UPDATES

(most recent to older)

February 1st 2024: Added an article about a rare submachine gun used by a Jedburgh team member during Operation "Market Garden" in September 1944:

 

January 12th 2024: Added an article about the Battle of Hastings:

 

December 10th 2023: Added an article about the Miracle of the Battle of Empel:

 

September 21st 2023: Added an 88mm Flak 36 gun barrel section in Battle Relic #15:

August 27th 2023: Added an update at the bottom of Case File #4 with the report of two metal detecting expeditions to the forest in the Netherlands where American bombs wreaked havoc in 1944.


August 22nd 2023
: Added an update with 7 additional statements from the research material for the book A Bridge Too Far concerning Kussin's death in the article on Kussin Junction.

 

August 8th 2023: Added an update about 1 British Airborne Division Intelligence reporting about Kussin's death in the article on Kussin Junction.

 

July 10th 2023: Added an update at the bottom of Battle Study #21; in the War Dairy of the British 156 Battalion The Parachute Regiment we found a clue about the choice of codes names for future operations.

 

May 12th 2023: Added an update about the account of a female German victim near General Kussin's vehicle in the article on Kussin Junction.

 

April 23rd 2023: Added an update at the bottom of Case File #4 with a timeline of aerial imagery and a high resolution scan of the photo that shows the bombs exploding in the Sonsche Forrest on September 17th 1944.

 

February 19th 2023: Added the Battle Relic #33 article about a World War Two American  steel paratrooper helmet found on a metal scrap yard in the Netherlands in 2020.

 

December 21st 2022: Added an update at the bottom of Battle Study #21; in the War Dairy of the British 1st Airborne Division we found a clue about the choice of codes names for future operations.

 

December 14th 2022: Added an update at the bottom of Case File #4; we identified the US Army Air Corps Bomb Groups whose bombs cause the collateral damage in the Sonsche Forrest in September 1944.

 

December 13th 2022: Added an update at the bottom of Case File #2; we identified the German unit of the 88 millimeter canon crews fighting in Son and Eindhoven in September 1944.

August 10th 2022
: Added the Battle Relic #32 article about a World War Two British steel helmet found during reconstruction work on the sewer system in Eindhoven, the Netherlands on 14APR2022.

 

April 11th 2022: Added a new update in Battle Study #27 with three Now & Then comparisons of the 1941 RAF aerial reconnaissance photos taken from a helicopter and a report on how we accomplished this.

February 7th 2022: Added a new update at the end of the Battle Study #16 about the Dutch casemate with the
detonator of Nijmegen bridge.

 

November 17th 2021: Added photos of the new headstone of Russian soldier Alexander Petrow in Case File #12:

October 27th 2021: Added the Battle Relic #31 article about an American  steel helmet worn by a Dutch "irregular" who joined the 101st Airborne in World War Two.

 

August 1st 2021: Added a new social media icon with a link to Battle Detective's YouTube Channel on the homepage.

 

May 22nd 2021: Added a mysterious, but undoubtedly German gun in  Battle Relic # 15:

 

 

May 9th 2021: Added a PAK 40 anti-tank gun in  Battle Relic #15:


 

March 13th 2021:Added 6 new Now&Then comparisons on the Now & Then Holland 1 page.

 

September 23rd 2020: Added Battle Study #33 about the remarkable escape of Airborne Chief Medical Officer Graeme Warrack after the Battle of Arnhem:
 


 

 

August 25th 2020: Added an 88mm gun and a rare "Pantherturm" in  Battle Relic #15:

 

 

June 9th 2020: Added an update about German General Kussin's pistol in the Airborne Museum in the Hartenstein Hotel in Oosterbeek in the article on Kussin Junction.

 

March 28th 2020: Added a Commemoration article about the cancelled 75th anniversary of Operation "Varsity".

 

March 5th 2020 Added an update in Case File #16 about the police camera used to process the scene of the Rauter shooting incident on 7MAR1945 at the Woeste Hoeve inn.
 

February 20th 2020: Added an update in Case File #19 about the Royal Air Force publication which was revised after our publication.

 

November 26th 2019: While visiting Leipzig in Germany, added 8 new diptychs on the Now&Then World Wide page.


 

August 15th 2019: While visiting Normandy and the Channel Island of Guernsey, added 16 new diptychs on the Now&Then Normandy and Now&Then World Wide pages.

 

 

July 16th 2019: Added Battle Study #32  about the location of the Battle in the Teutoburger Forest where three Roman legions were annihilated by German tribes in the year 9 A.D.


July 13th 2019:Added 8 new Now&Then comparisons on the Now & Then Holland 1 page:


 

June 29th 2019: Added Battle Study #31 about the location where German tank ace Michael Wittmann was killed in action on 8AUG1944:
 

 

June 27th 2019: Added our report on the 75th Anniversary of the Normandy invasion on June 6th 1944.

 

May 26th 2019: Added a FLAK 37mm anti-aircraft gun in  Battle Relic #15:
 

 

February 22nd 2019: Added Case File #20 about a classic myth from the Waterloo battlefield.

 

 

November 27th 2018: Added Case File #19 in which we explain how, in a recent publication, the Royal Air Force's Historical Branch misinterpreted aerial photography of the Arnhem area in 1944.

 

October 8th 2018: Added Battle Study #30 about the strangest battle of World War 2 when American soldiers defended a medieval castle:

 

 

September 25th 2018: Added Battle Study #29 about a battle in December 1944 between SS troops and
American paratroopers and armored units:
 

 

August 27th 2018: We added an update in the Kussin Junction-article about the General's head wounds:
 


July 31st 2018:
 In Battle Relic #15 we added the barrel of a Third Reich howitzer and a self-propelled gun;
both on display in Italy.
For now, these items conclude the article as we are not aware of other Nazi ordnance in the public domain
in the European Theater of Operations, not documented by this agency.
Viewers are invited to inform us about any artillery pieces and (armored fighting or self-propelled artillery) vehicles to be added.

 

July 30th 2018: Added 3 comparisons from photos taken in Pisa in Italy, in our Now&Then Worldwide section.

 

May 27th 2018: Added a report about the daily Sunset March commemorative event in Nijmegen, Holland.

 

May 23rd 2018: Added an update at the end of the Battle Study #16 about the Dutch casemate with the
detonator of Nijmegen bridge.

 

May 17th 2018: After returning from a trip to the French Rivičra, we have added 2 diptychs in our Now&Then Worldwide section and a Third Reich antitank gun:
 


 

April 1st 2018: Added 9  diptychs in our Now&Then Holland 1 section, taken in the area of Operation "Market Garden" in September 1944. They are at the top of the page as we have started to publish new additions there
on this Now&Then page.

 

March 21st 2018: Added an animated comparison of bomb damage in the city of Eindhoven, the Netherlands at the bottom of the page of our Now&Then Holland 2 section.

 

March 5th 2018: Added 5 diptychs in our Now&Then Worldwide section, photographed in Reims and Camp Mourmelon in France.

 

March 4th 2018:  In Battle Relic #15 we added a Third Reich Panther Ausführung A, tank. This particular vehicle is on display within the grounds of the Camp Mourmelon military installation of the French Army.
BattleDetective.com was given kind permission to enter the area of the 501st Régiment de Chars de Combat (Battle Tank Regiment) to document this Battle Relic:

 

 

 

February 4th 2018:  In Battle Relic #15 we added a Third Reich artillery piece which we found in a special park
with a recreation of a stretch of coastline with Nazi defense works in Zeeland, the Netherlands.

 



 

 

January 12th 2018: We finally found our way in the woods and documented the famous terrain feature
known as the "Rocky Outcrop" in the Hürtgen Forest in Germany.
Scroll to the bottom of Battle Relic #25 to see it:
 


 

January 3rd 2018: Added 5 diptychs in our Now&Then Worldwide section, photographed on New Year's
Day in Cologne, Germany:


.


December 15th 2017:
 In Battle Relic #15 we have added a French 155 millimeter C MLE Schneider canon
of 1917, used as a "Beutewaffe" by the Nazis in Ossendrecht in The Netherlands:
 


 

November 7th 2017:  Updated Battle Relic #30 with a photograph of the 'silver bullets' as they are found near Lochnagar Crater.

 

November 6th 2017:  Submitted Battle Study #28 about the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in Prague, Czechoslovakia 1942:
 

 

October 3rd 2017: The Report on the commemoration of the 73rd anniversary of Operation "Market Garden" is online.

 

September 4th 2017: Added 6 diptychs in our Now&Then Worldwide section.

 

July 11th 2017:  In Battle Relic #30 we added "The Silver Bullet from Lochnagar Crater".

 

May 31st 2017: Added our first World War One comparison diptych in our Now&Then Worldwide section.

May 30th 2017:
 In Battle Relic #15 we added 4 Third Reich artillery pieces which we found on public display in  Normandy, France.

 

May 28th 2017: Added 2 Then & Now comparison diptychs to the Now&Then Normandy section.

 

April 17th 2017:  Submitted Battle Study #27 about the Bruneval Raid in France 1942.

 

March 1st 2017:  In Battle Relic #15 we have added a Nazi 88 upon which we stumbled in Arromanches-les-Bains during our recent trip trough Normandy, France.

 

 

January 25th 2017: We have finally added a first rough draught of our report on the recreation of the Nazis anti-magnetic Zimmerit coating applied to their armored fighting vehicles in World War Two. From 2011 to 2017 we have recreated the substance and have tested it with a variety of magnets.
A patent of the final product by this agency named "Timmerit" is pending.



 

January 8th 2017:  We have added an 88 millimeter canon and a PAK40 antitank gun on display in the Military Historical Museum in Valencia, Spain in Battle Relic #15. The entrance to the museum is free of charge and access to these artillery pieces was unlimited.

 

December 18h 2016:  In Battle Relic #15 we have added a Hetzer self-propelled gun and a PAK40 antitank gun
on display in the Belgian and Luxembourg Ardennes region.

 

December 17th 2016: On the Now & Then Miscellaneous page we have added a Now & Then comparison of a replica of "Cobra King", the American Sherman Jumbo M4A3E2 assault tank famous for being the first to break
through the German lines surrounding Bastogne, Belgium
. Scroll down to the page to see it.

 

November 7th 2016:  In Battle Relic #15 we have added a French Model 1897 75 millimeter canon, captured
by the Germans and modified to a Panzerabwehrkanone 97/38 for their own arsenal.



October 30th 2016: Submitted our report on the reburial of two soldiers of the Wiltshire Regiment who were Killed In Action during the Battle of the Level Crossing near Arnhem in The Netherlands.

 

October 19th 2016:  In Battle Relic #15 we have added images and a description of the
10.5 cm/45 (4.1") SK C/32 deck gun which was mounted on the Kriegsmarine minesweeper M469. The minesweeper was sunk in 1944 by a Royal Navy torpedo boat and the gun was salvaged by Dutch divers from the island of Terschelling in 1988. A friend of this agency traveled to Terschelling and documented this gun using our well known Battle Detective magnets.

 

October 12th 2016: On the Now & Then Miscellaneous page we have added four new Now & Then comparison diptychs of the Veghel, Holland area. Scroll down to the page to see them.
 

 

 

September 19th 2016: Earlier this month, we travelled to Katowice in Poland and drove just over 700 miles to
visit the battlefields of the Soviet Dukla-Carpathian Offensive into Czechoslovakia in late 1944. Everywhere in the battle area Soviet T34/85 tanks can be seen as well as Nazi weaponry; the latter mostly as part of monuments and
in open-air displays in museum gardens. In Battle Relic #15 we have added images and descriptions of two Nazi artillery pieces and six tracked fighting vehicles which we located in three different locations in today's Slovakia.
Below is a photo of the Údolie Smrti (Valley of Death) monument at Kapišová. The other seven items are located
on the grounds of the Institute of Military History in Svidník and the Museum of Slovak National Uprising in
Banská Bystrica, Slovakia.

 

 

August 8th 2016: In Battle Relic #15 we have added a Nazi PAK 40 gun barrel which once served as a support beam holding up he roof of a local barn in Joubieval in the Belgian Ardennes. Today it is an eye catcher for the local Bulge Relics Museum:

 

 

July 15th, 2016: At the bottom of our exclusive article "Kussin Junction" we reveal some of historian Scott Revell's findings about a fourth passenger in the German General's vehicle when it was riddled by British bullets.

April 9th, 2016
: Scroll down to the bottom of Battle Relic #28 page for the addition of our revisit to the ship wrecks on the beaches of Dunkirk in France during an extremely low tide.

 

March 30th, 2016: In Battle Relic #15 we have added a so-called "Beutewaffe" or looted armament in the Nazi-German lingo of World War 2. Scroll down to the page to read about a Soviet howitzer which its Nazi captors turned against the Allies:

 


March 6th, 2016: In Battle Study #14 we have added evidence of what might have triggered Nazi soldiers to open fire into a cheering civilian crowd on Dam square in Amsterdam on May 7 1945; two days after the Nazi surrender:



January 8th, 2016: Today we added Battle Relic #28  in our Battle Relics section.
 

January 2nd, 2016: We have visited the beaches of Dunkirk in Northern France for a new Battle Relic article on this website.

Keep monitoring this page for the release date.

November 25th 2015
: We have added two new animated Now&Then images in the Now&Then Holland (2) section.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see them.
They are of Canadian soldier Elwood Wilson, serving with a tank transport unit and billeted in Eindhoven, Holland at the end of the World War Two in May 1945.
His daughter Mary Jane from Ottawa asked us to locate the sites of various photos of her father who had unfortunately passed away in 1968.
We have located where he had been posing while standing at attention and with his well armed buddies on Leeuwenstraat (Lion Street) in Eindhoven.
Here are the diptychs of the comparison images, in the format you have come to know so well:

 Click on the images to enlarge:
  


October 3rd 2015
: Today we added Battle Relic #27  in our Battle Relics section.

 

September 10h 2015: A bit to our embarrassment we have added an update correcting the origin of the Battle Relic #26 . Scroll down to the bottom op the page to read it.

 

August 16th 2015: Today we added the description of Battle Relic #26  in our Battle Relics section.

 

July 30th 2015: Today we added Battle Relic #25 article  in our Battle Relics section.

 

July 28th 2015: Scroll down to the bottom of Battle Relic #15 page for the addition of yet another Nazi anti-tank gun left behind in the European Theater of Operations:

 

June 17th 2015: We added Battle Relic #24 article  in our Battle Relics section.

 

June 8th 2015: During our recent trip to Normandy, France, we have been able to locate two more Nazi canons in the European Theatre of Operations, accessible to the general public. Scroll down to the bottom of Battle Relic #15 page to see these latest entries.

 

May 20th 2015: As a result of our Berlin trip, we have added the Battle Relic #23 article  in our
Battle Relics section.

 

April 29th 2015: After our trip to Berlin we are proud to add a Now&Then comparison to our Worldwide collection.
Please scroll down to the end of the page to see it.

It took us some effort to find the location of the famous Red Flag raising in the German Reichstag parliament
building in Berlin on May 2nd, 1945 but we succeeded:

Click on the images to enlarge:

Battle Detectives Wilbert (left) and Tom (right) on the rooftop of the Reichtag German parliament building

 

February 23rd 2015: We added another article in our Battle Studies section.

 

January 19th 2015: We added a new article in our Battle Studies section.

 

January 18th 2015: We added another article in our Battle Relics section.

 

January 4th 2015: We have added a new article in our Battle Relics section.

November 5th 2014
:The Report on the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Operation "Market Garden" is now online.

 

August 29th 2014: We have added one (1) artillery piece to our list of Nazi weaponry left
behind in the European Theatre of Operations after World War Two.

 

July 18th 2014: We have added seven (7) artillery pieces and one (1) tank to our list of Nazi weaponry left
behind in the European Theatre of Operations after World War Two.

May 24th 2014
: Added several photos in Battle Study #16 of the Dutch casemate at Lent where Nazi General
Heinz Harmel ordered the Nijmegen bridge to be blown up. Without the desired result. Scroll down to the bottom
of the page to read the Update; or click on the image below:


May 8th 2014: Six (6) new Now&Then comparison photo's added at the bottom of our Now&Then Miscellaneous Page. We found the locations of several scenes where the Hollywood production "A Bridge Too Far" was filmed in
1976 in Deventer, Holland.

 


 

May 1st 2014: Now online: Battle Study #24 about the 1794 Battle of Boxtel in Holland.

March 20th 2014
: Please read our update on the Battle Relic #20 article on shrapnel about a tiny battle implement called 'flechette'.
 

March 12th 2014: We've added four new comparison photo's in our Now&Then Worldwide section. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see these images taken in the German town of Colditz and its Castle; the former
Nazi Oflag IVc Prisoner of War facility for high risk Allied officers.


"Ghost-image" created by Para Research Team

 

January 31st 2014: Scroll down to the bottom of Battle Study #11 for the latest update on the location Malmédy Massacre Investigation.

 

January 8th 2014: In a small Belgian town near Waterloo we found a Nazi canon of the LeFH18 type.

Scroll to the bottom of our Battle Relic #15-page for more details.

 

November 24th 2013: In the small French town of Billy-Berclau (We pronounced it as "Billy Bear Claw" but the town's name is a French degeneration of the ancient Flemish town name "Berklo") we found this Nazi PAK 40, 77 millimeter anti-tank gun. Please scroll down to the bottom of our Battle Relic #15-page for a more elaborate description.

 

October 4th 2013: Today, we present our Case File #18 about the tragic death in World War Two of three out of four brothers Killed In Action on the same day.

A "Saving Private Ryan" story as seen from a German perspective.

 

September 25th 2013: No full-page report of the commemorations for the 69th anniversary of Operation
"Market Garden" and the Battle of Arnhem this time. This year's activities were mostly identical to those
experienced in previous "Remember September" ceremonies. We sensed a kind of tranquility before the
undoubtedly enormous programs for next year's 70th. Although not enough material to submit a report in the Commemoration section of this website, the highlights of 2013 were:
1 Acting as Ceremony Speaker during commemoration and wreath laying ceremonies in the towns and the city of Eindhoven liberated by the 101st Airborne Division on September 15th;

2 Visiting the site of the former Cemetery of the Honored Dead of the 101st Airborne North of Son on
September 17th and on that same day (at last) meeting author, historian and veteran George Koskimaki
in person in Eerde on September 17th;
3&4 Witnessing the Battle of Arnhem commemorative parachute jumps on Ginkel Heath on September 18th.


(click to enlarge)
1
234

 

September 16th 2013: We've just returned from Greek battlefields of World War Two on the island of Crete. We visited museums, monuments, combat scenes and cemeteries and collected data and images for future publications here on BattleDetective.com. Keep monitoring this page for updates.



At the Tavronitis Bridge near the British Royal Air Force Base at Maleme on Crete; major objectives for the invading Nazi paratroopers and glider-borne infantry in May 1941

 

August 3rd 2013: Today we published our report of the 29252nd (!) daily Last Post Ceremony in honor of the fallen soldier of the British Empire in World War One, held at the Menin Gate in Ypres Belgium. Click here to go to the report.

 

July 27th 2013:

In our active Battle Relic about the air sickness pills of the US Army in WWII we have recently discovered a German pamphlet warning about the side effects of one on the key ingredients of the American medication: Scopolamine.

Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the original of this translated document:


(click to enlarge)

 

July 17th 2013: Please click and read our latest Battle Relic article (# 20) about a handful of shrapnel bullets of the World War One era we obtained in Ypres, Belgium.
 


 

July 15th 2013: We have been (metal-)detecting in the Zonsche Forest near Son, Holland with battlefield archeologist John de Neef. We have come up with several artifacts from Operation "Market Garden" and more insight in the battle for the road bridge across Wilhelmina Canal in Best.


 

July 10th 2013: In our active case file about looting paratroopers on The Island in the Dutch province of Gelderland we have recently discovered a document indicating that steeling of civilian property had already started in the first days of Operation Market Garden.

Scroll to the bottom of the case file to see the original of this translated document:


(click to enlarge)


 

July 1st 2013: In our latest Battle Relic #19, we feature a special weapon that was custom made for an American scout in the 82nd Airborne Division who crossed the river Meuse on a combat patrol across the river Meuse, where
he lost it in the water. It was found decades later.

June 25th 2013: We spent several days on World War I battlefields near Ypres, Belgium. Monitor this Latest News page for new articles of our findings there.



Entrance to British concrete dug out in Lettenberg Hill near Ypres, Belgium

 

 

June 11th 2013: We had a meeting with WW2 US Army veteran James Martin of "G"-Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment the other day. Among much more, James talked to us about the motion sickness preventive tablets paratroopers in his unit were issued shortly before the D-Day jump in 1944.
Want to know what we learned? Read our Battle Relic #7.

 


Jim "Pee Wee" Martin of "G"/506th PIR, and Battle Detective Tom


We presented "Jim "Pee Wee" Martin of "G"/506th PIR,
with a challenge coin in honor of PFC Joe Mann.
Joe Mann was also in G/506 during basic airborne training.
James explained us that the company sergeant had a disliking of Joe.
He had him transferred to the 502nd while in Camp Shanks in NY state,
 just before shipping to England.
The whole platoon hated it and they talked with Joe for hours.
Joe had said, “Just watch, everyone’s gonna hear from me.”


May 18th 2013: Only a fortnight after its official opening we visited the EyeWitness Museum, in the town of Beek
in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is an excellent museum which we can highly recommend to everyone. And while there, we took the opportunity to document their Nazi PAK 40 canon as Battle Relic Sub File No.: 15-Z in Battle Relic #15.

 

May 11th 2013: We went to the Van Ganzewinkel hair dresser salon in Zeeland, Holland with US Army COL (Rtd.)
Ed Shames; a veteran of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.  Sixty-nine years ago Ed got a haircut here
during a break in an intelligence gathering mission in September 1944.
The Van Ganzewinkel family still runs the business.
Today Ed got a haircut from Peggy (seen below holding Ian Gardner's book Deliver Us From Darkness; which
describes the incident), granddaughter of Ed's hairdresser during the war.

 

May 8th 2013: Another addition to our Battle Relic #15 . On the bottom of the page you will find Battle Relic
Sub File No.: 15-Y
; a Nazi 75 millimeter anti-aircraft gun, on display on the grounds of Camp Elsenborn, Belgium.

 

May 3rd 2013: Please scroll down to the bottom of our Battle Relic #15 to see our Battle Relic Sub File
No.: 15-X
; a Nazi 20 millimeter Anti Aircraft gun we found in side the citadel of Dinant, Belgium.

 

March 20th 2013: Read about the very popular American Civil War "Son of a Gun" battlefield myth.

 

March 6th 2013: We have put Battle Relic #18 online, the description of the most contemporary item featured on this website to date.
 

March 1st 2013: Please scroll down to the bottom of our Battle Study #22 where we describe how we found the original location of the monument honoring PFC Joe E. Mann who was supposedly killed on this spot and earned the Medal of Honor in September 1944 in Best, Holland.

 
 

February 23rd 2013: It is with utmost regret the we learned of the untimely death of Captain James A. Page, unit historian of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), working at the Brigadier General Don. F. Pratt Museum in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky on January 21st this year. Captain Page was a true officer and a gentleman and has been very helpful in several investigations for  this website. On November1st 2012 we proudly photographed him wearing the unauthorized Battle Detective patch on his ACU uniform in the museum.

 


Captain Page died too early at the age age of 42 and is survived by his wife Kim and two children.
It was an honor to have been in the Captain's company. 

 

 

January 18th 2013: With pride we present our report on the 2012 edition of Veterans Day ceremonies and commemorative events in Clarksville and Montgomery County, Tennessee.

 

January 16th 2013: Please scroll down to the bottom of Battle Study #19 for two recent updates.
We visited Pall Mall in Tennessee - Alvin C. York's birthplace- and the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville with a special exhibition on this American World War One hero.

 

December 23rd 2012: Battle Study #23 about the Clarksville-Montgomery County American Civil War Battle of Riggins Hill is now on-line.

 

December 15th 2012: Our Commemoration Report on the November 1st, 2012 All Saints Ceremony at the
German Prisoner of War Cemetery on Fort Campbell in Kentucky is now on-line.

 

December 7th 2012: Today our American Civil War Battle Relic #17 has been added; a Model 1842 Springfield bayonet used by both Union and Confederate troops.

 

December 5th 2012: In Battle Study #22 new evidence about the location where Medal of Honor recipient Joe Mann was killed is added. Please scroll down to the bottom of the page.

 

November 28th 2012: We have added an update on John Nasea Jr's page were we describe how we presented him with the Royal Dutch Orange Lanyard decoration for his part in Operation "Market Garden" in 1944.

November 27th 2012
: Read our rectification to a previously issued negative advise about whether or not a fountain on a crossroads in Son, The Netherlands, was dedicated to the 101st Airborne Division. From evidence
found in the archives of the Brigadier General Don F. Pratt Museum in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, we now know this concrete design from the 1960's is in fact a tribute to the liberators of Son in 1944.

 

November 18th 2012: The recent lack of updates on this website has only been caused by our fact finding
mission to Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. Please monitor this page as new articles and updates on
existing pages will be published soon.



At the Tennessee WWII Monument in Nashville, TN


"Inside the Sanctuary"; the archives of the Don. F. Pratt Museum in Ft. Campbell, KY


Combat Scene Investigation at Fort Defiance near Clarksville, TN


Fort Donelson National (Civil War) Battle Field near Dover, TN

German World War Two POW Cemetery in Fort Campbell, KY

 

October 16th 2012: Our Report on the 68th Commemoration of Operation "Market Garden"  is now online.

October 14th 2012
: Please scroll to the bottom of Case File #12 to read our breakthrough Update on the case of the Soviet Prisoner of War, killed by the Nazis in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

 

September 26th 2012: We are proud to present our Case File #17 about the mysterious French World War One Trench of the Bayonets.

September 8th 2012
: Monitor this page for the update of our trip to the Verdun region in Northern-France where we, among other locations, visited the mysterious Trench of the Bayonets:
 

 

 

August 30th 2012: Announcing the official two-volume book presentation of "Orange is the Color of the Day",
to which we have contributed some minor investigative research efforts, on Friday September 14th 2012 at the
Heeswijk Castle in Holland at 2 P.M.. This is the authors' invitation for all people interested in the American part of Operation "Market Garden":
 

(click to enlarge)


 Featuring over 1000 photographs -many of them never published before - this is a unique pictorial document of the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division in September and October 1944.

 

August 26th 2012: Scroll down to the bottom of the Battle Study # 20 for an update with some Battle Relics we found of the US Army's 77th Infantry Division.

 

August 25th 2012: We have visited the location of the December 1944 Malmedy Massacre once again and have documented the most likely route of escape of the American survivors massacre.
Please scroll down to the bottom of our Battle Study #11.

 

August 20th 2012:

The long awaited forensic ballistics report just came in and now we can publish our Battle Study #22 about the
location where PFC Joe E. Mann was killed in action for his comrades earning him the Medal of Honor.

 

July 19th 2012:
Scroll to the bottom of Now & Then Holland Part 2; for three new animated comparison photos, taken in Eindhoven, The Netherland on the day this Dutch city was liberated in World War Two.
An example:

(click to enlarge)
 

 

July 8th 2012:
Please scroll to the bottom of Case File # 10; our "Case of the Booby Trapped Outhouse" in Eindhoven, Holland.
New information finally sheds light on the mysterious explosion of a public restroom when an American paratrooper had a bowel movement in it.

 

June 20th 2012: We have just submitted our report of our involvement in airborne artillery man John Nasea Jr.'s first visit to the LZ (Landing Zone) where he had been 'clipped' while his glider was still in mid-air on September 19th, 1944.
A .30 calibre bullet made John a casualty, Seriously Wounded In Action, for the duration of World War Two.
It was his wish to be at the site where he landed and was most likely given first aid.
On his 90th birthday.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
Read more in our report.

May 30th 2012
:
Early April this year came the rather unexpected request from Berkley/NAL Publicity, Penguin Group, the publisher of American historian Dr. John C. McManus (of WWII Magazine) to review his new book published later this year.
The book is titled September Hope, The American Side of A Bridge Too Far.
We received an uncorrected proof of the book in the mail for us to read.

 

(click to enlarge)

 

"September Hope" is an excellent book and it shows that much research was put into writing it.
McManus practically used all available sources and wrote the overall story of how the decision was made for launching Operation Market Garden, the invasion of Nazi occupied Holland in September 1944, the preparation and the operation itself and the aftermath for the American military in the bridgehead established as a result of it.
We own many of the books listed in the book’s bibliography and have requested several documents from the Cornelius Ryan collection in the Library of the University of Ohio.
All research material for Ryan's books, including "A Bridge Too Far" is in that collection.
McManus has interviewed veterans and used relevant phrases from numerous questionnaires sent to Ryan by veterans in the 1970’s.
It was a pleasure to read accounts of veterans whom we’ve met in the past, like Lud Labudka and Robert Jones of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, William Tucker of the 82nd and Walter Hughes who took part in the Waal Crossing.
MacManus' writing style reads easily and is sometimes mixed with contemporary expressions.
He also allows the reader to browse the various chapters, recapitulating events described earlier.
Of course we are familiar with the overall story of Operation Market Garden, but so far the book has given us many new facts, insights and background stories.
The book is what the sub title says; describing the American side of A Bridge Too Far.
McManus all but omits to mention the actions of the 1st British Airborne Division and portrays the tactics and personal accounts of the American paratroopers, glider riders and airmen.
We think September Hope can be viewed as the "American Testament of Market Garden"; the standard textbook for understanding the operation; when read in combination with A Bridge Too Far.
It fills a hiatus that existed more than Three Decades Too Long.

 

May 6th 2012: After a tight schedule car ride through the Belgian and Luxembourg Ardennes, we documented 16 additional armored vehicles and artillery pieces which used to belong to the German military in World War Two. Left behind by the conquered Wehrmacht they now serve as local memorials to the liberation from Nazi occupation. See
all the Nazi hardware found in plain view in contemporary Northern Europe today in our Battle Relic # 15.

 

April 20th 2012: British author and historian Ian Gardner's book Deliver Us From Darkness is published by Osprey Publishing Company is now published. The book is the sequel of Gardner's book Tonight We Die As Men about 3rd Battlion of the 506th Parachute infantry Regiment from their airborne training in the USA to their deployment to England and their part in the invasion of France on D-Day; June 6th, 1944. Deliver Us From Darkness describes the Battalion's actions in Holland during Operation "Market Garden" and their subsequent deployment as ground troops on "the Island" South of Arnhem. We have contributed to the research for this book by translating documents, doing research in archives, organizing interviews, taking the author to locations of importance to the story and proof
reading the manuscript.
 

(click to enlarge)

 

March 6th 2012: Neil Holmes, one of our British viewers, sent us background details and photos of a monument in Shotwick on the Wirral Peninsula in England honoring Pte. Frederick Hopwood. Paratrooper Hopwood was one of the first British casualties of the Battle of Arnhem and we featured him in the Now&Then Holland Two page. With Neil's additional information and photos we dedicated a new page in honor of Frederick Walter Hopwood of Mollinton, County of Cheshire, England.

 

March 2nd 2012: In the Victory Park Museum we spotted a "1 of 1 WWII Army 1/2 Track" and dove into the
history of this "schwere Wehrmachtschlepper". Read our new webpage about this Battle Relic here.

 

February 27th 2010: We obtained an old audio tape of a 1956 US Armed Forces Network Radio Broadcast of the dedication of a monument to Medal of Honor Recipient PFC Joe E. Mann of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment. PFC Mann earned America's highest award for valor for action in Best, The Netherlands in September 1944. We have digitized the tape and created a commemorative page about the monument dedication ceremony.

 

February 9th 2012: Read our report of "B" Company / 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment veteran Forrest Jay Nichols visiting Sint Oedenrode again, here.

 

February 8th 2012: Calling Sandra Bonilla, daughter of PFC Nicholas L. Bonilla (ASN 6877454), a paratrooper in
"D" Company, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, Killed in Action (KIA) in Best, Holland on September 22nd 1944.
Please contact us! at: tom@battledetective.com



Sandra wrote the book "Love, Honor and Cherish" about the love between her parents and the fateful death of her father. We met Sandra several times but unfortunately lost track of her. She has recently contacted battledetective.com via our contact form but left no return e-mail address. Sandra, or anyone who's in touch with
her, please drop us a line again; with contact details.
June 13th, 2012 UPDATE: Sandra contacted us and let us know us all is well. She is revising the book "Love,
Honor and Cherish" which will hopefully be for sale again soon. We recommend our viewers to try and obtain a copy of this book because it is well worth reading.
 

January 7th 2012: We have updated our Battle Relic #3  with some artifacts which the Dutch founder and leader
of a Resistance organization had donated to a local Netherlands Historical Center.

 

October 3rd, 2011:  Please read our Report in the activities in The Netherlands commemoration the 67th anniversary of Operation "Market Garden" in autumn 1944 -2011 on our Commemoration Page.

 

September 21st, 2011: The time span between this update and the last one on this page may lead viewers to believe we have not been battle detecting recently. On the contrary. We have several leads to investigate which we believe will result in new publications on this website.
In the mean time view our recent photo-reenactment comparisons shot in Holland, September 2011:


(click to enlarge)

The explaining captions can be found on our Now&Then Holland page.

May 25th 2011:
Battledetective.com has discovered  several historical documents proving the existence of airborne operational plans, prior to "Market Garden" (The Battle of Arnhem) in September 1944, which have so far not been mentioned in any publications.
Please read our Battle Study # 21.

 

May 24th 2011: Scroll down to the bottom of our Case File #16 page for a supplementary report on our visit to the Woeste Hoeve Ambush Site and the spot were Nazis executed Polish pilot Czesław Oberdak in retaliation. 

May 14th 2011
: Scroll down to the lower section of our Now&Then-Miscellaneous page for a number of new comparisons of historically significant locations and their present locations.

May 9th 2011
: Read the report of 82nd Airborne veteran George Roth of Easy Company, 504th Parachute
Infantry Regiment visiting the battlefield where he fought during Operation "Market Garden" in 1944.

April 6th 2011: The Casualty List for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army, during deployment in the Greater Eindhoven area, The Netherlands, September 1944 is online. The names and details of the men who shed blood or gave their lives for the liberation of this city and fortifying the bridgehead around it are presented as a Roll
of Honor in the format of our Case Files.

 

March 31st 2011: We have just finished the report in a new Case File and with pride we now publish The Case of the Missing Polish Pilot Oberdak.

March 30th 2011:
We have posted two new dramatic comparisons of photographs taken during the liberation
of 's-Hertogenbosch in October 1944:

Read the captions and details of these images at the bottom of our Now&Then Holland 2-Page.

 

March 24th 2011: Scroll down to the bottom of the Lt-Col. Robert G. Cole Battle Study # 10 to read about the
new evidence which we have recently discovered.

 

March 13th 2011: We have added a new Battle Relic page, describing a steel impact absorber from a container presumably dropped to (re-)supply the surrounded airborne troops of the British 1st Airborne Division fighting around Arnhem. Please read Battle Relic #14.

 

December 1st 2010: We are very proud to present the findings of our experiment showing the still dangerous
dose of radiation from a prized battle relic. Please read and be advised of the risk involved in collecting a certain American paratrooper related item in our Battle Relic #13-file.

 

November 22nd 2010: Scroll down to the bottom of our 2010 Market Garden Report Page for an impression of the exhibition battledetective.com is hosting in the Veteran's House in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

 

November 14th 2010: Announcing the publication of Battle Study #19. The location where Sergeant York earned the Medal of Honor in WWI in Northern France. We visited the battlefield to put two explicit theories of the right
"York Spot" to the test.

 

November 12th 2010:  Like last year, the barrack where General MacAuliffe replied "Nuts!" to the German surrender proposal will be open to the public next month. This is the invitational poster:

(click to enlarge)

 

November 11th 2010:  Read Battle Study #20 about the location of  "The Lost Battalion Engagement" in WWI in Northern France. We visited the battlefield, which had not changed much over the past 92 years.

 

November 9th 2010: Scroll down to the bottom of our Store-page to see a new line of modern, state of the art
raid wear. Carry essential law enforcement tools on your person, be safe from stab- and ballistic injuries and identify yourself as a battle detective in an instant.

November 5th 2010: We finally received a sign of life from one of the European representative offices of the
Eli Lilly Corporation. Since the test results of the contents of this company's Motion Sickness Preventive tablets came back in 2007 we have been asking about the research that had been done prior to delivery to the Army. These tablets were distributed to paratroopers on D-Day and many complained of side-effects.
To be continued...

 

October 25th 2010: Finally our report on the 66th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden is filed. Enjoy reading
it and above all, viewing the accompanying images.

 

September 22nd 2010: Just a taste of the upcoming report on the 66th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden, we've posted a Now&Then comparison picture of a photograph taken near the Drop Zone in Son.


(Click on the image to enlarge)


 With the help of the fine men and women of Yank Reenactment we were able to recreate historical photographs.
The report in the commemorations and more Now&Then photo will follow soon.

August 18th 2010:
Read the contribution of German Historian Willi Weiss to our Battle Study #12. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to read about his Father's role as a German combat medic during the Battle of the Bulge
and in the Bizory aid station.

 

August 12th 2010: After a relaxing vacation in Central America, we are now investigation several mysteries and locations of important events on European battlefields of World War One. Keep monitoring this Latest News page for updates on the Great War.

 

May 28th 2010: On the 16th of May, 2010, 2 organizations of German Paratroopers and 1 organization of Belgian Border Defending soldiers reenacted the May 10th, 1940 air assault on Fort Eben Emaël seventy years earlier. We were there and built our Case File #14 about the Nazi attack with hollow charges on this fortress thought to have been impenetrable.

 

April 29th 2010:  Please take at look at 5 new Now&Then photo comparison  images in our Worldwide-section: Of the Belgian fort Eben-Emaël; the fortress thought to be impenetrable but overtaken in mere minutes by German airborne forces on May 10th, 1940. Scroll to the bottom of the page.

 

April 7th 2010:  We have added updates with new images and information in Battle Study #11 and the article on "Kussin Junction". Scroll to the bottom of the page for these updates.

 

March 19th 2010:  As a 'preview' of what we have seen in Poland and especially in the camps, we have added seven new Now&Then photo comparison  images in our Worldwide-section. Scroll to the bottom of the page.

 

March 10th 2010:  Battle detectives will travel to Krakow, Poland tomorrow for a four-day trip to visit the Nazi-extermination camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Although not strictly combat-related, the Nazi's racial theories did in
part the cause World War 2 to start. Keep monitoring this website for a report of our journey.

 

February 28th 2010:  Please take a look at some new items in our Store: Two brand new "Battle Detective .com" ball cap designs. An military style cap in digital camouflage and a vintage style navy blue cap with classic letter
design. Show the world what your favorite website is! Scroll to the bottom of the page for these new items as they flank our classic "Battle Detective .com" patch.

 

January 20th 2010: We received 'new' documents from the National Archives about alleged looting by US Army personnel in Holland in 1944. See Case File #13 and scroll to the bottom of the page.

 

January 6th 2010: We drew up our report of the September 18th 2009, Monument Dedication to Lt-Col. Cole in Best at the end of Battle Study #10.

 

January 3rd 2010: Please read the report of our battlefield visit to the site of The Battle of Biazza Ridge in Sicily, Italy in August 2009.

 

January 2nd 2010: We proudly present our 12th Battle Relics-article about the invasion currency the airborne men of the 1st Allied Airborne Army carried into battle during Operation Market Garden in The Netherlands in September 1944.

 

December 23rd 2009: Read the report of the dedication of the monument to the 326th Airborne Medical
Company at Baričrre-Hinck, outside Bastogne of December 13, 2009.

 

December 20th 2009: It took a while, but now we've finished our report on the 65th Anniversary Commemoration of Operation Market Garden.

 

November 17th 2009: The barrack where General MacAuliffe replied his famous "Nuts!" to the Germans'
proposal to the encircled 101st Airborne Division to surrender will be open to the public next month. A unique
location as it is situated on the grounds of a Belgium military installation. Also a unique occasion to visit the original Command Post of "General Tony", because of uncertain plans of the Belgian government to close the barracks!
This is the invitational poster:

(click to enlarge)

 

November 15th 2009: Read the latest update in our Case File #4, the tragic incident of an American fighter pilot strafing a German Ambulance with Dutch civilians in it. We guided the grandson of two of the victims to the location in the woods in Son. Scroll down to the bottom of the file for the update.

 

October 11th 2009: We have added a new category to our Now&Then section: Now&Then Miscellaneous.


September 4th 2009: Finally we were able to get the full story of our Case File #9. Our witness told the full
story and we submitted the Case File.

 

September 1 2009:  We finished the Then&Now format of nine locations we have visited in Sicily last month and added them to our Now&Then Worldwide page. Just scroll to the bottom to see these last additions.

 

August 20th 2009: We just came home from a 7-day trip to Sicily, Italy. We have visited the sites of the Allied invasion in 1943, codenamed Operation Husky. Reports and Then&Now-photographs will be posted soon.

(click to enlarge)

 

August, 7th 2009: We are proud to announce the report of our trip to the battlefield where an Allied soldier earned the prestigious Military Cross in a daring raid across enemy lines. Read our Battle Study #17.

July 28th 2009:  Announcing a special remembrance and reenactment event and the first edition of the Airborne Memorial Walk in Eerde, The Netherlands next September. For the 65th Commemoration of Operation "Market Garden", a "living museum" will be created with drops on the original Drop Zone of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War Two, where parachutists in vintage equipment will tumble from an original C47 "Dakota".
Also there will be mock battles, ceremonies, the reception of World War Two veterans, a 1940's style dance
evening and more...All this from 17 to 20 September. The 20th will also mark the start of a new tradition: The Airborne Memorial Walk. For more information click on the pictures below:


                 

 

            

 

July 25th 2009: After a trip to Fulda, German, we've added a few Now&Then-comparisons in  our
WorldWide-page. Scroll to bottom.
 

June 27th 2009:  Fellow historians Frenk Derks van de Ven and Frits Janssen of the "Remember September 1944" Foundation will be hosting exhibitions in Son (area of operations of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division) and Mook
(area of the 82nd) in The Netherlands next September 2009 for the 65th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden.
This is the invitational poster:


 

June 12th 2009:  Please read the updates in our Case File #2 and Case File #4. Scroll down to the bottom of
these pages to read the input of several of our viewers. We thank Peter DeVisser of Raleigh, North Carolina, Henk Scheepens of Son, The Netherlands and Hans van Melis from Eindhoven, The Netherlands for their tribute to this website.

 

June 4th to 7th 2009: Our battledetectives were present in Normandy, France for the 65th Anniversary of
D-Day. We chose not to write a full report like we did for previous commemorative events, but will use our research
material in case files presented here. We do wish to share this Now&Then-picture with our viewers now though. It shows paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division moving through Saint-Marie-du-Mont shortly after D-Day.
The "Now"-photograph shows a reenactor depicting an American MP patrolling the same street:

(click on the image to enlarge)

 

May 7th 2009: We have added a modest paragraph to our Battle Study #6 about the locations of Aid Stations of the 101st Airborne Division in World War Two. The new paragraph features the Divisional Hospital in the Zonhove Sanatorium in Son. We were given an copy of a very comprehensive history booklet about  the Airborne Hospital
in the Sanatorium during Operation Market Garden by the family of the late Dutch Airborne Friend Kees Wittebrood. For the booklet, click here.

 

May 5th 2009: Battledetective Tom has been appointed, with no votes against it, as a new Board Member of the Dutch Society of Airborne Friends. 2009 being the 65th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden, Tom attended the April meeting of the "Platform Celebration Market Garden 2009". A comprehensive overview of planned activities can be found here.

 

April 28th 2009: At the largest military show in Europe, we found a battle relic that was uprooted after more than 90 years. One can take 'uprooted' literally this time...! Take a look at Battle Relic #11!

March 25th 2009: In the Dutch town of Zutphen in the province of Gelderland, we took some new Now&Then comparison photographs.
Three have been added at the bottom of our Now&Then Holland 2-page.
 

March 18th 2009: Original Klooster Dreef bricks surface from underneath asphalt street top! Only to be burried again after several hours! If only these bricks could tell! They could add a lot more knowledge to our Case File #2!
Scroll to the bottom of the page to read our story on the Klooster Dreef bricks.

 

March 12th 2009: Battledetective Tom has become a member of the Work Group Missing Persons of World War Two. This group is part of the Dutch Red Cross. As a Red Cross volunteer Tom will join ranks with forensic experts, DNA-analysts, military grave- and identification experts, historians and police detectives. Their job is to investigate
the faith of people in The Netherlands who have been listed as missing since World War Two.
Since 1945 the Red Cross has helped surviving family members and loved ones, to learn about what happened to
their missing persons. Because of new legislation concerning the exhumation of unidentified bodies and better DNA analysis techniques, the Red Cross has beefed up their investigative section. Due to the sensitive nature of the
cases (some deal with Dutch volunteers into Nazi military service), no direct reference to any of the investigations can be made here. However, working these cases will no doubt further improve Tom's battledetective skills.


        

"Detective work by the Red Cross"

 

March 10th, 2009: Battledetective Tom has been nominated to become the Dutch Society of Airborne Friends new Board Member. The cause is a sad one. Board Member Ton Giesbers passed away on Sunday March, 9th 2009. Tom was given a 2 week consideration period but he has already made it clear to chairman Van Luyt that he has accepted the position.

 

March 3rd 2009: Through our contact form, we received the amazing news that the M1C paratrooper steel helmet of Captain John W. Kiley of 3rd Battalion of the 506th Regiment, the subject of our Case File #1, is currently in a private collection. We have received detailed information regarding the helmet and also some images, taken exclusively for battledetective.com. Look here.
 

February 20th 2009: We have completed our Battle Study #16 with documents thatwe have obtained from the research material for Cornelius Ryan's book A Bridge Too Far. Curator Douglas McCabe of the University of Ohio in Athens, provided us with numerous documents, interviews, diagrams and maps. Most of these shed new light on this particular Battle Study, but may very well form the start of new BattleDetective.com-publications.

 

December 6th 2008: Behind the scenes we have been developing our theory about the location of the German detonating device to destroy the vital road bridge at Nijmegen, Holland in 1944. We have almost gathered all
evidence together but meanwhile we have drawn up our report with our findings. Read about them in our Battle Study #16.

 

December 1st 2008: We have made some trips to Germany and while visiting the cities of Frankfurt am Main and Cologne, we made some Then and Now comparisons. This gave us the idea to start a new section in our Now&Then files: Now&Then Worldwide; an ambitious category for photographs of battlefields around the globe.

 

September 28th 2008: Read our report on our participation in celebrations and activities commemorating the
64th anniversary of Operation "Market Garden" The Netherlands.


August 25th 2008: We've added Battle Study #15 with the results of our (still active) investigation of the stories behind three action photographs taken during Operation Market Garden in The Netherlands. Are they real of have they been staged? Read the file!

 

August 3rd 2008: A new Battle Study, # 13, is added. Read about the "Bridge that, through her weakness,
saved a city from destruction".

 

July 27th 2008: We have added a Now&Then Holland Part 2-page to the Now&Then-section! We have chosen a different format for this new page. Take a look!

 

July 7th 2008: Check out our new Battledetective-Store!

 

June 29th 2008: A new Battle Study (#12) has been completed. The study describes our research to find the
exact location of a famous World War 2 photograph. Battle Detective found the veteran who personally took the photograph!

June 12th 2008:
Battle Detectives attended the Second European Trigger Time in Eerde, The Netherlands.
A photo impression:
 

(click on the images to enlarge:)

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10  11 12

1 "Two Trigger Time Toms Toting Tommy Guns"

Reenacted photograph with Tom Colones. Local gun legislation forced the Toms to use 'air guns'.
2
With author and founder of the Trigger Time Community, Mark Bando.
3
Battle Detective Antoine (left) listening to historian Erwin Janssen on a location along "Hell's Highway".
4
A mixed crowd overlooks the battlefield of "A"Co./501st Parachute Infantry Regiment at the edge of the
Sand Dunes of Eerde.

5
Mark Bando lecturing on personal accounts from his numerous interviews with 101st Airborne Division veterans.
Note the combat jacket from his 2008 tour of Afghanistan.

6
Then & Now comparison of the location of an allied column on 'Hell's Highway' after the German attack on
'Black Friday', September 22nd 1944.

7
Then & Now comparison of the location of the draw bridge in Veghel; the main objective of the 501st
Parachute Infantry Regiment in Operation "Market Garden".

8
Convention attendants listening to historian Erwin Janssen at the rail road bridge in Veghel; a secondary
objective of the 501st.

9
501st Regiment sniper's lair at the Veghel cattle fodder factory. Recently designated a national landmark it will
soon be restored in its pre-war condition.

10
Then & Now comparison of Veghel's Hoog Straat and Heilig Hart Plein.
11
Then & Now comparison of the Kuypers' bicycle shop. Today, the shop is still in business. In 1944 the
company provided 501st Regiment paratroopers with 'steel horse' transportation to help the war effort.

12
Convention attendants listening to historian Erwin Janssen in front of the Veghel Church.

May 1st 2008: Battle Detective Tom has been awarded the Certificate of Appreciation by Lt-Col Robert
Balcavage, Commander of today's US Army 1st Battalion of the 501st Infantry (Airborne).

The paratroopers of this unit were deployed in the Province of Babil, Iraq, 35 miles North of Bagdad in Iraq from September 2006 to December2007 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Responding to an announcement in Screaming Eagle Magazine by the official historian of the Medical Detachment of the 501st, Lt-Col Guy Lamunyon, California National Guard, Tom collected photographs of World War Two aid stations of the 501st. Parts of this research were used to draw up Battle Study #6.
Tom sent photographs of locations in France, The Netherlands and Belgium. These photographs were framed and mounted on the walls of the 1st Bn./501st aid station in Iraq to inspire its personnel, reminding them of their unit's
rich history.

This was reason for a much appreciated token of gratefulness:
 

Click on the image for original size:)

 

 

March 14th 2008: Battledetective.com will attend the 2nd edition of the European Trigger Time Convention, which will be held in Eerde, Holland on the 31st of May and the 1st of June 2008.

Several battle detectives have already registered and paid their attendance dues.

 

(For more information, click here:)

 

March 13th 2008: Battle Relic #7 has been updated with details of period medical research to the effects of the ingredients in our Motion Sickness Preventive pills.

 

March 10th 2008: We've updated our Case File #10 (the booby-trapped toilet) with some interesting finds from
the archives.

 

March 8th 2008: Read the results of our forensic detective work in the Vlokhoven Church belfry and garden in
Case File #1 and on the first aid pouch of "Filthy 13" Sgt. Davidson in Battle Relic #10.

 

March 3rd 2008: Announcing the Fourth Edition of the Bothers in Arms March. This year, on the 8th of June, the 4th of the Brothers in Arms Marches for re-enactors of the 101st Airborne Division will be held in Carentan, France. This event sets a very high standard in historical and military accuracy. Battledetective.com participated in all three previous editions. Each event had different characteristics. The first edition in 2005 was a rainy exercise and had
the armored support of two period US Stuart tanks.  The 2006 March ended with a very moving ceremony on the Carentan Place de la Republique Square. And the 2007 edition of the BIA March was truly a physical challenge.
The road to Carentan was long. And hot!

 

We look forward to meeting all amateur historians who seek to get as close as possible to what paratrooper combat
in Normandy in 1944 must have been like! For more information, contact:

Email : carentan.101@aol.com

Telephone  : +33.2.33.42.00.42

February 25 2008: Battledetective.com visited the exact location of a tragic incident that took place on December 17h, 1944. An incident known as the Malmedy Massacre. We took comparison photographs and feature them in Now&Then-format. We also visited the Baugnezz44 Museum just a few hundred yards form the massacre location.
The museum has a large collection about the Battle of the Bulge and shows the story the massacre and the subsequent investigation. A report in our Battlestudy # 11.

 

February 3rd 2008: We've added Battle Relic # 10. Read about how Battle Detective Antoine found the first aid pouch of a member of the "Filthy 13" who died in Eindhoven during the bombing raid on the day after the city's liberation. This file is still active!

 

February 2nd 2008: Battledetective.com recently met one of the witnesses in our Case File #12.

He recalled being present at a meeting where Bill Galbraight was told that the body of a dead German soldier was found in the Vlokhoven tower. This information may shed new light on our Case File #1. We will follow up on this lead as soon as possible.

 

January 17th 2008: Battlestudy #10 has been drawn up in accordance with the 'new' report guidelines.
Read about the location where Medal of Honor winner Colonel Cole was killed on September 18th, 1944.

 

January 15th 2008: We have added several new Now&Then comparison pictures on our N&T Holland page.
See liberation photographs of Oirschot, Battle Detective Tom's old home town.

 

December 26th 2007: Read the special report on our C-47 Sky Train ride with the Liberty Jump Team into the
Rollé Castle Drop Zone outside of Bastogne, Belgium.

 

December 25th 2007: Case File #12 added: Read the results of our search for more details about a story that was told to us a very long time ago.

 

December 23rd 2007: Battle Study # 9 added: The son of a veteran of "D"-Co./502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment requested Battle Detective to create a map, plotting the locations and battles of his Father.
Visit Battle Study #9 for our first map: Operation Market Garden.

 

December 1st 2007: Due to overwhelming demand:  New items added to our Gift Shop: Deluxe Badge Clip and
our ash gray physical training T-shirt. Get them while they last!

 

November 18th 2007:  Read the latest addition in our Battle Relics Section: Battle Relic #9.

 

November 17th 2007: Check out our latest item in the gift shop below! Display your investigative credentials professionally with our deluxe leather badge and ID-card wallet.

 

October 26th 2007: Reg Jans, our Belgian friend and expert of the Battle of the Bulge, submitted some excellent Now &Then photographs!

Check the Now &Then page of the Ardennes!

Thank you, Reg!

 

October 25th 2007: Author Mark Bando submitted some important information on our Battle Relic Page about Captain Harwicks Captain's Bar.

Read the update!

 

October 11th 2007: The results came back from the forensic toxicological lab analysis of the Motion Sickness Preventive tablets.

Astonishing results!

 See the update in our Battlerelic #7

 

September 30th 2007: Battle Detectives attended the First European Trigger Time in Bastogne

 

September2007: Battle Detectives will attend the First European Trigger Time in Bastogne in the end of
September. This is the convention's invitational poster:

 

(click on the image to enlarge)

September 5th 2007: New items added in our Gift Shop.

Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the description of our beautifully designed coffee mug and
the unique Battle Detective vinyl stickers!

June 1st to 5th, 2007: Battledetective.com went to Normandy, France.

This is a preview of some of the sites we visited in Normandy.

The location of the battery of Point-du-Hoc:

 

 

The location of the recently rediscovered and uncovered battery at Maisy.

For a full story about the recent excavation of this historically important site, we refer reader to this
article by the Armorer Magazine.

This is Tom with Garry Sterne, the owner of the battery site:

 

 

Tom and battle detective Antoine take a look inside one of the ammo bunkers of the battery:

 

 
 
(c) 2007-Present Day Battledetective.com. Email: tom@battledetective.com. all rights reserved.