September 1944 to May 1945

Many years ago my father carried a camera across Europe. He took a lot of photographs along the way, between calling in artillery strikes on the German Army. He compiled two albums that I was completely unaware of until my aunt gave them to me.

The first was dated September 1944 to May 1945. My father’s division, the 104th Infantry, landed in France in September 1944, and, of course, the war in Europe ended in May 1945. The photos are small; some of them look like contact prints from a 35 mm camera. They are poorly printed, somewhat fuzzy, and with flare in a lot of them. I copied them by photographing them with my iPhone, and then mildly editing them to try to bring out more detail, so the quality is even worse than in the originals.

The photographs are attached to paper that is yellow and brittle. They probably haven’t been seen in 50 years, or more. Most of the images are not identified. There are Amerian soldiers, and German or possibly Belgian civilians. There are German prisoners. There are far-reaching vistas. There are blown-up houses. There are pretty girls. There are puppies.

He was not a combat photographer; he had other things to do when bullets and cannon shells were flying, so most of the images are of the quiet times between combat.

These are some of the photos he took, or were taken of him, during his time in the war.

This is my father in front of a building that is not identified. I think I recognize it from another photo, and, if I’m right, it was in a town called Konzendorf, or Kunzendorf, although the only locations I can find for such a town don’t look like they are in the right place.

If this is the right place, it’s where he had a CP (command post?).

This was what he called an assault gun.

Here some GIs are working on a truck.

This is my father standing in front of a grave.

Here is what he said on the back of the print.

In case you can’t read the last part, it says, “He was about 19 years old.” It’s also identified as at Konzendorf.

Here are some German PWs.

One looks like a kid. The back of this photograph identifies it as immediately after the Roer River crossing.

This dapper fellow appears to be a Nazi officer, although I can’t tell what his rank was from his uniform. He must have dressed for his surrender.

This German soldier doesn’t appear to be wearing a dress uniform. I have no idea what he’s looking through binoculars. Maybe a long trek back home.

The 104th was one of the units that liberated the Nordhausen concentration camp on 11 April 1945. By the time the Army units reached the camp, most of the prisoners had been moved to other camps. Many of them died along the way. A few prisoners were left at the camp, along with between 1000 and 3000 bodies.

This is what my father wrote on the back of this photograph.

My father never mentioned this camp.

The 104th  contacted the Soviet Army at Pretzsch on 26 April.

There are a few more photographs in the first album which I assume were taken either after the war in Europe ended, or at least after the active combat ended. This is one.

Here she is again.

There is no identification on these photos. I have to assume she was a German, but she looks pretty happy to be a German in April or May 1945.

I will post some photographs later from my father’s second album, “Belgium Germany France England, May 1945 to December 1945.” There will be puppies.