Evening All, The footage shown here on the Critical Past site has intrigued me as to location for quite some time now. It shows a long column of German PoWs marching past a 'Y' junction under guard by both GIs on foot and mounted on at least one jeep. The column appears to be led by a French guide. I am showing stills 2 and 5 below as I need the reader to see both the plaster work on the closer of the two gate piers (frame 2) and the slight bend (frame 5) in the wall to the rear of the farmhouse at right: OK, the location is, I believe, just south of Auderville la Hubert on the D14 road: Note the village at upper right in the GE finder chart below: The reader will see that I place a lot of emphasis on the wall and piers appearing at right in the footage, even to the extent that I believe the southern pier is leaning outwards both in 1944 and still today. If you look at the piers close up on GE 'street view'... ...I suspect that the southern pier has suffered damage - perhaps centuries ago by a careless coach or wagon driver! Note how the gate hanging off the parallel with the pier when you compare the 'heel' with the 'eye'. There is at least one 'fly in the ointment' though :s There appears to be a perpendicular hedgerow running up Field 'A' as seen in the footage. No such hedgerow existed in the field in 1944 nor does it today. However, I am pining my hopes on the extract from the reconnaissance photo NCAP_ACIU_US30_4073_1120 extract below. This sortie was flown on the 5th June, the day before the invasion: Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.aerial.rcahms.gov.uk Note what appears to be a clump of brush circled yellow in the field. I would appreciate the viewer's thoughts as to whether this explains my 'fly in the ointment' hedgerow. Next in the sequence, the cameraman dismounts from the jeep and grabs several seconds of close up footage of individual PoWs as they stream past him... . While I was in the virtual area, I took a 'walk' down the D14 below the farmhouse and came across this scene: The low parapet of the bridge spanning the 'La Grande Crique' rang a bell immeadiately and I went hunting through my collection of Tyler Alberts 'Combat Reels' DVDs. I found the scene I was after in his "9th Infantry Division - Invasion of Normandy Series" disk : The quality of the footage is not great but again the location is solid as far as I can see. Note the distinct pyramid roof of the gate lodge (or it a dovecote?) which still stands today. I am pretty sure both sets of footage show the same stretch of road and very likely the same column of PoWs. I have seen a better quality version of the bridge film but cannot find it just now. It would be very interesting to see if some of the PoWs can be identified in both. Actually, the pyramid roof is also visible in another unrelated, but much more common piece of footage, showing a motorbike overtaking the camera vehicle: My screenshot above is taken again from another of Tyler Alberts DVDs; this time the "101st Airborne Division - Invasion of Normandy Series" (old version). This scene is very often used in generic TV documentaries and films about the invasion, but I never located it until now. The last scene in the Critical Past footage shows the column from behind as a 'DUKW' passes in the opposite direction: Now this is weak, but not for the first time I am putting my head on the block Note the roof ridge line at upper right and the column turning to the right above. I can find no better combination of road and roof than that about 300 meters further south as indicated on my aerials. I'll leave readers make up their own minds Back to the French guide for a moment. As you can see from my GE finder chart I have marked two unrelated locations thereon: La Herguerie Farm German CP at Le Broc La Herguerie Farm was the home of Bernardin Birette and his parents. Staying with the family at the time of the invasion was a neighbor, Maurice Blaisot. Both men guided a group of American troops to the German CP at Le Broc on D-Day morning. These soldiers were most likely members of the 101st Airborne, though I am not certain of this. In any event, AP war correspondent, Weston Haynes was with the group and asked the two French guides to pose with the Army interpreter for a shot which was later published in many newspapers to indicate how French civilians were helping the Allies. Below is a copy of the photograph in question: Haynes took so long to set up his camera on a tripod and to pose the group to his liking that the two Frenchmen felt sure they were going to get killed. They were looking directly at the German positions on the high ground around Turqueville and the Germans in turn were doing their best to hit the three, albeit at extreme range. Apparently, one of the two Frenchmen said to the other: Anyway, I digress for the sake of a good story If I am correct about the footage location, the French guide could have been Bernardin Birette but looking at how tall he is and the fact that he wears his beret on the right side of his head as opposed to the guide in the footage wearing it on the left, I think we can say that it's not Bernardin guiding the column. Comments and corrections welcomed and appreciated. Regards, Pat Edit inserted @ 22:43 on Sun 22-06-2014 Family name Blaisot misspelling corrected from 'Blaizot' My apologies to Mickaël for the error. Pat
Pat, I am sure you have the right location. I think there is a low hedge in that corner of the field that can be seen in the aerial... it is covered by your yellow circle. John
Thanks John, I have tried other locations many times for the 'Y' junction but never came anywhere close compared with this scene. It would be nice to get a look at a better quality copy of the bridge footage just to see if it's the same French guide leading that column. I know there is one somewhere but just cannot find it at the moment. IIRC, there was a 4th ID marking on the front fender of the rear jeep passing the bridge. I really must get my 'favorites' folder organised better And speaking of the 4th Infantry Division, there is other unrelated footage in Tyler's 101st Division DVD (1st Edition) which I think was shot just up the road from the 'Y' junction. I am preparing some screenshots just now. Regards, Pat
OK, I found the good quality Bridge footage here on the ever fruitful Critical Past site. The French guide has no head gear at all :exclamation: ...though we can now be certain that he is neither Bernardin Birette nor Maurice Blaizot but he is the same guy we see leading the column at the 'Y' Junction. Below is the best I can do on the fender marking: Can anyone confirm the jeep belongs to the 4th Infantry Division? I can see no match for any of the PoWs when the 'Y' Junction footage is compared to this new version of the Bridge footage; also I now have an impression that the column at the Bridge is shorter than that at the 'Y' Junction, though this could be just compression of distance due to the camera lens. It's unlikely however that two different columns were photographed at almost the same point. In addition, why would the MPs need a guide more than once? There is not doubt about the date however: Regards, Pat
Thanks Sean, This is just a quick reply from the canteen PC at work - we have major storm damage here in Ireland since yesterday so cannot post from home. I wanted to open a new, unrelated thread on Le Buisson Farm, which is the one we see at top right of the extract from NCAP_ACIU_US30_4073_1120 used above and reproduced here again for clarity: I understood that this farm was the 4th Infantry Division's first CP in Normandy but I have found footage which suggests that it was Major General Joe Collins's VII Corps CP also. There are a pair of plaques on the avenue piers with a lot of script on them (which I cannot read on GE 'street view') - more that you might expect to see for just a divisional CP - do you know if this farm was the initial VII Corps CP in Normandy? Thanks Sean, Pat
For 8 June, a 4ID overlay gives the position of VII Corps at Audouville, the 4ID CP was by then already NE of Beuzeville-au-Plain. I probab,ly have the exact coordinates somewhere.
Hello Pat, The plaque does indeed state it was Collins' HQ. Courtesy of Normandie44lamemoire Cheers, Sean
Niels and Sean, Thanks to you both for the information. Hopefully I will have power feeding my PC tonight in order to open the new thread Regards, Pat
The new, clearer POW film gives me some shadows to work with. A quick guess is about 0700 GMT. 4ID G-1 Journal shows POW cage at Ravenoville 385016 (about 4-1/2 or 5 miles north). That doesn't add up for the column coming from D115 - unless the photos show two different groups. Guess it could be a handoff to 4ID MPs or maybe two columns joining up at the road junction.
Hi Don, If I am not mistaken the new Critical Past bridge footage shows two columns with a jeep in between. Pat
Good evening everyone, I'm happy to be a new member of this forum because I founded a picture of my Grandfather Maurice BLAISOT on the previous page and I'll be fined to help you or exchange with about the great history of Normandy. As I mailed it to John Szweda earlier in the day, I'm actually searching for the story of my Grandfather while WW2 and especially while D-day. I'm leaving close to Cherbourg and last days were amazing with many demonstration, remembrances, concerts, droppings about 70th anniversary of D-Day. And that gaves me the desire of understand who were my Grandparents and what they lived in those greats moments of history. Unfortunately, they died (my grandfather in 2004, 80 years old and my grandmother in 2012, 95years old) and it's became difficult to have information. Most of people died and it's difficult to have testimonies. Anyway, I'm decided to found most of information to help me to know the truth. I have to say that my Grandfather was always grateful to the US troops. He was always a great man, brave, happy and very good in culture of vegetables. Firts of all, our name is BLAISOT with an S and not Z. Many people make the mistake, even french people. I have so many things to ask, to say that I don't know how to begin! Maurice was born in Audouville la hubert and he lived there for many years (until he met my grandmother). He was a friend of Bernardin Birette. Maurice took refuge in the night of Dday becaus his house was destroyed by bombs. Early in the morning, an US soldier came in La Herguerie to ask help. The soldier wanted to know where the germans were hidden. The two french mens have accepted the mission but they were a little bit afraid. Anyway, this guys were young, brave and a little bit crazy The picture shown on previous page was taken under the fire on ennemy hidden in the swamps close to the road Audouville la hubert/Turqueville in the village of Le Brocq. Today, the house behind the picture doesn't changed! 70 years after, everything is similar! Here is a picture of Maurice in 1997 with my grandmother [hr] [/url][/img]
Hi Mickaël, Welcome to the Forum. First my apologies for the misspelling of you family name which has now been corrected. In order to learn more of your family's story during the Invasion and subsequent Normandy Campaign, I would seek to read as many French accounts as possible in the first instance. There are several books written by French civilians which give a unique perspective not possible by other authors. I presume you have checked with other family members to see if there are relatives from your grandfather's generation still alive? Another source might be archive footage such as this clip from PhotosNortmandie. There are several locations in this film which I have searched for in vain - perhaps you know some of them? Also, track down any footage shot in the Utha Beach / St Mere Eglise area during the years immediately after the War, many events such as the D-Day anniversaries drew huge crowds of local people - perhaps you might see some of your own family members in these sequences. Can you post a Google Earth screenshot of your grandfathers house? If I knew where it was, I could check to see if there is reconnaissance cover showing the bomb damage. Hope this helps Mickaël. Regards, Pat
Hi All, While viewing the 'HOPITAL de CAMPAGNE - NORMANDIE - 1944' album on the WW2 Radio FB site here, I note there are two more photos of our German PoW column with the French civilian guide in front. The first new photo is this one: Knowing the location of the column in the previous posts of this thread, it wasn't difficult to trace the location down the road aways to the hamlet of La Chaussee: The house is marked on the IGN extract below: The second photograph in the album showing the column is a much bigger challenge however: I have not located it yet, but there is, I suspect, linkage to this photo, also in the same album...and its not the tents :s Regards, Pat
Pat, The single, tall tree with the fan shaped tip might be your link. also the shorter tree line seems to match. John
Glad you see it too John I have overlaid the tree in extracts from both photographs in PS and both versions seem to be a very good match for each other. Now the question is - were all these photographs taken at the one field hospital site? If they were, it should be relatively easy to track down its location. Does anyone know which medical unit Lt. Margaret Stanfill belonged to? Thanks, Pat
Thanks Allan, I tracked down the much photographed Lt. Margaret Stanfill to the 128th Evacuation Hospital thanks to Ben Major's unit history page here. That would place the photographs of her at La Cour Farm in Boutteville, where the unit established itself on the western side of the farm avenue. The location doesn't fit well though with the photograph of the French guide passing the field entrance gateway. I am pretty sure the entrance to the 128th site was off the avenue, not the road. More to ponder...:huh: Regards, Pat
Hi Allan, I have begun to obsess over the gateway here at the southern end of the D14. I'll make my case tonight Regards, Pat