Captured German Photos - 1940 vintage

Scanned half of the German photos my dad had. Don’t know where they came from or any story with them. First one has a caption on the back and a year “1940”. I think the others are probably same time period in France or Belgium. The Allied soldier is wearing a French or Belgian helmet.

Photo below and caption on back. 1940, maybe someone can translate, the script is too much for me to pick out letters other than what I think is “regiment”.
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Below, German treating wounded/injured French or Belgian soldier. I am guessing French or Belgian because it looks like a crest on the helmet.
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Germans with dead soldier. Again guessing this is Belgian? I once thought paratrooper but the series of photos doesn’t seem to fit a time period for that.
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German picture of downed and burned German plane. Looks like a transport when you see the size of it compared to the guys standing there. Maybe a Junkers JU 52?
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The landscape and architecture confirm this is Belgium in May 1940. The wounded man is a Belgian soldier (lion on his helmet). i'm not sure about the aircraft but the Ju52 seems possible.

Oh, yes the Germans are Flak soldiers (artillery unit)

 

Given the framing remnant...id say it is indeed a 52.

 

The first picture was taken in France though.


the caption says: "Regiments übungsgabe in Granville August 1940". Which means Regiment training session in Granville August 1940.

Granville is on the Normandy coast and is facing the Island of Jersey .

 

"Regiments übungsgabe" seems fishy to me. I would put my money on "Regimentsübergabe", the german word for change of command. Maybe Ullrich can chime in, he's a native speaker!

 

"Regimentsübergabe in Granville" is correct, means that one Regiment leaves and a other one will have to do their duties at there.

 

good addition lads, I read übung instead of übergabe hence my translation of exercice. This being said , the changing of the guard must have been part of their daily drilling, they had not much else to do those days anyway.

 

The France of the first photo versus Belgium for the others makes sense. The France photo was with the others but printed in a different format so it wasn’t printed with the others. I have another four or so to scan and post, hopefully this evening. Fun to share these after they sat in a box with other old war photos and WWII German currency for decades.

 

Glad we could help. Maybe you found out which Flak Units were in Granville in August 1940

 

That is a Ju-52. Wing flaps and tail give it away

 

Hi,
Pictures from Granville. Position of the FlaK and old pillbox.
Situation : Pointe du Roc

Regards,

Eric View attachment 16714

 

That will be some fun!

Lexikon der Wehrmacht - Artillerie-Verbnde der Luftwaffe

 

Here are a few more, two that can use some help with the German caption on the back. I’ll put the last two in the next post (five photo limit I have found!)

Bomb damage to railroad. German caption might help with location.
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Civilians and body in ditch. Caption mentions Paris. On road to Paris 1940?
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Dead horse and civilian cart. No caption but assume similar locale to cart and body photo.
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Here are the last two. Both have captions for the translators out there.

Dead horses that look like military cavalry by the saddles and blanket roll. German caption might shed some light on that.
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Picture of German soldiers with what I assume are French or Belgian gals. Caption translation will maybe help.
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The first one reads "Libramont Einschlag einer Stukabombe" = Libramont ( a town in the Belgian Ardennes) impact of a Stuka bomb.

The Second one reads "..sternay, südlich Paris. Heimkehrende Flüchtlinge" ..sternay, to the south of Paris. Refugees on their way home.

My best guess for the second town would be Esternay, there is a town with that name but it lies to the east of Paris.

 

The first one reads "Fismes Beschlagene Kruppen" Fismes is a town in the french Champagne Ardenne region. But the rest of the text is a riddle to me. Both words are related to horses, "Beschlagen" means either that horse got horseshoes fitted or that the mare got mounted by a stud. The "Kruppe" is the rump of the horse........?


The second one reads "Stelldichein in Luxemburg. Gutes Einvernehmen mit der Bevölkerung." Rendezvous in Luxemburg, good understanding with the population.

I'm a little confused and upset about that last picture ;-)
Most of the population wasn't happy at all about the german occupation and either the girls changed their attitude very fast or they ended up with a "boule à zéro" in september 1944. The town looks to me as being in the northern part of the country.

You can recreate the route of the soldier and the timeline of the pictures:

-Luxembourg
-Libramont
-Fismes
-Esternay
-...........
-...........
-Granville

 

It's Artenay on the N20 which is 100km south of Paris just south of Etampes. It's a crossroad with the Road Orleans-Paris and the road to Chartres. I know Artenay very well , it's a on the French wheat belt (in other words in the middle of nowhere) . You'll recognise the place easily because when you reach the cross road there is a 19th century windmill right next the trafic light. If you ever go there, visit the local VW dealer, he is a WW2 enthousiast and has restored a wonderful DAF Küblewagen and displays it for the public from time to time. Also there is a Patton monument at the crossroad because the 3rd Army was there in August 1944.

 

Hi,
In 1940 the population is divided. There are resigned, opponents and pro-Germans.
It should not be difficult to find people cheering German troops. Especially that German troops have only cross these areas without a fight and therefore without bringing desolation.
And then, beautiful German soldiers did not have difficult to convince young beautiful girls to pose for a picture ...
Anyway, beautiful translation of pictures anotations !
regards,
Eric