D Day - then & now

[Rikki72 17]

Click on the pics to reveal the same locations as they are today:

http://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/2014/apr/image-opacity-slider-master/index.html?ww2-dday

[Limey 242]

Those are brilliant!

[MelissaJKelly 2,120]

They are fantastic!!!

[siddha 825]

Fabulous !

Thanks for posting the link.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

Very good I always like a then and now photograph series.

[Trevor S 2,003]

Rikki72...Thanks for sharing those brilliant photographs..

[firbeck 859]

Superb, where did you find those, are there anymore?

I've been to all these locations, most of them with my old man who landed at Arromanches, he would have appreciated the photo of the captured German prisoners, when we found his landing spot back in 1994, that was his first memory of the place, a stream of German prisoners happily going into captivity. Don't forget that a large proportion of the German troops in Normandy were from Eastern European countries, Ukrainians for instance who had had enough of Stalin and the Soviets, they backed the wrong side, as we are clearly aware of with regard to the crap going on over there today.

I recall staying overnight at St Lo opposite the castle, blasting that place was one of those terrible mistakes by the Allies, but then, in war, sh#t happens, except we never learn, do we.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

I love the pics, but one of those German POWs is the spitting image of a guy I used to work with.

[DavidA 153]

Those are superb photos. Thanks for posting them.

[Rikki72 17]

@Firbeck #7 I'm afraid I don't have any more - I saw the link posted in another forum & thought some of the folk on here might like them too but I have no idea where they originated from. If I come across any more I will definitely post the links.

Interesting to read about the Eastern European troops. I thought the Atlantic defences were largely manned by German teenagers who were too young to fight in the east. Must have seemed like armageddon was happening when they woke up on that morning.

[Trevor S 2,003]

Entered in error

[Trevor S 2,003]

Remembered these other photographs of a similar nature and topic, posted some time ago on Nottstalgia.....

http://nottstalgia.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12602

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Got two huge volumes of a book called Twenty Years After which is basically a book of photos of the WW1 battle sites and the same scenes , later in the 30s .It would appear to have been a series of magazines originally .

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=12101211553&searchurl=an%3Dswinton%26amp%3Bsortby%3D3%26amp%3Btn%3Dtwenty%2Byears%2Bafter

One day I would love to personally visit and do some comparison 100 years after photos . Now my eldest has moved to Holland it's more likely I will get a chance . At the moment have to make do with streetview !

As an example , this is Poelcappelle in Belgium in 1914-18 absolutely smashed to pieces and then later in the 30s from the book . The streetview scene (I think) is a roughly similar position from 2009.

[firbeck 859]

@Firbeck #7 I'm afraid I don't have any more - I saw the link posted in another forum & thought some of the folk on here might like them too but I have no idea where they originated from. If I come across any more I will definitely post the links.

Interesting to read about the Eastern European troops. I thought the Atlantic defences were largely manned by German teenagers who were too young to fight in the east. Must have seemed like armageddon was happening when they woke up on that morning.

I have just read a fantastic book which are the true memoirs of a young German soldier sent to fight on the Eastern Front in 1942 when he was just 16, I'm at work and haven't got it with me, I'll look up the title when I get home. He was drafted in from the Alsace Province and French was his main language, most of his fellow trainee troops were also very young. Later, during the great retreat through East Prussia they were reinforced with the Volksturm or Home Guard full of old men and kids barely into their teens. I suspect that a lot of the East European troops were sent west in case they had ideas of defecting back to the Russians. If you read 'D-Day' by Stephen Ambrose of 'Band of Brothers' fame, while a very American biased book, it makes a good read and much reference is made in there to the number of East Europeans in the Wehrmacht, most of whom seemed quite eager to surrender to the Allies very quickly.

[Karlton 582]

TAKEN FROM A BOOK I READ ON THE FIRST WORLD WAR

The sight I saw I just couldn't take it in and for a split second was dumbstruck and whatever I was, I was rarely at a loss for words. The lad was on his knees, his back to me, frantically tunnelling with his bare hands into the earth in a futile attempt to escape from the mayhem that was developing all around us. "C'mon Lad" I shrieked, tugging at his tunic, the young soldier resisted with a strength born of fear and all the time his two hands were clawing feverishly at mother earth. Blind panic, so terrifying to behold for even a hardened soldier, had not even allowed his common sense to select his entrenchment tool for the purpose. I forcibly grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him back into the trench. The sight of that brave under age boy lying on the duckboard shook me rigid. His entire head of hair had changed from close black to virgin white. The horrendous sight was well nigh unbelievable, the ravages of fear and terror had bleached his young looks in minutes and turned the boy into a frightful sight of half old and half young, everyone in the front line knew fear but to see it, visually, so stark and unhidden, was horrible. UNFORTUNATELY I,VE LOST THE BOOK.