Great video. I'm from Jülich. Some scenes - houses and streets. - I can clearly identify. But I'm not sure if every scene was shot in Jülich, may be in the region. For me this vids are a treasure. Thanks for the upload.
0:26 Looks like the Soldier in center frame has his Thompson magazines taped jungle style. Must have been expecting a big firefight. Also, anyone know the kind of vest the Soldier at 9:13 is wearing?
The taped magazines is something I see with some frequency. I'm sure the reasoning for this varied greatly from carrying more ammo on the SMG to a scarcity of pouches/bags. I'm sure looking cool was also a factor in some cases. GIs weren't immune to style. Official documentation from the US Army actually encouraged the practice of taping mags. There is a write-up on it in Combat Lessons No. 6. The vest could be a homemade/civilian sweater vest with a zipper or (less likely) a modified USAAF C-2 Sweater. The knitwear that was sent from the homefront either directly from family to soldier or collected by the Red Cross and distributed to soldiers varied greatly. Also, privately purchased or "acquired" garments also show up on GIs.
Geez a lot of the GI's were still wearing the 41 field windbreaker field jackets .It seems like a lot of this ETO late war footage just saw the light of day in the last 5 years . Is there a story behind that ?
Probably because of concerted efforts by the great people the US National Archives digitizing the original footage in high resolution format. They do great work. I do some further editing and research to pin down exact locations, dates, etc.
@@gistories4145 Our National Archives and LoC are tax money well spent in my opinion . Hats off to you both ! Our history should be preserved for future generations - thank you for your efforts towards that end . Cheers !
My father's closest friend, Robert "Midge" Kennedy, was KIA this day while crossing the Roer. He was from Union City, New Jersey.
Great video. I'm from Jülich. Some scenes - houses and streets. - I can clearly identify. But I'm not sure if every scene was shot in Jülich, may be in the region. For me this vids are a treasure. Thanks for the upload.
indeed sir
0:26 Looks like the Soldier in center frame has his Thompson magazines taped jungle style. Must have been expecting a big firefight.
Also, anyone know the kind of vest the Soldier at 9:13 is wearing?
The taped magazines is something I see with some frequency. I'm sure the reasoning for this varied greatly from carrying more ammo on the SMG to a scarcity of pouches/bags. I'm sure looking cool was also a factor in some cases. GIs weren't immune to style. Official documentation from the US Army actually encouraged the practice of taping mags. There is a write-up on it in Combat Lessons No. 6.
The vest could be a homemade/civilian sweater vest with a zipper or (less likely) a modified USAAF C-2 Sweater. The knitwear that was sent from the homefront either directly from family to soldier or collected by the Red Cross and distributed to soldiers varied greatly. Also, privately purchased or "acquired" garments also show up on GIs.
Geez a lot of the GI's were still wearing the 41 field windbreaker field jackets .It seems like a lot of this ETO late war footage just saw the light of day in the last 5 years . Is there a story behind that ?
Probably because of concerted efforts by the great people the US National Archives digitizing the original footage in high resolution format. They do great work. I do some further editing and research to pin down exact locations, dates, etc.
@@gistories4145 Our National Archives and LoC are tax money well spent in my opinion . Hats off to you both ! Our history should be preserved for future generations - thank you for your efforts towards that end . Cheers !
Julich , Linnich und dan Hilfarth / Huckelhoven aan de Rivier de Roer nach Vlodrop Holland..
This wasn’t staged. Raw fatigue, and stress etched on faces as well as 3 days beard growth.
Ironically this was also the same time the more famous Battle Of Iwo Jima was taking place on the other side of the globe.
The scenes only show the American army walking over the rubble of an apparently uninhabited city. civilians killed in bombings are not shown
what's your point?