by Bertrand Froger | 24 Jan 2017 | Discoveries, Places, To be visited
A concrete anti-tank wall knocked down on the beach
Following the last strong winds that struck Normandy, the overturned portion of the anti-tank wall located at Utah Beach between the Landing Museum and the red-roofed chalet is once again appreciable in its entirety. Indeed, this element being covered with sand most of the days of the year, it is difficult to attend this show regularly and it’s also more rare for tourists who come only for some days a year. This is an excellent excuse to go for a walk in the next few days.
A part of the greatest Atlantic Wall
It was installed by German soldiers, civilians and members of the Todt Organization, a civil and military engineering group engaged in the construction of the buildings on the Atlantic Wall. This Atlantic wall was used to push a possible allied landing into the sea and this 1,50-meter high wall was an additional element of defense. Between the different support points (WN and Stp) of the site including blockhouses or even networks of mines and barbed wire, it aims to prevent the crossing of the dune by tanks or vehicles. Thus, a new task will be added to the men of the allied engineering corps during the Overlord mission, that of breaking down these concrete walls and allowing the crossing of the dunes.
by Bertrand Froger | 21 Jan 2017 | Anecdotes, Discoveries
When soldiers were playing Baseball
Found recently on an old camp occupied by the American soldiers in Cotentin, this relic plunges us through the moments of relaxation and laughter among the troops invading Normandy in 1944. This piece of scrap that spent more than 70 years under the ground is actually the carcass of a catcher’s mask, one of the key positions during a baseball game. This type of sport is very popular in the 1940s in the US and the soldier of the US ARMY brings with him in France more than a simple character: a real culture.
Catcher’s mask by the Jimmie Wilson’s brand
After some research and comparisons between the different models used during that period, we manage to identify this discovery by awarding it a brand: Wilson, which still exists today and provides sports equipment in particular. We managed to find another original model which was better preserved. The iron cage is painted black and on it are stringed a leather pudding embracing the face and a cushion marked “U.S.A.” on the chin. Two straps of leather and elastic canvas come to hold the whole on the head of the player. On one of them is affixed a label of the manufacturer and we know, after the discovery of photographs, that a second label with the mention “US ARMY SPECIAL SERVICES” could be stitched there. It is therefore one of many elements which breaks the codes of the traditional khaki and which offers to the soldier pleasure and distraction.
by Bertrand Froger | 20 Jan 2017 | Discoveries
Found by a farmer of Blosville
Friendly offered by an inhabitant of Blosville, diligent reader of this page, these three relics are elements of belts of American aircrafts. They were taken by himself during summer, 1944 from a WACO CG-4 glider. He saw this glider landed in the sector of les Forges at the time when this place was located as the “W” laning zone, where numerous gliders will end their fligt.
Objects are also witnesses of our past
Although having stayed the decades in a garage, paintings and other elements disappeared, however these relics remain really very particular witnesses of the implemented ways used by the Allies to invade the Normandy territory.
by Bertrand Froger | 19 Jan 2017 | Discoveries, Life of soldiers
The purification of the water is an objective necessary for the daily well-being of the American soldier on the front, which must be able to be confronted with a shortage of drinking water supply all the time. So, there are many small flasks of tablets of halazone intended to disinfect the water.
Capsules found on the field of Normandy in 2017
Discovered inside an M1 helmet shell knocked down in the sector of Périers (50) this weekend, bulbs containing a white powder which you perceive at the bottom of photography are filled in reality with hypochlorite of calcium, substance intended to cause the same benefactions and all the more last to find on the batllefield.
This type of bulbs was emptied in particular of their contents in canvas collective water bags.
It was installed by German soldiers, civilians and members of the Todt Organization, a civil and military engineering group engaged in the construction of the buildings on the Atlantic Wall. This Atlantic wall was used to push a possible allied landing into the sea and this 1,50-meter high wall was an additional element of defense. Between the different support points (WN and Stp) of the site including blockhouses or even networks of mines and barbed wire, it aims to prevent the crossing of the dune by tanks or vehicles. Thus, a new task will be added to the men of the allied engineering corps during the Overlord mission, that of breaking down these concrete walls and allowing the crossing of the dunes.
