Thunda792
123670
1581
45
GIs wearing captured German parkas, 1945
German paratroopers with looted American weapons
Union Pacific "Big Boy" locomotives, 1944
This guy managed to get in Life Magazine with his helmet on backwards. USS North Carolina, 1943
German naval infantryman with captured British Churchill tank and machete after the Dieppe Raid, 1942
Jeep with an improvised twin .50 mount, 1944
Germans manning a captured .50 Browning
Tanker of the 38th Cavalry with a captured Luger and a new M24 Chaffee light tank, 1945
American field dentist with an improvised electrically powered drill, replacing his issued foot-powered one, 1945
Civil War veterans examining a T1 Combat Car (early light tank), 1937
Sherman tank fitted with extra tracks as armor, 1945
Up-armored Sherman tank on Okinawa, 1945
17th Combat Engineers of the 2nd Armored Division coming ashore on Omaha Beach, June 9, 1944
GregGrildo
#14 "You just gonna stand there, or..."
Nicalanius
#4
Heuhojimbo
Bards are more important than you think
diggertydigdig
#6 what is dangling from the front? Looks like a pendulum. Plus what sort of gun is that?
LearnSomethingNew
Browning M1917. It's a water cooled gun. The dangly bit is the drain plug for the water to come out of the jacket so it can be carried/moved
UpNorthInAFuckingIgloo
Slattefors
And in pic #4 we have a ww2 bard boosting morale.
Fr1edToast
FOR THE ZEAL!
VodkaReindeer
#uselessusefulbuffs
Davedavedavedavedave
Nccoffee
Fun fact: randy was a minor league baseball player
thatsrightjuliaitsme
#5 pretty much any time my boss isn't hovering over me at work
RedBearAK
"Civil War veterans examining a T1 Combat Car (early light tank), 1937" Brain exploded.
kawaiitankguy
Is This Trip Necessary?
Roncamp
More Please
Thunda792
As soon as I get my computer fixed, will do!
TheBritfag
#1 is a denison smock. I,E British.
Thunda792
No, the Denison is a significantly different garment. The camp is similar, but that is where the resemblance ends.
Umbreon07
The saddest thing for me about these old pictures is that everyone in them is probably dead. In this case, some sooner rather than later.
thatsnotaknife
The "twin .50" is not, those are .30 1919 browning mg's
Thunda792
They are .50s. Look at the size of those guns relative to the people. M1919s we're also generally not issued spade grips during WWII.
jcw99
#4 Proof that bards are real.
EbeyTechLLC
War is hell.
JoeyLock
A very American WWII dump.
Stuey1221
Rare to see photos of German soldiers with captured British and American gear
ingelri
SupMelloMike
Isn't #1 British camo?
Thunda792
Similar, but it's German. Splinter A, it was called.
SupMelloMike
GI 1: "Dammit, Joe, those guys weren't jerries!" GI 2: "Just smile for the camera."
TheGriffin
The Civil War vets were probably thinking "Damn kids and their fancy toys. Why didn't we think of this?"
Thunda792
I actually have a newspaper article a friend found talking about a 99 year old Civil War Vet commenting about how easy the WWII guys had it
IyellSAILwheneverIgetthechance
Geez, how crazy would it be to see the Civil War then live to see people build these crazy machines of war fucking TWICE for world wars
IyellSAILwheneverIgetthechance
(Or atleast the beginnings of WWII)
VodkaReindeer
It's like first playing on NES and then on PSX and then on a Titan Xp.
tarquinbusstopftang
Love the nose art on the P-51; Is this trip necessary?
ResidentOfWinland
WW2-era field dentistry with improvised tools sounds quite horrible.
LavaAxe
Probably was, but still better than having a debilitating toothache.
Thunda792
At least there wasn't usually a shortage of booze around post-procedure.
LavaAxe
Hell if the doctor ordered extra booze for your post-procedure recovery many would've probably gladly give a tooth or two.
DeniseReade
Their pants are all just so high. Were waistlines higher then?
PTKrieg
Generally yes, and especially with the Germans. Have seen people mistake Panzer jackets for Hitler Youth gear b/c of how short they look.
RedBearAK
Maybe he preferred wearing his helmet backwards and did it deliberately, ever think of that?
Thunda792
Yeah, try doing that in the military, where conformity and discipline is expected, especially in media depictions in 1943. See how that goes
LearnSomethingNew
Wearing the M1 "steel pot" helmet backwards gives a better vertical field of view. Dude was most likely a spotter, where more vision = good.
TrickRanger
Man the .50 browning has been in use for so long now
boombaby123
Don't fix what ain't broken. It's a complete monster
GadenKerensky
The beauty of something being so reliable and so useful simply because it has the firepower to make up for any slow rate of fire.
RHCPSockSupplier
#16 Patton didn't like it when his troops added extra armour like tracks and sandbags. He thought it was cowardly
Thunda792
He mostly didn't like it because it put extra weight on the tanks and wore out transmissions and suspensions faster.
LavaAxe
Well mr Patton can ride his tank to the frontlines sitting on top of the turret if he likes but I'll be putting extra armor on mine.
SpaceLamb
Isnt the guy on the left goerge stevens or just some dude who looks like him?
LearnSomethingNew
It is indeed George Stevens.
SpaceLamb
Cool, thanks.
TheRealStalinWhoIsStandingUp
#14 whaddu lookin' at commie?
bippityboppitybuttsex
Cloth belt for an M2? That's weird...
HeavyMetalMonk
I was thinking the same thing. Maybe it was a belt from something else just for a photo op?
Thunda792
No kidding. Hadn't ever seen one before that photo.
tomyironmane
... weird, but the old M1917 and 1919 that it was based on used cotton duck belts at first, rather than disintegrating link.
bippityboppitybuttsex
At first? Throughout the war, the 1919 used cloth belts...
tomyironmane
Dude, the 1919 is still in service some places... And they switched over to disintegrating link in the 50s or 60s.
tomyironmane
you gotta remember, this is a BROWNING design we're talking about... they last a while.
bippityboppitybuttsex
The war... aka WW2... the US Navy converted them to 7.62NATO in the 60s.
tomyironmane
when I was in Korea in 2010 or so, the ROKMC still had a few.
tomyironmane
I know, I was just saying that they have been used in war since 1945.