Hi All, Flicking through my copy of the 14th August '44 edition of LIFE Magazine, the one with the famous Bob Landry photograph of Lt. Kelso C. Horne, 508th PIR on the front cover, I looked again at the photo essay article commencing on page 19 and titled 'Break-Through in France'. The photograph at the bottom of page 20 caught my eye and is shown below: Recent work on finding 'un-locatable' reconnaissance frames in the NCAP database has taught me valuable lessons in using river bends to find locations. The photograph has a caption which reads: Don't know that the French civilians would have agreed about the tonnage of bombs dropped being antipersonnel bombs, but I digress. Deciding to see if this location could be found, I spent quite a while looking 'west of St. Lo.' but to no avail and then followed the River Vire northwards from the city towards the coast. Having followed the river to the sea, I passed the location several times until I realised the church has been moved! The location is the village church and chateau at La Meauffe: The bend in the River Vire is marked 'B1', while B2 is the bend in the small stream running into the river. Bend 'B3' was an old crescent shaped pond across the road, now filled-in but showing in the two old postcards below: The gable facing the road is circled in yellow as an additional tie. There is currently one frame digitised in the NCAP database showing coverage of the church, that of NCAP_ACIU_US7GR_1836_3169, flown by Lt. J. T. Cameron, 27th PRS, 7th PRG, USAAF on the 6th June. Below is an extract showing the church within the distinctive horseshoe shaped churchyard: Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.ncap.org.uk Note the crescent shaped pond marked 'B3' again for reference. The present day church has been built on the road edge as can be seen on the GE 'street view' below - the first time this side step has caught me Note the site of the old church in the LIFE picture is on the far side of the tree canopy, in the cemetery. I found this site pertaining to the 134th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division covering the fighting in the area, which seems to have been particularly heavy around the 11th and 12th July. There are a couple of B&W photos half way down the page showing the church roof with the same damage seen in the LIFE photo. I wonder if finding the location will help with the other photos in the article...? Regards, Pat
RE: The Bend in the River A bit more on la Meauffe from this site... http://www.oldhickory30th.com/Bocage8.jpg Edited by Pat to give the image link
RE: The Bend in the River Thanks Sean, I edited your post to give the link to the image rather than the image embed tags. It keeps site owners onside I wonder if Tyler Alberts DVD on the 35th ID has any scenes shot at La Meauffe? The preview below has a section titled 'Near St Lo' [video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YIpjKHjKYCU[/video] I'll see if he will let me have a copy at a good rate Regards, Pat