Fly-by - World War II Photography

16/10/2024

📸 (c) Rob Hendriks - Fly-by.nl

31/03/2024

FORGOTTEN... BUT NOT FORGOTTEN... 31-3-1943

On 31 March 1943 the VIII Bomber Command of the U.S. Army Air Forces executed Mission No. 48, a bomb raid on the Wilton-Fijenoord Shipyards in Schiedam. A total of six Bombardment Groups of the VIII Bomber Command participated in the mission. 78 B-17F Flying Fortresses and 24 B-24D Liberators took off from various airbases in the UK, all carrying a deadly bomb load of numerous 1.000 lbs. General Purpose bombs.

Of the 102 bombers that took off that day, four failed to return resulting in 16 deaths, 8 wounded and 10 missing crew members. Some other bombers returned early due to mechanical failures or battle damage. Only 33 bombers reached the target area and bombed their bombs over Schiedam and Rotterdam. The other bombers aborted the mission due to overcast clouds over the target area.

Due to various unforeseen circumstances, the mission ended in enormous tragedy. Many of the bombs that were dropped missed the target and ended up in the Bospolder-Tussendijken district in Rotterdam, causing at least 450 deaths. In the shadow of the German bombing of Rotterdam on May 14, 1940, this bombing is called "the forgotten bombardment".

------------------

In the previous months I've been researching hundreds of documents about this mission. I created a website (www.rotterdam 1943.nl) about Mission No. 48 (the raid om Rotterdam, 31 March 1943). At this website you will find extensive information on the mission.

Follow my page: Rotterdam 31 March 1943 to stay tuned for updates.

04/01/2024

For all our fans interested in aviation and WWII, this is really a “must see”! Great stuff by Joost de Raaf.

Mission 760: The Largest Air Strike of the WarWith Joost de RaafPart of 8th Air Force Week 2 on WW2TVhttps://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDG3XyxGI5lDgqVS0YC0g...

12/07/2023

03/01/2022

Close to the museum in Plougonvelin the M.K.B. Holtzdorf can be found. This battery is also known as the battery Les Rospects (Re 305) and is the first battery to protect the entrance of the Rade de Brest. It had 15 cm S.K.C./28 guns which were operated by 1./M.A.A. 262. Her sister, the battery Kerbonn stands at the other side of the Rade at Pointe de Pen Hir. This type M182 bunker was used to house a 150 cm searchlight.

(48.32812, -4.76160)

(c) Rob Hendriks - www.fly-by.nl

03/01/2022

75 Years D-Day commemoration para drops over Dropzone O La Fière, close to Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy on June 9th 2019.
(c) Rob Hendriks - www.fly-by.nl

06/12/2021

December 7, 1941 - 80 years
Pearl Harbor- Lest we forget 🌺

05/12/2021

Last surviving officer of the Band of Brothers, Edward D. Shames, age 99, passed away peacefully at home on December 3, 2021.

Ed was born in Norfolk, Virginia on June 13, 1922, to the late David and Sadie Shames. In August, 1942, Ed was called to duty in World War II. During the war, he was a member of the renowned Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division now known globally as the “Band of Brothers.” Ed was involved in some of the most important battles of the war. He made his first combat jump into Normandy on D-Day as part of Operation Overlord. He volunteered for Operation Pegasus and then fought with Easy Company in Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne. Ed gained a reputation as a stubborn and very outspoken soldier who demanded the highest of standards from himself and his fellow soldiers. He not only earned the respect of his men, but was recognized by command for outstanding leadership and on June 13, 1944, he received a battlefield commission to Second Lieutenant. This made him the first non-commissioned officer in the Third Battalion to receive a commission in Normandy. In Germany, he was the first member of the 101st to enter Dachau concentration camp, just days after its liberation. When Germany surrendered, Ed and his men of Easy Company entered Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest where Ed managed to acquire a few bottles of cognac, a label indicating they were “for the Fuhrer’s use only.” Later, he would use the cognac to toast his oldest son’s Bar Mitzvah. Ed was the last surviving officer and oldest surviving member of the “Band of Brothers.” On November 6, 2021, the American Veterans Center at its annual Veterans Conference and Honors program gave a final toast to Ed and presented him with the distinguished Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Wings of Valor Award.
After the war, Ed worked for the National Security Agency as an expert on Middle East affairs. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserve Division and later retired as a Colonel

06/06/2021

77 Years - D-DAY June 6th 1944
Lest we forget 🌺

03/01/2021

The Musée Mémoires 39-45 in Plougonveilin is located in the Graf Spee naval artillery battery command post. It consists of two standard bunker plans, connected by a tunnel. The lower level is a type M 151 bunker, which housed the garrison in charge of close-in defence. The four upper levels, S 414 type, were devoted to the control of the four 28 cm guns situated around 1.500 metres away inland. In this part of the bunker were accommodation for the technicians, rooms for the ventilation system and generators and a signals centre. The targeting equipment was in the top sections: rangefinder, goniometer and parallax corrector.

Brest was a strategic harbour for the German forces. Its purpose was to shelter part of the German fleet, notably its warships and submarines during maintenance. Construction began on the Graf Spee battery as early as July 1940 to deny access to the bay of Brest to any enemy warship. Its size and the calibre of its artillery made it the most powerful battery in the Finistère Département. The battery covered 22 hectares, the four main guns, 28cm S.K.L40 models, were protected in their emplacements. They could engage targets at a range of almost 30km. In addition to the 13 anti-aircraft guns, there were around ten machine-gun nests, three gr***de launchers and an anti-tank gun. Many concrete shelters were also built: a first aid station, an ammunition dump, accommodation shelters, a kitchen, a water storage tank and a signals shelter. On the surface many wooden huts were carefully camouflaged in an attempt to deceive Allied aircraft.

In 1944 air raids increased in number and intensity and the decision was made to build concrete emplacements to protect the guns. When the GIs liberated Brittany, only one of these had been completed. In August 1944 the US Army approached Brest from the North and the East. The three guns that were still in their open circular emplacements aimed at the invaders and crushed them with their 240 kilo shells. The American Staff quickly reacted and sent its special forces to capture the position: they were the 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions, who had taken the Pointe du Hoc in Normandy on June the 6th. 1.300 GIs, guided and supported by 3.000 Resistance fighters from Nord Finistère began their difficult movement towards the battery. American soldiers caught under the fire of the 28 cm guns nicknamed the shells ʺChoo Choo – the locomotiveʺ, because of their size, the noise they made and the impressive blast effect they had when they flew over their heads. The position was captured on September 9, 1944 after violent combats causing many casualties: 64 Americans, 22 Resistance fighters, close to 300 Germans and over 60 civilians died.

GPS: 48.33491, -4.76201

25/12/2020

Four days before Christmas Eve 2015, Dick Jansen from Burgum, the Netherlands, got the idea to burn candle lights on the war graves in his hometown, just as it had been done for 25 years at the Canadian cemetery in Holten. His second thought was: why not do this in all of the Netherlands? He set up a Facebook action on the page of Keep Them Rolling, with the idea ´if 15 to 20 people also do this, it would be great ´But it turned out very differently ... the action on social media was massively picked up and shared by many people. The response was unbelievable, and on Christmas Eve there were candles at war cemeteries in over 140 places in the Netherlands. A start of a new Dutch tradition?

In 2016, light was placed at 263 locations in the Netherlands. In 2017, more than 284 locations burned lights at a war grave. In 2018 there where 335 wargraves wth a light. Last year the light action has become even bigger on more than 445 wargraves locations was burning a light. And not only in the Netherlands - also abroad. Hundreds of people are now burning a light on Christmas Eve. In our home town Uden all 703 graves at the Uden War Cemetery had light.

GPS: 51.66381, 5.61243