A very sad photo

Gerst said:
It looks like the same pile!

You are good!
Click to expand...

It is. Footage is of the Germans crossing the Elbe River at Tangermünde to escape the Russians and surrender to the Americans. There are several photos and newsreel footage of this surrender and the great piles of weapons...
 

Attachments

  • elbe-1.jpg
    elbe-1.jpg
    197.2 KB · Views: 55
  • elbe-2.jpg
    elbe-2.jpg
    158.4 KB · Views: 59
  • elbe-5.jpg
    elbe-5.jpg
    148.5 KB · Views: 57
  • elbe-6.jpg
    elbe-6.jpg
    149.3 KB · Views: 60
  • elbe-7.jpg
    elbe-7.jpg
    156.6 KB · Views: 56
So far, no WW2 photo evidence has shown up showing such a pile of surrendered bolts to my knowledge. Did it happen? Probably somewhere, but so far nothing but anecdotal evidence.
 
Bring -back candidates

It looks like one fellow is holding a potential bring-back pistol & holster. He already has a nice pair of binoculars lying behind him. It looks like He’s handing his buddy another pistol. Well, it is a weapons collection-point!
 
Last edited:
Since you guys are so good at picking all this stuff out of the photos how about this gun? About 2/3rds up on the far right side.

which gun.jpgcapture pile.jpg
 
Gerst said:
It looks like one fellow is holding a potential bring-back pistol & holster. He already has a nice pair of binoculars lying behind him. It looks like He’s handing his buddy another pistol. Well, it is a weapons collection-point!
Click to expand...

Here is some different newsreel footage of the same event. Of note is some sporting rifle being surrendered by one of the German officers right at the beginning. Another is a different German officer being relieved of his binoculars at 1:07 into the footage. Same pair? Who knows, probably several binoculars taken that day.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...D9C2019306C5C7698182D9C2019306C5&&FORM=VRDGAR
 
Stan said:
Here is some different newsreel footage of the same event. Of note is some sporting rifle being surrendered by one of the German officers right at the beginning. Another is a different German officer being relieved of his binoculars at 1:07 into the footage. Same pair? Who knows, probably several binoculars taken that day.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...D9C2019306C5C7698182D9C2019306C5&&FORM=VRDGAR
Click to expand...

Yeah, lots of future eBay items, sold by the grandkids and great-grandkids of the GIs. Sad. Nobody seems to value anything these days.
 
k98dave said:
Yeah exactly...... that's always been the story of MM bolt GI bring backs but I have never seen any photos that prove that to have been the case either.
Click to expand...

I remember when you couldn't GIVE away a 98k with a mismatched bolt. Then, as matching rifles became harder to find, mismatched examples began to move. Which was fine of course, until sellers began to invent stories about the ways that a mismatched rifle was actually "correct".

Which immediately reminded me of that old Clint Eastwood line: "Don't p*ss down the back of my neck, and tell me it's raining!"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top