October 9th 2024: Added the roof
section of a German Jagdpanzer IV/70 in
Battle Relic #15:
September 20th 2024: Added a new
article about a British paratrooper helmet which
belonged to a soldier who fought at the Rhine
river Bridge at Arnhem in September 1944 in
Battle Relic# 35.
The airborne soldier was wounded and taken
prisoner exactly 80 years ago today!
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.
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.
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
sectionand 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:
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 ofour 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 2nd, 2016: We have visited the
beaches ofDunkirk 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:
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.
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 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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 6th 2013: We have put
Battle Relic #18 online, the description of
themost
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 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 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 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 lineagain; 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.
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
locationsand 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.
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 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...
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.
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.
September4th 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 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:)
12 34 5678910 1112
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:
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 #12added: 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!
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.
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