General Apathy Posted January 19, 2014 Share #6776 Posted January 19, 2014 Hi Ken, I like the old 'fence' better. Don't worry about the photos, next time that happens send them to me and I will try to get them posted for you. RC Hi RC, thanks for the offer of help , it's pretty weird sometimes how the odd photo here or there refuses to shrink to the required sizes ............ ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 19 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 19, 2014 Share #6777 Posted January 19, 2014 Hey Ken, seems you had an interesting walk near Falaise.... As for the Motobecane, I couldn't possible replace it with a scooter.... the moped was bought new by my grandfather, passed on to my father and now I have it.... a Family piece.... Hi Johan, OK, so your excused your family got you into that one. I'm so pleased I never inflicted anything similar onto my daughter, I have always recited to her that possible famous quote used in the scene of the sherriff being hanged by the townspeople in Blazing Saddles and the padre quotes ' your on your own ' when holding up the bible defending the sherriff and someone puts a bullet through it. ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 19 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 19, 2014 Share #6778 Posted January 19, 2014 Ken, I was pondering your safety in French traffic and believe I have a solution. You need to dress like you belong in the traffic, maybe as a French traffic cop. Then I thought some more and figured that posing as a French traffic cop could land you in jail. Then it struck me, the perfect outfit. Besides Gendarmes, what body of people can be out in the middle of the street, disrupt traffic and not get in trouble for it? The French Mimes! Yes Ken, you should dress as a French mime and then it would be perfectly acceptable to be out in the middle of the street taking photos! mime emot.jpg mimes.jpg Hi Beast, I think you have too much time on your hands, for a man of your age to be watching stuff like that on the TV, I think you should get out more , but then again here I am writing this stuff perhaps I should as well ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 19 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 19, 2014 Share #6779 Posted January 19, 2014 The French are pretty hot on traffic regulations. Every time I take my car over on the ferry, by French law I have to carry....a fire extinguisher, First Aid kit, set of spare bulbs, 1 x emergency reflective triangle, 2 x hi-viz vests and a breathalyzer kit. Failure to do so can result in a spot-fine by Les Gendarmes! Hi ian, well some of those requirements have been relaxed apparently, well certainly the breathalyzer requirements. apparently according to folk-law gossip and possible reporting in the newspapers it appears that the member of the French government that initiated the requirement to carry breathalyzers was a stock-holder of the company that made them ............ but then again I am only reporting whats being said out there on the streets. ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 19 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 19, 2014 Share #6780 Posted January 19, 2014 Hi I cannot believe that carbine barrel... Very Cool... I have to admit when i get another chance to invade Normandy i do fancy spending some time further away from the coast, and by the look of these pictures there is plenty to see. Regards Tom Hi Tom, well to me it looks like a Carbine barrel, but one of the guys I saw today who was with us yesterday looking at the barrel considers it to be a Mauser K-98, I see the foresight as being more Carbine in appearance ?? And yes there is certainly a whole lot more to see throughout Normandy and further than just the beaches, in most cases much more untouched areas, buildings and locations, the beaches are really just flat sand now but many of the buildings further inland are still battle-scared. These two house are next door to one another, one with pock-marks around the window and one just a fireplace and chimney. These are within the Falaise pocket. ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 19 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 19, 2014 Share #6781 Posted January 19, 2014 General it is great to have you back!! I just love the before and after pics as well as picks of items you dig up in your every day jobs. I look at em once and then go back and look at em again~ Keep up the good work~ I really like the gun barrel in the tree, any idea how it got there? Is there a receiver maybe imbedded in the tree? Where I live we find horseshoes and nails in our trees but GUNS?? Hi Chunky, thanks for letting me know that you enjoy the photos. The owners of the manoir where the tree stands reckon that it was embedded into the tree following an explosion of a vehicle near the tree, it's about fifteen feet in the air so not easy to reach and all the ivy covering doesn't help. Funny thing happened as we were inspecting it and taking photographs, a car passed us slowly and the two people in it were cranning their necks trying to see what we were looking at. They drove a little further down the road turned and cruised past us again, after we left and walked a few hundred yards along the road we looked back and they had again turned and parked near the tree and were stood looking at it. I suggested that we wind them up further and all just stop and point to an area of a fence line and appear interested and see if they again came past to see what we were looking at ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 19 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 19, 2014 Share #6782 Posted January 19, 2014 Ian, you look a little green around the gills, suck it in dear boy, suck it in ! ! ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 19 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEAST Posted January 19, 2014 Share #6783 Posted January 19, 2014 Hi Beast, I think you have too much time on your hands, for a man of your age to be watching stuff like that on the TV, I think you should get out more , but then again here I am writing this stuff perhaps I should as well ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 19 2013 . Ken, What can I say? It was early and I hadn't had my first cup of coffee yet! Maybe I should just "mime" my own business? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6784 Posted January 21, 2014 Ken, What can I say? It was early and I hadn't had my first cup of coffee yet! Maybe I should just "mime" my own business? Hi Beast, just to "re-mime " you that without your wit, comments or criticism the posts would be less interesting here, ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 19 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6785 Posted January 21, 2014 As you know, the Falaise Gap was a scene of pure carnage Ken. You must have seen the newsreels and read some of the eye-witness accounts? It looks so peaceful today, it's hard to imagine what a hell-on-earth it was at that time...if you were a retreating German! Ian, a further image of the carnage to be seen at that time in the ' corridor of death ' another name it became to be known by, sorry I have no comparison shot to show. ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 21 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6786 Posted January 21, 2014 Falaise Gap ( Corridor of Death ) finds ........ these are a few pieces I picked up last Saturday easily spotted resting on the surface of a field, another member of our group found the support bracket from a vehicle footstep, the large round cap possibly from one of the 200 litre fuel barrels, and another friend picked up the prize piece a chunk of armor 45cms thick coated on one-side with the German wartime anti-magnetic Zimmerit compound. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmerit seen in my little finds, top centre a possible radio support that would have had rubber grommets, right is a 20mm shell case, left a shell head that has been split open and splayed apart, and bottom centre a rifle cartridge head. ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 21 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6787 Posted January 21, 2014 Then & Now ................... the two images above show the pre-war restaurant on the one side route slope of Mont Ormel where the Polish armor were located. To be seen now on the top of Mont Ormel is a monument to the fightingin the valley below and all around this hill, featuring a Sherman and an M-8 armored car, there is also an interesting museum with objects, photo's, written panels and panoramic windows overlooking the Falaise pocket. On the opposite slope of Mont Ormel to the restaurant side is a field where one Panther successfully knocked out five or six Polish Shermans without damage to itself.. ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 21 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6788 Posted January 21, 2014 Is that a complete renovation of the damaged building Ken...or a re-build on the same site? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutiger83 Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6789 Posted January 21, 2014 Ken, What wonderful pictures to add to the threat! The pictures and story of the carnage in "the corridor of death" are unbelievable. Unless the battles are fought in your home land, I don't think people ever realize the devastation that exists to the countryside and civilian population. Some people tend to glorify war and forget the extreme costs to life in general. ....Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6790 Posted January 21, 2014 Is that a complete renovation of the damaged building Ken...or a re-build on the same site? Hi Ian, it is in fact a renovation and not a total rebuild, there was neither the money or the materials to effect a complete rebuild, note in the end wall a section of the small red bricks are still visible rising up the wall, bottom left corner of the building still has the three windows with a plaster surround added to them during the post-war rebuild. When I first came during the late 70's there were people iving in parts of houses that had retained roofs, and abandoned rooms where the roof was missing and they could not afford the materials. The American government and forces donated tons of corrugated sheets for roof repairs, it was nick-named locally ' American-thatch '. There are buildings still to be seen here that the upper floors of the houses or barns were repaired using sheets of airfield tracking known as PSP, Perforated Steel Planking ( or Plate ). ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 21 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6791 Posted January 21, 2014 Fascinating....thanks Ken. ( I know you have an eye for architectural details!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6792 Posted January 21, 2014 Ken, What wonderful pictures to add to the threat! The pictures and story of the carnage in "the corridor of death" are unbelievable. Unless the battles are fought in your home land, I don't think people ever realize the devastation that exists to the countryside and civilian population. Some people tend to glorify war and forget the extreme costs to life in general. ....Kat Hi Kat, that's a good observation that you make on the effect on the civilian population, and infrastructure what we now call collateral damage. And more photo's for you, the top photo above is one I used a few days ago in a previous post, the one below it is of the same two tanks and seen from the opposite side. ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 21 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutiger83 Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6793 Posted January 21, 2014 And more photo's for you, the top photo above is one I used a few days ago in a previous post, the one below it is of the same two tanks and seen from the opposite side. Ken, What I find interesting is that the photos show the same tanks from different angles, yet the devastation around it is totally different. In the first picture, the house in the background does not really look damaged. In the second picture, the house in the background looks almost destroyed. It looks like fire damage above the windows and doors. ....Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6794 Posted January 21, 2014 Fascinating....thanks Ken. ( I know you have an eye for architectural details!) Hey Ian, looking at this the other day I spotted that the building does not appear to be too straight or vertical, you might even say that it is leaning,................ ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 21 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6795 Posted January 21, 2014 Ken, What I find interesting is that the photos show the same tanks from different angles, yet the devastation around it is totally different. In the first picture, the house in the background does not really look damaged. In the second picture, the house in the background looks almost destroyed. It looks like fire damage above the windows and doors. ....Kat Kat, yes the farmhouse in the lower photo has had a complete renovation, I did notice however that the top row of carved stone on the one chimney has a missing chunk of stone on one corner, sorry to say I didn't get a shot of the house, there isn't a great deal in the way of features to make comparisons. The 1970's photo above shows part of a large salvage yard which was where all the damaged vehicles from the Falaise pocket were assembled for ultimate breakdown. However when it was discovered in the 1970's by military vehicle collectors it became THE gold-mine for the next thirty years as people dragged stuff out of there for restoration, I think you would be lucky to find a few odd nuts and bolts now. ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 21 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted January 22, 2014 Share #6796 Posted January 22, 2014 Hi Ken, Looks like Trun. Did you go to Chambois ? I love the trail to the Moissy ford. Falaise is my favorite place in Normandy and the town dump was a gold mine. How I envy you but only when I read this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted January 22, 2014 Share #6797 Posted January 22, 2014 forum leaning tower.jpg Hey Ian, looking at this the other day I spotted that the building does not appear to be too straight or vertical, you might even say that it is leaning,................ ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 21 2013 . Indeed it is. I went to the top of that several years ago. In fact, the angle of the lean has been increasing gradually with the passage of time, so engineers have added a counter-balance to the opposite side to stabilise it lest it topples over! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LtRGFRANK Posted January 22, 2014 Share #6798 Posted January 22, 2014 finally had time to catch up your then and now posting. You must have a 6th sense to find the places off of old pictures. Keep them coming and I'll try and get you a pay raise. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 28, 2014 Share #6799 Posted January 28, 2014 Hi Ken, Looks like Trun. Did you go to Chambois ? I love the trail to the Moissy ford. Falaise is my favorite place in Normandy and the town dump was a gold mine. How I envy you but only when I read this thread. Hi Manay, give this man a coconut he won the caption for the previos photograph, yes that's Trun vehicle dump, or was, but not now. Yes we did Moissy ford and had lunch sat looking at the tranquil scene it is today. regards ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 28 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Apathy Posted January 28, 2014 Share #6800 Posted January 28, 2014 Indeed it is. I went to the top of that several years ago. In fact, the angle of the lean has been increasing gradually with the passage of time, so engineers have added a counter-balance to the opposite side to stabilise it lest it topples over! Hi Ian, well it obviously didn't fall while you were climbing it, I wonder if in fact it was built with a lean on it, can't say never seen it too busy here photographing Normandy . If it was in fact in the UK then the health and safety would prevent tourists from enetering it . ken Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, January 28 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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