Much appreciated Niels, I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that the fact they have their hands on their heads indicates they have only been recently captured? I'll have a look at the scenes before and after this sequence to see it either end might be related. Regards, Pat
BTW... I wonder could the truck convoy scene be on the N13? It has the 'look and feel' of the Knotts photo... What do you guys think? Thanks, Pat
Hi All, I came across another story in the book "Let's Go" by Wayne Pierce which might be related to the captured German soldiers as the story identifies an area and mentions a German service unit... Pages 127-129 [ About 0700 the morning of 8 June, a jeep pulled up to the Regimental CP area and the driver reported that he had been fired on as he passed a house about 3 miles down the road toward Ste. Marie du Mont. Sgt. Clarence Rohrbacher (Columbus, Ohio), NCO of the I&R platoon, got a jeep and driver and picked George Berundoni, who spoke French, and Cpl. Glendon Gilbert to go with him to investigate. Gilbert sat in the back and faced the rear to watch for a flash of a gun if they were fired on. they drove by a large home and nothing happened, turned around and came backby. Still nothing happened. Passing through the village of Fausville, a woman flagged them down. She pointed to the big two story house near the top of the hill, saying there were three German soldiers in the house. The two wounded wanted to surrender, but the able-bodied one would not let them. Sgt. Rohrbacher's first reaction was that the three I&R men could easily handle this situation, but the others reminded him in training they were told not to put complete faith in what a civilian has to say. With an entire platoon doing nothing back in the bivouac are, why not get some help? They returned to the bivouac area , picked another eight or 10 men including Robert Smathers, armed with a bazooka. Before setting out for the house, Rohrbacher asked 2nd Lt. Leon Mendel, an interrogator attached to the 325, to come along and try to talk the Germans into surrendering. Returning to the house, Rohrbacher placed his men in strategic positions where they could watch the exits. Mendel, with a bullhorn, then called out in German for the men inside to come out with their hands in the air. After calling out several times, it became apparent that talk was not going to get the job done. Rohrbacher ordered Smathers to fire a round from his bazooka into the top of the brick chimney on the house. Smathers made a direct hit and the chimney flew apart. The explosion was terrific and the clatter of broken bricks sliding down the tin roof on the house added to the noise. With their weapons poised, the men were all watching the doors of the house for the three Germans to come out. Adjoining the house was a walled-in orchard. As soon as the clatter of falling bricks had subsided, a German officer walked out of the gate to the orchard, dropped his P-38 in its holster at the feet of Glendon Gilbert. Behind the officer came a file of soldiers with their hands over their heads. when they were assembled in a row, the I&R patrol had bagged a total of one officer and 41 German soldiers! This unit had been bivouacked in the orchard and when the invasion came, they did not venture out to do combat with the Americans. Being a service unit, the bazooka round had convinced them that for them, the war was over. After some questioning by the Interrogation Officer, Cpl. Gilbert was put in charge of a detail to march the POW's back to the Division POW cage located near the beach. When they reached the division area where the POW's were to be turned in, it was dark. Gilbert stumbled around in the dark until he found the Provost Marshal's tent. Putting his head through the tent flap he said "I have forty-two POW's here for you." From the tent came a voice saying , "Well, guard them until morning and I will take them from you." Gilbert was tired and frustrated. He replied, "I will guard them for the next five minutes, if by that time no one has taken them off my hands, I am going to turn them loose in your bivouac area." That brought quick action! ] I think it is quite possible that the service unit mentioned could be the Organization Todt seen on the arm bands. I also think it is quite possible that the mention of Fausville, could actually be Fauville, which does sit on a hilltop below Sainte-mere-Eglise along the N13. Could the last photo in post #19 be right after surrender, and possibly in the very same orchard courtyard in Fauville? What do you all think? John
Hi John, Chateau de Fauville might be a possible location for the orchard scenes, though I am having trouble linking the background buildings. Below is an old postcard from p.133 of 'Utah Beach - Sainte Mere Eglise Sainte Marie du Mont' by Georges Bernage and Dominique Francois, with the direction of view therein indicated by the yellow arrow marked on the accompanying IGN extract from 1947: The most promising tie ups are the buildings across the laneway to the south, but I cannot see enough of them from the N13 on Google 'street view': I am not real convinced...'A' appears to have a chimney on its eastern gable, whereas it appears to have more of a pyramid shaped roof in the footage...something like a gate lodge perhaps. Just my two cents John. Regards, Pat
Not going to comment on any locations, but it's quite possible Lt. Rohrbacher's story is unrelated to the Todt prisoners. The information I have about the surrender of the Todt guys has a detail that is not in the story of Lt. Rohrbacher. Had it been mentioned..... allright, something about the locations after all... ;-) I do wonder if his story took place at the complex at the Southern exit of Fauville. The Chateau further north might be too big for the description. the Todt guys may have been filmed around Les Forges. If you can't find a suitable location around Fauville, I would focus on that area.
Hi Pat and Niels, Pat in your possible area there are no sign of trees in 1944 aerials, and I think Niels and I are thinking of the same property to the south and opposite side of the N13. This is my possible area marked up: With a real good possibility for the cameraman in the critical past footage, and Captian William Nation to get video immediately on the road to the south... Compared with original image... The cameramen would have only needed to climb down to the road from the property to get the post surrender march. Niels, I look forward to any details you can provide on the Todt surrender. John
Hi John, The laneway you have marked certainly does slope down onto the old N13 road bed as we see in still 5/81 of the CP footage when viewed in this Google Maps 'street view'. For this location to work with your 'A' and 'B', the PoWs would have to be in the corner grove of trees where the laneway meets the main road. I don't think the footage shows this many trees; I think they are in an apple orchard with spaces between the tree canopies. What if you reversed the 'A' and 'B' such that the orchard is the one to the immediate NW of the buildings? Regards, Pat