Jake Holliday

The border crossing point at Oberbaumbrücke on the evening of 10 Nov. 1989 - the 2nd day of when the Berlin Wall was suddenly open. It is a collage I made shortly after and as I did not want to rip off the photos, I scanned the page, adjusted each image a bit and rebuilt the collage digitally.

Wow!!!

One of the historical sites I would’ve absolutely loved to have seen in its hay day!

From the collection: A large amount of paperwork to A.J.Beckwith, who commissioned into the British Army in 1958. He served with: the Gurkha Division REME in the Malayan Emergency 1959-60; 42 Commando on HMS Bulwark 1961; and Forward Air Control.

Merry Christmas to you too, Ian!

A twig of Christmas Tree sent by Obergefreiter Munker to his daughter on 3rd December 1944. Munker was serving in a Wehrmacht communications unit at the time and would be captured by the Red Army in early 1945.

Munker served 1940-45 and returned from Soviet captivity in 1948.

Don’t, I’m already resisting purchasing Empire: Total War for my phone 😆

A good one, this! I watched it a few weeks ago. I particularly like the Volksmarine footage.

An excellent photo of Cpl Cooper of the Durham Light Infantry ready for patrol in Korea, September 1952.

Mk.V Sten, extra magazines stuffed in his Battledress trouser pocket, Mills Bomb, jersey, cap comforter, and, most importantly for a soldier, a cig.

(D.R.O.)

I’ve got this on my phone- it’s so good and I really like being able to follow the history too!

I keep mine in a mixture of A4 plastic wallets, card folders, and photograph albums with non-adhesive pages. Probably not the best mixture, but it’s all I can manage at the moment.

A tragic memorial in Drax Church to Gunner Edmund Hutchinson, who served with 50th Trench Mortar Battery, Royal Field Artillery. Despite the information on the stone, he his now buried 42km west in La Baraque British Cemetery, Bellenglise.

I haven't, no, but will give it a watch! I watched another recently on the Grenzaufklärer, who patrolled the Inner-German Border. Easy to see through the propaganda and a fascinating insight into the DDR's perception of their security.

No problem!

I’ve been looking at all kinds of DDR transit visas and none of them seem to have dates. Only visas for the DDR itself seem to have dates. I reckon there was some way of knowing by the issue codes on the stamps, and imagine the Stasi had such a system to keep an eye on those transiting.

Battlechat 114 with Dr Graeme Callister @graemecallister.bsky.social is out now for patrons. We discuss his new book “Waterloo: the Attack of I Corps” in some detail – Graeme’s fascination & passion for the subject shines through! Get early access at www.patreon.com/battlegames?...

Explanatory marker on the grounds of the Stormont Estate, Belfast. The marker reads: ‘WWII Luftwaffe Landmine / Bomb Crater. During WWII many bombs and land mines were dropped on Belfast and other areas, particularly in mid April and 4th, 5th May 1941. This crater was not filled in after the blitz’.

Photograph of bomb crater covered in fallen leaves and surrounded by wooden fencing.

Visited Stormont today and had to take a look at this.

A preserved crater from a Luftwaffe air raid during the Belfast Blitz of 1941.

Black & white picture of an M4A3 Sherman tank stranded in a sandy shell hole with bushes in the background. The sides of the hull are covered in wooden boards. There's a thinner wooden board covering the length of the suspension too. The top of the tank hull is covered with sandbags. The turret has a length of spare track attached to its side, while the turret front, gun mantlet and half of the gun is covered in a dark material. This is possibly a light canvas covered in a waterproofing agent. Traces of this dark material are also visible around the turret pistol port on the turret left-hand side and around the hull MG port. The tank, including the wooden boards and spare track, has been painted in a two-tone camouflage scheme.

For #TankTuesday, here's a great photo of an M4A3 Sherman of the 5th Tank Battalion (US Marines) stuck in sand in Iwo Jima, 1945.

What is striking about this shot is the amount of extra protection given to the tank against Japanese tank hunter teams.

A thread.

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Heinz Reinefarth, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, and Colonel Willi Schmidt in Warsaw during the uprising, 1944. Schmidt was the commander of the Wehrmacht Security Regiment 608, which deployed alongside the Dirlewanger Brigade during the Wola Massacre.

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From my personal collection: Queen's Korea Medal and United Nations Korea Medal pair named to a Royal Marine.

#KoreanWar #RoyalMarines

And you too, Jeff!

Likewise- no problem!

Thank you!

No problem! 👍🏻

They did. I wonder if they were more lenient because of the bloody killing of Chris Gueffroy and, with changing times, it was better for the appearances of the DDR.

I bet! They were still married in 2009, so she wasn't that upset 😆

Very! It's really interesting, too, because Greiser had a good restaurant job and a family in the DDR. He said he fled so he was free to live how he wanted. He hoped he would be reunited with his family through an amnesty programme.

Heute vor 20 Jahren: Wir waren die letzten Mauerflüchtlinge Der 8. April vor 20 Jahren war ein Tag wie heute. Sonnig, warm. Ideal für einen Ausflug... Bert Greiser und Michael Bachmann aus Friedrichshain (beide da...

For more information:
- bild.de/regional/ber...
- www.spiegel.de/geschichte/b...

Bert Greiser was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment, Michael Bachmann 20 months, in 'Bright Future' Juvenile Detention Centre in Halle. They were released 3 days after the fall of the Berlin Wall. 20 years later, Bild newspaper brought them back together.