Unidentified photos from the collection of Lance Corporal Emmerson

Nick, I am impressed ! That definitely looks like the building. It also makes sense as 1st Commando Bde were well established in nearby Lubeck which, from what i understand, had been heavily bombed with not many grand buildings left standing for an HQ. I can also see a certain sense of "Victory" in establishing their Headquarters on Adolf Hitler Plaza. I will update the photo accordingly.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 07/11/2012 19:05:35

Photo updated and moved into the main body of the SS BDE HQ and Signallers troops gallery and can be seen on the new link:

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/HQ+and+Sigs/

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 14/01/2012 18:47:35

It took quite a bit of detective work but I was determined to find the town.

I reasoned that as the name of the company was Handelsbank in Lubeck, then the search should centre around Lubeck.
Looking at the row of letters below the 'Handelsbank' title, I reasoned that this would be the actual branch name.
The first word was too long to work out but it seemed to me that it started with OST*E*and ended in either 'strasse' or 'kasse'.
I thought that the start of the word could be OSTSEE [Baltic] but wasn't too sure; I discounted strasse (street), as a street name would be on the street corner, but kasse, I knew, means 'cash' and I know that some German banks still incorporate kasse in their title (ie Sparkasse).

The second word looked like ***stadt and, as stadt means town/city, I reckoned Neustadt was a reasonable assumption.

And yes, as Stephen says, there are many Neustadts in Germany...

But I was only interested in a Neustadt near Lubeck.

I remembered that on 03 May 45, 3 ships packed with refugees were bombed, accidentaly, by the RAF near Neustadt in the Lubeck Bay.
The RAF still thinking that they were attacking German Troops then machine gunned those in the water...
Those that did make it to shore were shot by the SS and the SD.
There were very few survivors of this, one of the most tragic naval disasters of the entire war.
No6 Cdo arrived in the area a day or so later and were involved in recovering the many bodies washed up on the shore and it is suggested that Brig Mills-Roberts assumed that the carnage was due to the Germans and was so incensed at the thousands of deaths that, on 6 May 45, when accepting the surrender of Field Marshall Milch, he snatched the Field Marshal's baton from Milch's hand and struck him with it.
3 survivors of this tragedy were found by commandos who took them to a German Hospital in Neustadt and ordered the German Military doctors, at gunpoint, to treat the young Jewish women.

I searched the internet for the building but found nothing - Google Maps was no good (Google has opted out of Street View in Germany!).
But I was encouraged by the architecture of the older buildings in the area - I knew I was in the right area!
Then I found an online dealer in old postcards who had catalogued all his cards - there were two of Neustadt and there it was - very hard to spot initially but, after close scrutiny and a considerable number of years experience of using photographs for gaining information, I knew it was the place. I just needed to prove it and this I was able to do by comparing all three photos?

Nick

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 15/01/2012 01:32:40

Here is a view of the Market Square (then known as Adolf Hitler Platz) taken from the Church, in 1940.
Hotel Deutsches Haus is seen in the bottom left corner.

Nick

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 15/01/2012 18:41:57

I know 46 Commando (RM) were in Neustadt and Lubeck. There are 3 photos (including the captured German wireless truck) posted on here in the 46 Commando Album that were taken by my grandfather when the unit was there.

Thanks to everyone including some of those who have replied direct to me regarding this and other photos. Danny Lovell has done some remarkable photo matching with one of our photos ( no.48 ) and some of his which I will attach to this message. Both Stephane and Danny Lovell pointed out that in photo 48 if you look closely in the distant background on the fields there are what look like gliders. Of course many gliders landed in the fields by Amfreville and the little cartography map posted refers to an area called 'Glider Gulch'. (see this forum message for details on that particular photo). John Martin also confirms some detail on that message:

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/3175.page

Additionally Jack Bakker has done a lot of work and sent me this detail about the photos in the unidentified album:

On photos 3 and 10 there are houses that could be in Holland as the style of the houses is seen in Holland.

On photo 29, the house in the background: same story.

On photo 18: the way in which the bricks are done above the doorway is a method seen in Holland. But perhaps also in Germany for that matter.

Photo 12: the telegraph pole is the sort of pole seen in France and in Belgium, and made of concrete. They still use those, perhaps in a slightly different pattern. As far as I know that sort of pole wasn?t used in Holland. There wooden poles were used.

Photo 20: the men with the caps look very much like Russians or perhaps Yugoslavs. The cap they are wearing is nearly the same as was worn by the Serbs in Bosnia when I was there. Look at the shoulders of the two men on the right. The rank badges look very much the same as were used (and still are!) by the Russians.

Photo 30: this one could be made in either the South of Holland (Limburg) or in Germany. I think so because of the way the house is made.

Photo 40: I think this is in France. The machine gun op the photo is a former Russian type machine gun, probably taken during the Russian campaign of the German army and put into service in France. In front of the MG is part of a German mess tin.

Photo 43: the sign on the wall is painted in German gothic letters. When you enlarge the photo you can read WESEL as the last word on the sign on the left. The ?belegt? and ?platz? can be seen at the right of the standing sergeant in the doorway.

Photo 46: the sign on the house says something like ?????? Gasthof? or ? Gasthaus? which means that it is a hotel of some sort. The troops in front of the building are to me definitely Germans.

Photo 47: looking at the men at the table and the clothes and caps they wear, this must be in France. Hence the bottles of wine on the table!

So we have established locations for 3 now. Photo 48 is Amfreville as is the cartography, and I will amend that soon, and of course Nick's identification of the Neustadt photo. All tie in with 1st SS or Commando Brigade's advance into Germany which of course Cpl. Ken Emmerson, being in the HQ group, was a part of.

Steve I am aware of the excellent photos in the 46RM Cdo album provided by yourself and others. The link to that album is here:

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/Royal+Marine+Commando+Units/46/

Now all we need is Veterans or relatives to begin providing more names !!!

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 07/11/2012 19:07:20

Just posted another photo from this superb collection. At first I thought the board was a food menu when I saw the thumbnail of the photo. Nothing came with the photo but the board tells a story !

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/HQ+and+Sigs/1+SS+Bde/scan0202.jpg.html

On the above photo there is a clue as to the country he is in. No prizes I'm sorry to say but who's the clever clogs that can find it first?

I can't see the clue you mentioned but I assume it is Germany as that is where the Commandos were before disbandment.

This "clever" clog perhaps? On the tray on the desk it says "Schmier papier" which is German for scratch paper. So he must be in Germany.

Ah Jack, I knew you'd find it ..yes indeed if you look closely on the side of the tray on the table, near his hand, there it is Schmierpapier..basically "scrap paper".

Hello

I went to AMFREVILLE and took some photos there.

Hope it will be good.

sincerely

stéphane

Houses had changed, but with help of locals, We found the exact spot.

Near the 1st SS Brigade memorial

I'm not sure if it's the same spot, but asking to the locals, any else
area looks like similar.

This is near 3 cdo memorial, the road where 3 cdo arrived in LE PLEIN.