any luck he became such a good builder of foxholes and trenches that the bullets flew over his head and never hit the mark.   Labeled DeFay.

World War 1, On The Move

More from the camera of O.D. Caldwell.

Both of the Caldwell posts seem to be about movement.  Most of the battle damage photos look like they were taken from a moving train, and they were all of different locations.  Today's post show men in trains and men on ships.  But, are they on the way to war, or are they on the way home?  I prefer to think that the war was over for these men, and they were headed back to the U.S.  That's why I put the Statue of Liberty picture last.

Berlin

I've been saving these photos for today.  For those unaware, today is the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  After the war, Germany was divided into four major zones of occupation.  Soviet, French, British, and American.  Berlin, Germany's capitol, while within the Soviet zone, was also divided among the four powers.  Until 1949, the zones were ruled by military governors.  From 1949 until 1955, civilian High Commissioners.

Take a look at the soldier's shoulder patch, (I needed a magnifying glass, you might have  to click on the image for a bigger window.) to see the word, "Berlin."  Until 1961, U.S. troops in the capitol were known as the Berlin Brigade, after 1961, when construction of the wall began, U.S. Army, Berlin. American troops left Berlin in 1994, after Soviet troops left East Germany. I looked up the insignias, and they're almost identical.  I'm fairly certain, that our soldier is Berlin Brigade, although I'm basing that on the women's clothing.

Now for the fun part.  When the occupation began, it was decided that fraternization between occupying troops and German civilians would not be permitted.  That policy lasted less than a year.  Basically, it was unenforceable.  Single men, single women, the inevitable happened. Go to my Fair Use blog-www.fairuse-wjy.blogspot.com-to see a U.S. Army anti-fraternization poster.

The German American Collection, The Album 8

In part 5 there was a dated beer keg, August 5, 1923, and in part 6 there was an older version of the couple pictured in this post. So, what time span can be found in this album? Note the mustache in the first picture. A style that would become popular, in Germany, in the 1930s, but would loose it's appeal in the mid 40s.

Pals

Two affectionate soldiers? I know there's a modern day obsession with with trying to define people by their sexuality, and yes, there is a very good chance that these two soldiers were gay. But it's also possible that they were two men who faced war together and were pals. Pals who have faced death together and have a strong emotional, rather than sexual bond.