Gutenberg Monument

This is a picture of the Gutenberg Monument in Frankfurt, Germany. It is located in the area of the city known as the "Rossmarkt". In addition to Johannes Gutenberg, Johann Fust and Peter Schoffer, both popular names in printing history, are also cast in bronze beside him. My photo (top) has no date, yet from the severe damage of the surrounding buildings, this photo might have been taken sometime after the U.S. 8th Air Force bombing of Frankfurt on January 29, 1944.

The bottom photo, courtesy of http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Rossmarkt-gutenberg-ffm018.jpg, is the monument as it is seen today. Although slight changes have been made to the Deutsche Bank building in the background, it is still fairly close to the original structure.

German Trench

I bought this photo at an online auction. It is a very small photo (2"x2") and appears to have had been once glued in an album. Although the glue distorted what was written on back , the written date "1940" can be seen. The other writing is too incomplete to make out.

Both soldiers are of the regular German army (Heer). The soldier in the foreground, based on the collar patches & shoulder tabs, is the rank equivalent to a private. In front of him, resting in the dirt, is his K98 Mauser rifle. On his belt (left side), you can just make out his K98 bayonet. He is wearing one of the early designed Heer helmets, the M1935, which was one of the first helmets to feature the Heer eagle holding the swastika.

The soldier in the background is looking through binoculars. He is wearing a coat which hides any information about rank. He appears to be standing in front of a corrugated pipe that has been set in the trench (perhaps a makeshift bunker?)

Based on the dirt pile in the far background, this trench must have been fairly long in size. In the background to the left, there appears to be a fence of some sort. If you look closely, there appear to be several "lumps" in front of the fence. I cannot tell if this is earth or perhaps livestock.

Mystery Wreck

My picture (above) is is full of mystery:

1)Based on the rank patch (private), I assume this is an American soldier. All other allied (or axis for that matter) chevrons during WW2 were turned the opposite direction. As for the unit patch, no amount of sharpening or magnification makes it any clearer. Whatever unit it is, it appears to have a large, light colored vertical stripe going down the middle of it.

2) The plane is obviously German and has severe rudder damage. The type of plane, however, is a bit difficult to identify. I am assuming it is a Focke-Wulf 190 based on the tail shape and rudder "peak" to which the antenna wire would be attached. There are no other markings on the plane except for a light colored fuselage stripe behind the soldier's legs. Being a black & white photo, this fuselage stripe could be white or yellow. The rudder color could also be red or gray. These colors, if known, would help further identify the plane. The fuselage appears to have a slight gray camouflage paint scheme.

3) The ammo belt around the soldier appears to be large in caliber. The Focke-Wulf carried 7.9mm machine guns and 20mm cannons. If this belt is from the plane, then it could be 20mm.

4) The wreckage behind the Focke-Wulf is a mystery. It appears as if it might be a wing? A wing light can be seen along with a white marking of some sort. The Focke-Wulf did not have this type of wing light. A gun barrel is also present. I cannot identify the caliber of the gun. If the wreckage behind the Focke-Wulf is from another plane, this picture could be dated towards the end of the war when allied forces began to discover Luftwaffe "graveyards" full of crashed or abandoned planes.

***The photo below mine is of a Focke-Wulf 190 (courtesy of Craig Murray @ http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/6/1/5/1209516.jpg).