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DAK L/W pics


stewy

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Hi Stewy, I must admit those pics look a bit strange to me , seem awfully well posed and very crystal clear for a 60 year old photo? I'm also a bit alarmed he's in the luftwaffe but wearing an army cap and eagle, he actually looks a bit American to me , anybody any idea what type of trucks those are? the back one does'nt look German to me?

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I tend to agree with Kenny. However the DAK in extreme circumstances did use whatever kit they could get. I have seen Heer/LW personnel wearing a piece of the other service's . This pic though shows a lot of mix n' match. I have of course seen unshaven DAK soldats but this guy has quite a beard. However again I have seen pics of such taken on the ostfront. The trucks are almost certainly British but the DAK used lots of captured equipment particulrly British lorries. There is a lot of faking photos going on.  

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I could be wrong but it really looks like either a reenactor in a Texas oil field or a Militaria Collector standing in Iraq , does the last truck not look post war? Hope I am wrong but it just looks a bit strange to me.

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Hi Kenny & Dave, the general concensus is he could be 88mm crew. That's what i've been told. They came from a reliable source. I'll let you know if anything else comes to light. Stewy

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cheers Stewy, I hope there are OK , the wounds badge looks very worn for a wartime picture as does the chinstrap which looks strangely long as if it was just pulled down from over the visor which is more a collectors style than a combat way of wearing the helmet.

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Hi Kenny,some news. Apparently they wore tropical Heer uniforms due to shortage of L/W ones. The units were three battl's drawn from Flak regt's 6,18 & 33. Stewy

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi guys, I hate to agree with Kenny  but that 1st pic does still seem a bit odd. If you close up on the glasses and look through his right lens the truck in the background disappears. 

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My old womans mate's a photographer. I'll get her to check it out,she'll soon know if it's been buggered about with. Or provide,hopefully an expert explanation. She's done so for some of my pics. Stewy

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Well,Graeme you're right to point it out mate. That's what the site's for & i wouldn't have noticed it. As soon as i get any news i'll keep you folks up to speed. 

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The trucks in the rear are not American, going on Kenny's earlier mention. If it was American I'd expect a GM general purpose vehicle which this is not. I've never seen any American cargo trucks with wheels that large and such a profile. I'm thinking it is either some sort of Italian Lorry or civilian vehicles modified for military use. If you simply google 'WWII Italian Lorry' you'll find images that look similar but not perfect matches. He's very scruffy to be an American (if soldier) but if simply a fake posed image then I suppose he could be. You'll probably be better having someone who knows photographs to ID the paper as authentic based on the stamps and manufacturer print on the back.

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I've never had a problem with the background. It's the figure that seems to me all wrong. Well spotted G on the glasses. I can't believe that the clear patch is natural. The glasses look modern as WW2 era ones had the leg joined to the lens frame at the middle. (ok not that I am an expert on glasses but I have looked at the German service glasses.) I will be interested to hear what Stewy's friend thinks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi folks,i have some news on the pics. The truck in the b/ground is a Canadian military pattern 30cwt truck with no. 11 pattern cab. Apparently DAK used a lot of captured transport. Stewy

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I was of the opinion that the trucks were British types which fits DAK use as they captured lots of them. You also see pictures of Barbarossa where the German unit is using captured British trucks from France and Belgium. My problem is with the figure and still cannot accept him as genuine. Sorry Stewy! You have some other great pics though so keep on posting. 

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Glad the trucks turned out to be OK, the figure still looks strange through, look at the collar insignia, the patches look like they are about to fall off and the eagles are squint, even the shoulder straps are crumpled as if the tunic has just been taken out of a bag, the EK ribbon looks brand new compared to the tunic which looks heavily faded. Dave is right Stewy all you other items are excellent , this one is unusual in many ways which makes it even more interesting. 

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  • 13 years later...

The photos are original, it would be too much trouble faking photos like this and to make it worthwhile the market would be full of them. It is well known that the Wehrmacht used captured vehicles and equipment, and the Afrikakorps even more, as not enough supplies were getting through to North Africa. Rommel also used a British vehicle as his personal command vehicle. I have seen quite a few photos of Luftwaffe personnel wearing army tropical tunics with LW collar patches and shoulder pieces. The glasses are similar to the service issue of the period (Dienstbrille).

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I still think the photos look odd, I'm not saying this would have been done for financial gain, as you say far too much trouble. However I still think there is a chance it is a collector who was maybe working in the desert, possibly an oil worker.  He saw the plume of smoke and decided to get his collection out to pose in front of it.  Also the colour of the photos, they look almost brown, like you see in photo's of the Wild West. German photo's I've seen tend to be more black and white. I'm probably wrong who knows, but they just seem a bit odd to me,  maybe one day a collector will join the forum and say, that's me. :D     

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  • Kenny Andrew pinned this topic

And apart from that, nobody writes like that nowadays and see also the watermarks on the back of the photos "Mimosa Helioton", the photos look black and white to me, perhaps with a light Farbton. The photopaper has the typical jagged edges of the period. How many collectors working on oil projects bring their collections into the desert?

S/w Fotopapier Mimosa Helioton 301 :: Industrie- und Filmmuseum Wolfen ::  museum-digital:sachsen-anhalt

WW2 German, Soviet, Allied militaria, uniforms, awards, weapons history.  War relics forum

Ł Afrikakorps 1941-43

image.thumb.jpeg.e3ae630c722ee3327853d63a1cdbf570.jpeg

ww2 Wehrmacht Dienstbrille

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