Picture of the day.

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

I was thinking "Village People - 1940s Style". All together now Y...M....C....A!!!!!

Wow- a half naked Soldat- with his Stahlhelm, boots, jockey shorts, and what seems to be 3 belts in frangible links of MG ammo- MG-42?? What festival event caused this "unusual" outfit- NOT the "Uniform of The Day" for the Wehrmacht, that's for sure!

 

[Graeme]

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

View attachment 485567


Oscar, German cat of obscure birth but of sociable character, saw the light in some port of the Reich at the beginning of 1940. Embarked as mascot on the battleship Bismarck, when the ship was sunk by the British on May 27, 1940, he was rescued by sailors of HMS Cossack who found him perched on a floating axis, many hours after the sinking. Passed unknowingly into the Royal Navy ranks, he adapted himself smoothly to the new ship. On October 24, 1941 the Cossack left Gibraltar to escort a convoy to the United Kingdom and was torpedoed by the German submarine U-563. The survivors were transferred to the destroyer Legion, including Oscar, which was taken over by the commander of Gibraltar port. A few months later the Royal Ark applied for a cat, as an anti-mice weapon. So took service on the aircraft carrier. Needless to say, this ship was torpedoed by a submarine, the U-81, returning from Malta. Oscar was once again recovered in the sea, sleeping peacefully on the wreckage of a wrecked boat. He was later assigned to HMS Lightning, which was obviously sunk in combat in 1943 without the cat suffering any consequences. His last embarkation was on the HMS Legion (which he had already collected after the torpedo of the HMS Cossack) but the ship was shipwrecked in 1944. Oscar, angry but in perfect health, was saved once again. Escaped five times to death, the lucky feline now nicknamed "The Unsinkable Sam" became very popular among British sailors. Prudently, however, the Admiralty decided to keep him far from the sea and after an honorable leave, entrusted him - as reported by Detlef Bluhm in the book "Long Cats" - in an institute for sailors, the House for Sailors in Belfast. Here he died of natural death in 1955.

No one has ever discovered if he worked for Admiral Canaris.

Wasn't Adm. Canaris head of the Abwehr- The Nazi's "CIA" in WW11.

 

[Graeme]

Kamal Ram - Wikipedia

 

[Wurger]

 

[michaelmaltby]

 

[michaelmaltby]

 

[Glider]

View attachment 485567


Oscar, German cat of obscure birth but of sociable character, saw the light in some port of the Reich at the beginning of 1940. Embarked as mascot on the battleship Bismarck, when the ship was sunk by the British on May 27, 1940, he was rescued by sailors of HMS Cossack who found him perched on a floating axis, many hours after the sinking. Passed unknowingly into the Royal Navy ranks, he adapted himself smoothly to the new ship. On October 24, 1941 the Cossack left Gibraltar to escort a convoy to the United Kingdom and was torpedoed by the German submarine U-563. The survivors were transferred to the destroyer Legion, including Oscar, which was taken over by the commander of Gibraltar port. A few months later the Royal Ark applied for a cat, as an anti-mice weapon. So took service on the aircraft carrier. Needless to say, this ship was torpedoed by a submarine, the U-81, returning from Malta. Oscar was once again recovered in the sea, sleeping peacefully on the wreckage of a wrecked boat. He was later assigned to HMS Lightning, which was obviously sunk in combat in 1943 without the cat suffering any consequences. His last embarkation was on the HMS Legion (which he had already collected after the torpedo of the HMS Cossack) but the ship was shipwrecked in 1944. Oscar, angry but in perfect health, was saved once again. Escaped five times to death, the lucky feline now nicknamed "The Unsinkable Sam" became very popular among British sailors. Prudently, however, the Admiralty decided to keep him far from the sea and after an honorable leave, entrusted him - as reported by Detlef Bluhm in the book "Long Cats" - in an institute for sailors, the House for Sailors in Belfast. Here he died of natural death in 1955.

No one has ever discovered if he worked for Admiral Canaris.

A remarkable story but as a Mascot to bring good luck to the ship, I think I would pick something else.

 

[michaelmaltby]

what a cat .... resilient

 

[Jerry Morelock]

Maximum appreciation for the photos. That said and speaking from the standpoint of 45 years of commercial photography I'm always appalled at the lack of care negatives and prints are subjected to over the years. I've never quite been able to justify the repeated copying and publishing of photos in these conditions. There is nothing historical or accurate about scratches, tears, scuffs, fingerprints, etc. I'd like to see some effort made to restore these photos to something nearer their original condition. It's takes some care but it's not brain surgery or I certainly wouldn't be able to do it! Here's a sample:

 

[michaelmaltby]

December, 1941

 

[pbehn]

Maximum appreciation for the photos. That said and speaking from the standpoint of 45 years of commercial photography I'm always appalled at the lack of care negatives and prints are subjected to over the years. I've never quite been able to justify the repeated copying and publishing of photos in these conditions. There is nothing historical or accurate about scratches, tears, scuffs, fingerprints, etc. I'd like to see some effort made to restore these photos to something nearer their original condition. It's takes some care but it's not brain surgery or I certainly wouldn't be able to do it! Here's a sample:
View attachment 485646 View attachment 485646 View attachment 485647

Great work, as an ex radiographer scratches, processing marks, finger prints, in fact almost anything makes me cringe, on an industrial radiograph it almost always meant a re shoot.

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

View attachment 485631

Waiting for the "shanker yanker" to do a "short-arm" inspection perhaps??

View attachment 485632

The lad in the right side front row with his hands in his pockets looks to be wearing ballet shoes- and a girl just behind him has her finger in her nose- not sure what the lad in front row center is "eyeballing" but the crowd is laughing along with the soldiers in uniform. Strange, isn't it, how the laughter and innocence of children transcends all boundaries- my guess is- this was early into the Weltkrieg (1939-1940?) but that's only a guess. Hansie

View attachment 485569

"

"The sword is weapon made to conquer worlds, and I honor the man who shakes it- But-what is he, nor what can he be, without first the man who makes it?"-- The Armorers Song, from "Robin Hood"--actually, 'I honor the man who wields it' would make more sense that "shakes it"- but what rhymes suitably with "wields"???- Hansie

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely shots!

 

[michaelmaltby]

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

View attachment 485662

If the gun crew touched off a round from that big 88- the side blast from the muzzle collar would vaporize that Soldat, his bicycle and everything else he was wearing. One fearsome piece of ordnance, that German 88.

 

[Airframes]

Think it's a 75 mm, possibly PAK.

 

[Greg Boeser]

View attachment 485635
what a cat .... resilient

Ze most fearsome veapon in our Katzenjammer forces! Ja!

 

[michaelmaltby]

 

[michaelmaltby]