82nd Signal Company Wire Men - But Where?

Hi All,

I found new-to-me footage on the archive.org site here titled:

'Invasion Of France: Evacuating Casualties; Signal Corps String Wire; Engineers Repair Bridge, 06/13/1944'

I digress from the title of this thread for a bit first...

Commencing at time mark 02:05, there is footage therein showing firstly the latter stages of the building of the Bailey bridge at Beuzville la Bastille on the what must be the 13th June. I deduce this from the 82nd Airborne Divisional After Action Report for that date and the film is dated thus in the archive.org database also.

Below are some stills from scenes shot at the bridge:

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Note the collapsed bridge is a steel girder type in the first screenshot above, with the new Bailey bridge half way across the breach at the time of filming. IIRC, the collapsed steel girder bridge was dropped into the river Douve by American P-47s to prevent German reinforcements moving north. I find it interesting to note that the bridge shown on the old postcard below is not a steel girder type, but presumably is of cut stone construction:

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So where did the steel girder bridge come from? Is it a German bridge put in place after the old bridge was blown up in 1940?

Anyone know?

Below is a zoomed extract from a sortie flown by the 7th Photo Reconnaissance Group, USAAF on the day before; 12th June:

Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.ncap.org.uk​

You can just about make out the four main trusses of the girder bridge under the water in the gap.

More follows...

Regards,

Pat

 

Now for the "Signal Corps" wire men;

They are clearly sporting the AA shoulder patches of the 82nd Airborne Division and the jeep fender is also marked '82S', which makes them members of the 82nd Signal Company...but where are they?

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I tried around Beuzeville la Bastille but so far no luck :s

Anyone spot the location?

Thanks,

Pat

 

A bit more...

I found this Unit history extract on ww2-airborne.us site:

So it looks like these men are working under a shortage of both numbers and equipment as this film was being shot on the 13th June. And as if that were not enough, the Company's Roll of Honor indicates that they were soon to receive news from England that Pvt Clarence R. Craig was reported to have DOI, presumably suffered during the initial landing in Normandy.

The Signal Company men appear to be the first to cross the new Bailyey bridge as the long radio aerial on the 82nd A/B marked jeep below presumably belongs to this unit, though the '82S' marking on the left fender is not confirmed in this screenshot:

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This of course means that the footage showing the wire men laying the telephone cable could have been filmed either north or south of the causeway!

I am wondering if the trooper driving the jeep with no helmet might be the Company C.O., 1st Lt. Robert B. Nerf. I have no evidence to support this supposition, but I doubt if he was present, the Company C.O. would allow one of his men to not wear a helmet, when all the other men are wearing theirs...he is not a NCO as far as I can tell from his left arm as he passes driving the jeep below, but he certainly seems to be in charge of this group from the way he strides along the road in front of the other men:

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Anyone any thoughts?

Regards,

Pat

 

Just an update on the bridge...

I found two postcards in this search result on the Delcampe site showing the steel girder bridge in situ. One of them appears to be dated '28/7/09' which means it was in place long before the Battle of France in 1940.

Regards,

Pat

 

Hi All,

Does anyone have Tyler Alberts's '82nd US Airborne Division / Invasion of Normandy' DVD? I seem to have misplaced my disk from it's cover :blush:

I would be grateful for any screenshots of locations thereon from around the 13th June.

Thanks guys,

Pat

 

Maybe things are not so complex,

Now suspect that I may have dismissed the obvious too soon.
The chain link fence seen in front of the kneeling 82nd Signal Company wire man I now think is the one on the right here as you enter Rue de la Bastille just up from the bridge.

Working on some ties to the left hand side of the street - the single dormer window seen in the first screenshot of post #2 above is, I now believe, visible on reconnaissance cover.

More soon...

Regards,

Pat

 

Hi Moon,

Delighted you can help with the locations in this footage...and welcome to the Forum!

Regards,

Pat