Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

German fortification, Normandy, World War II (photo)
imgur.com ^ | 5/15/19 | Imgur username nallex

Posted on 05/16/2019 10:58:29 AM PDT by ransomnote

German fortification, Normandy, World War II.

 
 


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: german; normandy; wwii
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-73 next last
I'd never seen anything like this photo and found the comments attached to this image on imgur (see link) interesting.

Some comments compare this fortification to a chocolate cake, note how loud it must have been to be inside the thing, and disagreement as to teh caliber of shell could do that damage.

Here's another pic for scale.


1 posted on 05/16/2019 10:58:29 AM PDT by ransomnote
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: ransomnote

Great German steel...


2 posted on 05/16/2019 11:01:37 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with islamic terrorists - they want to die for allah and we want to kill them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ransomnote

Looks like maybe 75mm from a Sherman, but that’s an unsupported guess.

And, yeah, I bet it was LOUD inside. At least until the flamethrower guy got there.


3 posted on 05/16/2019 11:01:53 AM PDT by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ransomnote

Somebody was ringing the bell....


4 posted on 05/16/2019 11:02:49 AM PDT by Paladin2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2banana

Krupp’s stahl (sp?)


5 posted on 05/16/2019 11:03:04 AM PDT by SMARTY ("Nobility is defined by the demands it makes on us - by obligations, not by rights".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ransomnote

Looks like 5 inch shells from a destroyer. I did not see this one, but saw another that was taller and not as wide in a private museum on the western exit from Omaha Beach. They said it was 5 inch shells from a destroyer.


6 posted on 05/16/2019 11:04:08 AM PDT by mfish13 (Elections have Consequences.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PLMerite

Some of the smaller ones could be 40mm or Ma Deuce hits, too. But yeah, with the guy next to the structure, it sure looks that thing got hit by quite a few 75 or 76MM Sherman cannon shots.


7 posted on 05/16/2019 11:07:07 AM PDT by L,TOWM (An upraised middle finger is my virtue signal.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Paladin2
More 🐄 🛎
8 posted on 05/16/2019 11:07:18 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: ransomnote

Looks like somebody was using it for target practice.


9 posted on 05/16/2019 11:11:00 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ransomnote

10 posted on 05/16/2019 11:11:05 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ransomnote
My dad was a 22 year old LT (j.g.) in charge of an LCT on Utah Beach. He had an Army engineer company, with bulldozers and TNT. I have a picture of him and his crew posing with a captured German 88.

Don't have it here handy, it's in a storage unit back in Georgia.

11 posted on 05/16/2019 11:12:19 AM PDT by real saxophonist (One side has guns and training. Other side's primary concern is 'gender identity'. Who's gonna win?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mfish13
They said it was 5 inch shells from a destroyer.

I can't imagine ship fire being this accurate. It is more likely 75 MM from Shermans particularly considering the concentration of hits near the aperture.

12 posted on 05/16/2019 11:13:57 AM PDT by pfflier
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: ransomnote
That was the first thing that occurred to me -- can you imagine how DEAFENINGLY LOUD it must have been when the shells hit that turret?

The second thing that strikes me is how fluid the steel was when it was hit. It must almost instantaneously melt when struck by the shells. The steel is very ductile, not brittle.

The third thing that strikes me is that this might have been a test article for the Allies examining the quality of German armor. Would such a fortification actually taken that many hits during battle? The Russians and the U.S. in particular were interested in learning about German armor and frequently tested captured armor.

See "On German Armour" for one interesting take on this.

13 posted on 05/16/2019 11:14:33 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pfflier; mfish13

Or maybe it was being subjected to engineering tests of German armor. Lots of reverse-engineering was going on to determine how good German armor was and how to defeat it.


14 posted on 05/16/2019 11:16:13 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: ransomnote

I wonder how much of that was day of, and how much was target practice afterwards.

Either way, pity it didn’t take some 8 or 14 in. artillery. That would be spectacular.


15 posted on 05/16/2019 11:18:37 AM PDT by Kommodor (Terrorist, Journalist or Democrat? I can't tell the difference.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
Pluskat spotting the Allied fleet at Normandy. From the great movie "The Longest Day".

Pluskat, vas is los? Translation: Pluskat, what's wrong?
16 posted on 05/16/2019 11:21:10 AM PDT by Dan in Wichita
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: pfflier

Oh yeah. The Navy ships came in close, in the shallow water to provide direct fire support.

They could hit that thing all day long. Besides, the supposedly amphibious tanks went straight to the bottom when they were launched, unfortunately with their crews, all lost.

Tanks didn’t make it to the beach on day one.


17 posted on 05/16/2019 11:21:39 AM PDT by OKSooner ("...cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war..." - Marcus Antonius, Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene I)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: ransomnote

I assume all that pitting is due to Global Warming.


18 posted on 05/16/2019 11:22:05 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ransomnote

“Here’s another pic for scale.”

imgur? Shouldn’t there be a banana for scale?


19 posted on 05/16/2019 11:22:11 AM PDT by brownsfan (Behold, the power of government cheese.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

“...note how loud it must have been to be inside the thing”

The ring of the Ruhr!


20 posted on 05/16/2019 11:23:14 AM PDT by Clutch Martin (The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-73 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson