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SdKfz under new management.


Rick W

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Exploded the pic. Negativised to sharpen the writing, rotated and expanded.

 

Germany 19/3/45 -- infantrymen of the 5th Inf Div (obscured: possibly speciying the army the div was attached to) file into German half tracks and other vehicles before the start of the drive to the River Rhine.

 

There follows info about the pic, barely readable. Photo appears to have been taken 7/3/45 - nearly three weeks before the previous date, presumably when it was published.

 

obscured radio obscured from London.
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Where did you get it from????? This is an American issued wirefoto print.

 

All press issue pix published in the UK had to be passed by the official censor, who used a red pen to mark what he did not want shown. At The Times all these censored prints survivem but a catastrophic cock-up in 1986 allowed all the uncensored prints to be lost. They were kept in a shed on the roof of the old Times building and it was just forgotten about.....

 

Captions were deliberately vague. Unit names and anything of use to the enemy was obscured - which has a detremental effect today. Typically, this means that many prints are now almost "lost" because not indepth notes survive. Identification marks on uniforms and buildings had to be scratched off negatives. This was "easy" with glass plate, but harder with the newer films becoming available. Newspaper pics from the UK were pooled, as were American stuff. You would have British Official on one hand, which were pix taken by the military - which now reside in Lambeth, and then the British newspaper Press pool - which was all the stuff done by the great unwashed. Sometimes the caption would name the original source, such as the Times, The Daily Sketch, or their syndication arm, The Graphic Photo Union. Papers like the Mail and the Express rarely had their names mentioned in Press Pool pix, but regionals like the Yorkshire Post or Western Mail would - as would any Associated group local titles. It's a lottery

 

The pic shown is an example of a wirefoto - hence the caption down the side. These were usually managed by the Associated Press and United Press from the USA and detail will be minimal. I cannot determine whether this a a Signal Corps pic issued by them, or one by a press snapper.

 

A good find......

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Lots of this stuff is material dumped from picture libraries. All the nationals and regional groups have had massive clearouts and theft has always been a nightmare. Picture libraries are a publishers nightmare because they take up space and even though they can be worth a lot of money (my firm's is valued at between £15-25 million) they are a royal pain in the arsenal to maintain. So they get scrapped. It breaks my professional heart. We've managed to keep ours largely intact - but time will tell. I'm going OFF TOPIC...so I'll shut up before someone snaps my moderators sword in two and rips off my epaulettes.

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Where did you get it from????? This is an American issued wirefoto print.

 

All press issue pix published in the UK had to be passed by the official censor, who used a red pen to mark what he did not want shown. At The Times all these censored prints survivem but a catastrophic cock-up in 1986 allowed all the uncensored prints to be lost. They were kept in a shed on the roof of the old Times building and it was just forgotten about.....

 

Captions were deliberately vague. Unit names and anything of use to the enemy was obscured - which has a detremental effect today. Typically, this means that many prints are now almost "lost" because not indepth notes survive. Identification marks on uniforms and buildings had to be scratched off negatives. This was "easy" with glass plate, but harder with the newer films becoming available. Newspaper pics from the UK were pooled, as were American stuff. You would have British Official on one hand, which were pix taken by the military - which now reside in Lambeth, and then the British newspaper Press pool - which was all the stuff done by the great unwashed. Sometimes the caption would name the original source, such as the Times, The Daily Sketch, or their syndication arm, The Graphic Photo Union. Papers like the Mail and the Express rarely had their names mentioned in Press Pool pix, but regionals like the Yorkshire Post or Western Mail would - as would any Associated group local titles. It's a lottery

 

The pic shown is an example of a wirefoto - hence the caption down the side. These were usually managed by the Associated Press and United Press from the USA and detail will be minimal. I cannot determine whether this a a Signal Corps pic issued by them, or one by a press snapper.

 

A good find......

 

 

A few that i have (the ones i never gave away :cry: :cry:) usually had a vague caption typed onto a slip of paper stuck to the reverse. The German (SS) equivalent had large stamp with a pencilled (usually inked over) description on the reverse.

 

Ashley

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Good call Ashley. Herein lies another nightmare. These labels, usually on very thin paper, were glued or taped on and down the years they separate from the prints - result: no caption. It applies right thru the ages. Makes my job a challenge at times. I wish I was allowed to post some of the snaps I care for on this forum - but the firm just want money regardless of how research is done. Only yesterday I found some snaps of Leyland Martians or somethig simllar used during snow clearing by the army .....they'll never see the light of day again.

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Can't name names/locations but a huge Government archive of photos from WW2 onwards has been slowly, and not very systematically, put in to skips for the last year or so; for the basic reason that it is too expensive to maintain it or to pay anyone to sift through them sorting them out etc. Absolutely criminal if you ask me. The only reason it hasn't been finished yet is because they dont have enough spare bodies to to the work! Given to believe it is being done on the quiet. What people dont know about wont cause waves.

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All one can hope then is for someone to have sticky fingers and very quietly save as much as possable . Yes your right it's Criminal for such a rare and valuable resource to be other wise lost for Ever!!!! :angry: . The collection coming from that GM executives estate is a good example , where would we be if someone just tossed those items out !

Now if someone has a spare fifty thousand they could donate to a very worth cause, my library fund??? I promise to only use the money for MV research :computerterror:

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Can't name names/locations but a huge Government archive of photos from WW2 onwards has been slowly, and not very systematically, put in to skips for the last year or so; for the basic reason that it is too expensive to maintain it or to pay anyone to sift through them sorting them out etc. Absolutely criminal if you ask me. The only reason it hasn't been finished yet is because they dont have enough spare bodies to to the work! Given to believe it is being done on the quiet. What people dont know about wont cause waves.

 

Thats criminal and ridiculous. Cannot something be done about it?? :whistle:

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It is criminal if it is public property. One would hope they checked whether it is a duplicate of stuff held by the IWM - but the plain fact is that the sheer volume of pix taken in WW2 that did and didn't go before the censor - or did and were banned is overwhelming. It makes me cry. But they would not have just given it away, and finding storage is a massive issue. I can only say, if you know where the skips are, then fill your loft. What would be more criminal is disposal of the original negatives. But this happens.... Nobody cares in the modern Establishment. It's a sad fact that - and this is controversial I know - that old wars won by a Britain made up of it's indegenous population are totally out of favour, but there are many more issues besides that make these things happen. The top table have moved on without bothering to tell the whole membership.

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It is criminal if it is public property. One would hope they checked whether it is a duplicate of stuff held by the IWM - but the plain fact is that the sheer volume of pix taken in WW2 that did and didn't go before the censor - or did and were banned is overwhelming. It makes me cry. But they would not have just given it away, and finding storage is a massive issue. I can only say, if you know where the skips are, then fill your loft. What would be more criminal is disposal of the original negatives. But this happens.... Nobody cares in the modern Establishment.

 

As I understand it, but I have to stress I am not in possession of the full facts, everything including negatives is getting junked. Some European Theatre material has been 'cherry picked' and given to a body that is willing to catalogue/preserve them whatever, but the vast majority of material goes to an incinerator (I believe). It is too costly to identify/catalogue/store any more. I did ask my contact if it was worthwhile making an essentially cold call enquiry as to whether 'any material was going to be disposed of, given the onward progress of digital technology storage etc ?' and was told not to waste my time as it would fall on deaf ears. Most likely receive a denial that there was anything to be had. Then the problems would start as to who had 'blabbed'.

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