Dear forum,
Just joined in order to seek your help on geo-locating a WW2 guncam clip that I found on Bluesky.
I tried +/- 50 towns in Germany, France and Italy. As I come from The Netherlands, I am sure it is not NL. We are too flat. And probably not Belgium either. See the list below in the post.
Description of footage;
A medium-sized (German? French? Italian?) town with two large Romanesque church towers with flat roofs and open belfries, six or more towers in total, a white church with three windows between the two main towers at approximately 150 meters distance, a large monastery building with a blind facade, no river, light-colored buildings, and a dark wooded ridge directly behind the town. The footage is Allied WWII gun camera film from a fighter aircraft opening fire with machine guns. There is also a round or oval open space surrounded by buildings (like Lucca's Piazza dell'Anfiteatro) visible in the left background of the footage. All towers (5 or 6 at least) seem to be freestanding, not attached directly to any church.
The plane dives further from low altitude, and has opened fire as the clip starts. An explosion can be seen bottom-right, before the clip cuts.
What is NOT visible is a big river flowing past the town. There seems to be some water bottom-left. Also, there is not a church in the size of a big French cathedral on the footage. Also no "onions" on the towers, nor Gothic stuff on top seems visible. No big city wall, but a road and/or railway in front of the town.
Any suggestions are welcome, but please check why I dismissed a town below before posting.
I checked the following cities using Google Earth, but I can have overlooked a match;
Northern Italy:
Montagnana — circular wall with evenly spaced towers, not matching
Lonigo — doesn't match
Monselice — town is built partially against a hill
Cittadella — circular wall
Castelfranco Veneto — circular wall
Conegliano — river runs through the town
Vittorio Veneto (Ceneda) — too few towers, no round shape
Bassano del Grappa — river runs through the town
Spilimbergo — river visible
Tuscany/Central Italy:
Lucca — towers and round square match, but church and monastery not visible, flight direction doesn't work
Camaiore — no round square
Pistoia — too few towers, no round square
Arezzo — dominant Medici fort would be visible
Siena — semi-circular square but church doesn't match
Colle di Val d'Elsa — elongated village on a hill, too few towers
Pietrasanta — no round square
Bevagna — conceptually close but details don't match
Volterra - Excluded because the towers are too slender and the roofs too Tuscan.
Monteriggioni - Excluded because the skyline is dominated by walls and merlons, not church towers.
Siena - Excluded because the tower shapes and rooflines do not match
San Gimignano;
- Italian merlons and Tuscan rooflines absent
- Towers too slender; architecture does not match.
- No Italian stylistic elements visible.
Southern Italy:
Venafro — too few towers
Other:
Albenga — river and sea visible
Bologna — too large, towers too tall
Southern Germany (Bavaria & Baden‑Württemberg)
Bad Wimpfen
- Towers have pointed roofs, not flat.
- Architectural style does not match the stills.
Esslingen am Neckar
- Towers are slender Gothic spires, not flat Romanesque blocks.
Freising
- Twin cathedral towers have onion domes, not flat tops.
Kempten
- Towers have pointed roofs; no flat‑topped Romanesque towers.
Landshut
- Dominated by tall Gothic spires; nothing matches the flat‑topped towers.
Memmingen
- Church towers have pointed roofs; no flat tops.
Ochsenhausen
- Large monastery towers have upper structures, not flat roofs.
- Distances between towers do not match.
Ottenbeuren
- Towers too close together; not 100–200 m apart.
- Towers have upper structures, not flat.
Passau
- Multiple domes and Baroque towers; no flat Romanesque towers.
Ravensburg
- Blaserturm has a clock and a roof structure; not flat.
- Tower shapes do not match your stills.
Regensburg
- Dominated by tall Gothic spires; no flat‑topped towers.
Schwäbisch Hall
- Towers have pointed roofs; not flat.
Tübingen
- Church towers have pointed roofs; not flat.
Ulm
- Ulm Minster has a huge Gothic spire; skyline does not match.
Weingarten
- Basilica has onion domes; not flat.
- Towers too close together.
Würzburg
- Cathedral towers have pointed roofs; not flat.
Esslingen am Neckar
- Excluded because the towers are slender Gothic spires, not flat‑topped Romanesque towers.
Tübingen
- Excluded because the church towers have pointed roofs, not flat tops.
Central Germany (Thuringia, Hesse, Saxony‑Anhalt)
Bad Frankenhausen
- Oberkirche tower has an upper structure, not a flat roof.
Bad Hersfeld
- Abbey towers stand too close together; not 100–200 m apart.
Bad Langensalza
- Too few towers visible in the skyline compared to your stills.
Mühlhausen
- All major church towers have pointed roofs; none are flat.
Quedlinburg
- Stiftskirche towers stand high above the city on a hill.
- Both towers have pointed roofs, not flat.
Northern Germany
Goslar
- Several churches have double towers
- Skyline does not match the pattern in the clip.
Just joined in order to seek your help on geo-locating a WW2 guncam clip that I found on Bluesky.
I tried +/- 50 towns in Germany, France and Italy. As I come from The Netherlands, I am sure it is not NL. We are too flat. And probably not Belgium either. See the list below in the post.
Description of footage;
A medium-sized (German? French? Italian?) town with two large Romanesque church towers with flat roofs and open belfries, six or more towers in total, a white church with three windows between the two main towers at approximately 150 meters distance, a large monastery building with a blind facade, no river, light-colored buildings, and a dark wooded ridge directly behind the town. The footage is Allied WWII gun camera film from a fighter aircraft opening fire with machine guns. There is also a round or oval open space surrounded by buildings (like Lucca's Piazza dell'Anfiteatro) visible in the left background of the footage. All towers (5 or 6 at least) seem to be freestanding, not attached directly to any church.
The plane dives further from low altitude, and has opened fire as the clip starts. An explosion can be seen bottom-right, before the clip cuts.
What is NOT visible is a big river flowing past the town. There seems to be some water bottom-left. Also, there is not a church in the size of a big French cathedral on the footage. Also no "onions" on the towers, nor Gothic stuff on top seems visible. No big city wall, but a road and/or railway in front of the town.
Any suggestions are welcome, but please check why I dismissed a town below before posting.
I checked the following cities using Google Earth, but I can have overlooked a match;
Northern Italy:
Montagnana — circular wall with evenly spaced towers, not matching
Lonigo — doesn't match
Monselice — town is built partially against a hill
Cittadella — circular wall
Castelfranco Veneto — circular wall
Conegliano — river runs through the town
Vittorio Veneto (Ceneda) — too few towers, no round shape
Bassano del Grappa — river runs through the town
Spilimbergo — river visible
Tuscany/Central Italy:
Lucca — towers and round square match, but church and monastery not visible, flight direction doesn't work
Camaiore — no round square
Pistoia — too few towers, no round square
Arezzo — dominant Medici fort would be visible
Siena — semi-circular square but church doesn't match
Colle di Val d'Elsa — elongated village on a hill, too few towers
Pietrasanta — no round square
Bevagna — conceptually close but details don't match
Volterra - Excluded because the towers are too slender and the roofs too Tuscan.
Monteriggioni - Excluded because the skyline is dominated by walls and merlons, not church towers.
Siena - Excluded because the tower shapes and rooflines do not match
San Gimignano;
- Italian merlons and Tuscan rooflines absent
- Towers too slender; architecture does not match.
- No Italian stylistic elements visible.
Southern Italy:
Venafro — too few towers
Other:
Albenga — river and sea visible
Bologna — too large, towers too tall
Southern Germany (Bavaria & Baden‑Württemberg)
Bad Wimpfen
- Towers have pointed roofs, not flat.
- Architectural style does not match the stills.
Esslingen am Neckar
- Towers are slender Gothic spires, not flat Romanesque blocks.
Freising
- Twin cathedral towers have onion domes, not flat tops.
Kempten
- Towers have pointed roofs; no flat‑topped Romanesque towers.
Landshut
- Dominated by tall Gothic spires; nothing matches the flat‑topped towers.
Memmingen
- Church towers have pointed roofs; no flat tops.
Ochsenhausen
- Large monastery towers have upper structures, not flat roofs.
- Distances between towers do not match.
Ottenbeuren
- Towers too close together; not 100–200 m apart.
- Towers have upper structures, not flat.
Passau
- Multiple domes and Baroque towers; no flat Romanesque towers.
Ravensburg
- Blaserturm has a clock and a roof structure; not flat.
- Tower shapes do not match your stills.
Regensburg
- Dominated by tall Gothic spires; no flat‑topped towers.
Schwäbisch Hall
- Towers have pointed roofs; not flat.
Tübingen
- Church towers have pointed roofs; not flat.
Ulm
- Ulm Minster has a huge Gothic spire; skyline does not match.
Weingarten
- Basilica has onion domes; not flat.
- Towers too close together.
Würzburg
- Cathedral towers have pointed roofs; not flat.
Esslingen am Neckar
- Excluded because the towers are slender Gothic spires, not flat‑topped Romanesque towers.
Tübingen
- Excluded because the church towers have pointed roofs, not flat tops.
Central Germany (Thuringia, Hesse, Saxony‑Anhalt)
Bad Frankenhausen
- Oberkirche tower has an upper structure, not a flat roof.
Bad Hersfeld
- Abbey towers stand too close together; not 100–200 m apart.
Bad Langensalza
- Too few towers visible in the skyline compared to your stills.
Mühlhausen
- All major church towers have pointed roofs; none are flat.
Quedlinburg
- Stiftskirche towers stand high above the city on a hill.
- Both towers have pointed roofs, not flat.
Northern Germany
Goslar
- Several churches have double towers
- Skyline does not match the pattern in the clip.
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