Marion has given me instruction on how to post a picture. Here is my first attempt.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

This is a pic of Hitler's Berghof taken on May 5, 1945 in Berchtesgaden, Germany. .Joe and I were there, soldiers in the 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. The complex had been bombed a few nights before by British Lancasters. Then the SS troops posted there, burned it. It was a concrete building, but the wooden parts burned. The SS put up only token resistance.

I have another pic taken from the inside showing Hitlers big picture window, with 7th Inf soldiers wandering around inside. I will try to post that when I recover from the horrors of learning to post this one. I was able to do it only because of J3rdinf's persistent efforts to help me.

There were underground air raid shelters in which all kinds of goodies were stored including some of the best wines and liquors in Europe. We liberated that and drank to victory. War's end was announced 3 days later.

Russ:

You rule as they say. Your infantry training and perserverance have paid off once again. I KNEW you would succeed. What else would I expect from men who fought the nasty Nazi regime. Fierce determination got you that far and made you wade through the muck and mire of the "posting-hell"!

The photo is worth a million. Can't wait to see more. You don't know how much it means to this little woman to see and hear all about your experiences.

Love ya,

M

To the victor, go the spoils!

Russ -

You're not alone in the computer-illiteracy department! It was Marion who had to tell me how to post a link. I followed her instructions and it worked; trouble is, I forgot to write the instructions down and, well...you know what memory banks are like these days. So, I had to go back searching for her post, copy the instructions and now I keep them right beside me. So, it's new; it's frustrating. Big deal. It's also, in my opinion, the greatest thing since sliced bread or the invention of the wheel. Look how much fun we're having getting to know one another and learn from one another. Yes, it's all new but like Marion says, if you can lick the Nazis you can lick anything!

Joe, special thanks go to you for hanging in there and helping Russ. You should get the SUPER-DOOPER HELPER AWARD or something.

Okay, fellas. Now bring on the pictures!

Marilyn

I knew you could do it Russ. Will pick out a few of your pics and send you the URL's

with the pic names. Meantime E mail me some pic names. Just the names, no pics

as I have them stored in Comcasts pic storage .

WWII Pictures

When I went overseas in January 1944, I never thought of taking a camera, so I have no photos from the Anzio Campaign. I then remembered that we had a small simplistic camera at home (no controls other than film advance and shutter release). It was all plastic, probably a forerunner of the Kodak Instamatic. The picture quality was not great, but it was small enough to carry in my musette bag and the results were better than none at all. I asked my parents to mail it, along with some film, and they did while we were training in Italy for the D Day landing in Southern France.

We were prohibited by censorship regulations from mailing undeveloped film home, so a I had to find a photo shop that still had pre war photo supplies., so that I could mail the negatives home. They were few and far between! The few still in business were not anxious to use up their pre war chemical supplies so they wanted “an arm and a leg†to process the negatives. The occupation currency was not worth much, but American cigarettes would buy anything! I didn’t smoke, so my cigarette ration covered my photo processing expenses. The resulting prints could then be mailed home. They were precious and I still have the prints 60 years later.

The first picture below shows a couple of my men ((LMG on right) on the deck of our LCI and the smoke screen covering the beach as we went in. Smoke generators on small Naval craft raced back and forth to hide us from enemy view. Several LCI’s had struck mines in shallow water with heavy casualties among the debarking men. So my LCI threw rope cargo nets overside so we could climb down the cargo net into smaller shallow draft LCVP’s (Hold the verticals, dummy, or your hands will be stepped on!)

The ramp of our LCVP went down on the sand and I ran off with an OCS “Follow Me!†There was some incoming artillery and light small arms fire. I jogged across the sand to the tree line along the road. I looked back and saw that my men were following in single file, jogging in my footprints. If anybody was going to step on a mine, let it be the Lt! We took up positions on the bank of the parallel road and fired at the enemy in the hillside vineyard ahead.

The second picture shows a crude 88mm gun emplacement on the beach that was knocked out by our Naval gunfire. My four recon jeeps were brought in a few hours later on LCTs with their ignition parts sprayed with a waterproof substance and the air intake came through a flexible tube wired to the angle iron wire cutter welded to the front bumper. I was told to send out three of my recon jeeps (in different directions) to find the enemy. Two came back, but the third was still missing. So I went out with my jeep and driver to look for them. We found them in a melon patch eating ripe melons! (See picture 3 below). Cpl. Hollis gave me a melon and I led them back to the beach area. (I gave my driver half).

Russ Cloer

Getting the pictures posted may take longer!

Russ: Posting a couple of your pics.

Prior pic was "melons". This one is your pic of beach 88's.

While I am at it Russ, puting in the one of you in your jeep with driver. You will have to write the post.