21st and 824th Engineer battalions

[SonofaMP]

I`ve seen another photo of that or a similar bridge but from a different angle. The blown out arches on the left are spanned with a bailey. Judjng by the mountain background, it`s probably a Rhine bridge, but could be the Moselle.

[Caretaker]

See, I was also thinking that it had a decidedly German look to it. Been doing various image searches trying to find it so I'd definitely appreciate the help! Oh, I had mentioned a mystery object so I guess I'd better post it and see what happens!

 

[Walt's Daughter]

Close Encounters of the third kind? :pdt12:

 

Man, hard to tell what it is, for the image is small, but as of this moment, I am stumped!

[Jean Jacobson]

We need Christoph! I wonder if he is working on them right now!

 

They are great photographs! Fascinating!

 

Jean J

[Walt's Daughter]

Got an answer from my friend Karl in Heidelberg! YEAH!

 

Dear Marion:

 

Thanks for your mail which i couldn`t answer right away since my computer caught a tough virus that i had removed. the photo you sent is surely German since its my hometown Heidelberg one of the old cities with the first university in Germany from the 14th century a very nice city that even mark twain on his European trip visited and admired. the photo is taken from the north side of the river "neckar" towards the famous castle and the old part of the town. the bridge blown up is the well known " alte brücke" old bridge from the 18th century. the bridge was demolished to stop the American advance on Thursday 29th march 1945, at about 22.00h hours all was over. second photo is a newer one from the hill on the north side, third is a photo after the occupation with two gi`s sitting by the river. last is one from the castle with the blown bridge in the middle. for the moment this is all but i will sent you more Heidelberg photos and the latest news in a couple of days.

best wishes to you and lee

yours

karl

 

 

 

 

Thank you Karl. You keep shining through! :pdt12:

[Caretaker]

Marion, please send my heartfelt thanks to Karl... I knew it had to be German because of the architecture.. it's nice to be able to know some of the places my grandfather travelled through. I know he arrived in Iceland Jan 25, 1942, was in Reykjvik at first, was in Akurarie on the northern coast of Iceland in August of '42, in Dec '43 he was at Cambler (or Gambler) Pass with the 556th Signal Corps. In his own words, "Left Iceland on the "Emperess of Russia" on May 22, 1944. Landed in Scotland on June 1, 1944. Traveled by rail to Preston England, then to South Hampton and Warminster (sp?). Left England in LCT July 15, 1944, landed on Omaha Beach."

 

I've got pictures he took in Versailles, St Lo, St Michele, Paris, Courtiles, and near Mortefontaine on the Maginot line. "Left Paris on Nov 5, 1945 in a C-47, landed on Oxford England. Left England from Liverpool on the SS Louis Pasteur on Nov 15, 1945. Landed Brooklyn Nov 25, 1945, reported to Ft Dix, NJ on Nov 26, 1945." He remained stateside until his discharge in 1946.

 

All of that is from notations he made in his photo albums.

[Walt's Daughter]

I sent Karl this link, so he will be able to read it himself. Karl is a great friend and has done so much for me, too. Here's to Karl!

[SonofaMP]

back to the mystery object

Judging by the men in the photo, i`d say its about a 5ft x 6ft oval, looks to be cast concrete.

My guesses:

 

1. some kind of decoritive mottif that got blown off a building

 

2. a well cover

 

3. they discovered the secret entrance to a Foo - Fighter base and they lassooed a FOO.

[Walt's Daughter]

:pdt12:

[Christoph]

I found Larry's link to this thread today and see Jean already missed me

Here http://www.63rdinfdi...torypage10.html another picture probably from the same point as Karl's Heidelberg_corr.jpg, but with the destroyed Bridge!

 

Christoph

 

P.S. Has anybodey else the same problems with the Enter key in this forum? It doesn't work in the WYSIWYG mode, but only in text mode since a few days or weeks.