Picture of the day.

[Dash119]

 

[nuuumannn]

The monument was located on the Berlin inner ring road on the way to Templehof Airport.

That tank, an IS-2 had something of a restless career as a monument. It was first located on Postdamer Strasse at the very north eastern tip of the suburb of Zehlendorf in what was the American Sector - the reason the Soviets put it prominently where it was, to remind the US forces who had their headquarters in Zehlendorf, of who reached Berlin first. It got graffitied a bit and was removed some years later and relocated further south at the far end of Zehlendorf, on the outskirts of US territory in Berlin at the border between Berlin and Brandenburg. Next, it was placed on the autobahn out of the city at a point very close to what became Checkpoint Bravo once the Wall was erected, at Dreilinden, which is near the Wannsee, where the infamous conference where the Final Solution was decided. Once again, removed following the fall of the wall, I'm not sure of its whereabouts now, and the concrete plinth on which it sat has been removed.

Oddly enough, just a bit further down the motorway was another plinth erected with a tank on top of it, this was a T-34, much smaller than the IS-2 from the original monument. That tank has similarly been described as being the first tank to arrive in Berlin, but the original one formerly located on Potsdamer Strasse was an IS-2. There are plenty of pics of the T-34 on its plinth being graffitied and of its removal - the plinth is still there at Dreilinden as the Panzerdenkmal with pictures of the T-34 on top of it, unlike the original IS-2 plinth, which was closer to the checkpoint gates.

The whereabouts of these two tanks is not known to me. Perhaps the original IS-2 is the one at the German-Russian Museum at Karlshorst?

Europe 334

 

[michaelmaltby]

WWPictures
Wehrmacht soldiers riding on a tractor

 

[Wurger]

 

[nuuumannn]

Wehrmacht soldiers riding on a tractor

"Preparations for Operation Sealion continue at a pace in France today..."

 

[syscom3]

SBD dive bombers from USS Lexington (CV-16) fly over Saipan on their way to bomb Aslito Airfield, on 15 June 1944.

 

[syscom3]

Luftwaffe Focke Wulf Fw 190 fighters awaiting disposal at Flensburg airfield in Germany, 2 August 1945.

 

[syscom3]

Cattle grazing among Junkers Ju 88 bombers awaiting disposal at Flensburg airfield in Germany, 2 August 1945

 

[Wurger]

 

[michaelmaltby]

WW Photos
1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" motorcycle unit moves south thru Greece 1942

 

[Wurger]

 

[syscom3]

Captured Russian-built Chinese Air Force I-16 fighter on display at the stadium in Nishinomiya, Japan, late 1930s

 

[syscom3]

Avro York C Mark I aircraft of No. 47 Group RAF at RAF Luqa, Malta, 3 August 1945.

 

[syscom3]

The Kyushu J7W Shinden.

 

[syscom3]

USS Missouri (BB-63) recovers its OS2U-3 floatplane, August 1945.

 

[Wurger]

 

[michaelmaltby]

Histomil.com
bundesarchiv_bild_101ii-mw-2354-09-_frankreich-_zersto-rungen-jpg.590906 -- 1940

 

[syscom3]

F4U-1 (birdcage, Bu No 02576) white 576, "Marines Dream" of VMF 214 flown by 1Lt Ed Olander after it crashed at Torokina Bougainville during 1943. Note the armed sentries.

 

[syscom3]

RAF groundcrew and local Singhalese lowering a Consolidated Catalina of No. 240 Squadron RAF into the water at Red Hills Lake, Ceylon, after undergoing repairs, 4 August 1945.

 

[syscom3]

This would make for an interesting diorama.

The streets of Berlin have now been well tidied up, but tanks dug into the main thoroughfares as pillboxes [the tracks and wheels having been completely removed] still remain. Refugees returning from the West are seen passing one of these tanks in the Berliner Strasse. August 4, 1945.