Tag Picture Quiz

Jakko

Way past the mad part
SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 28, 2018
Messages
10,590
Points
113
First Name
Jakko
I just risked life and limb in the current heat to be able to post this photo of the outside of the structure, which I hope should help in identifying it:

IMG_1779.jpg

And this is the view you would have had from the cupola:

IMG_1784.jpg

Well, almost — I took this standing on top of it, because the fence would have gotten in the way for a true cupola-level view, and that wasn’t there originally of course. (Then again, neither were the sunbathers :smiling3:)
 

Jon Heptonstall

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 30, 2018
Messages
1,193
Points
113
First Name
Jon
It's the steel dome of one of the observation bunkers on Walcheren.
Looking over the Schelde estuary on what looks like a lovely day there.
Jon.
 

PaulTRose

Dazed and confused
SMF Supporter
Joined
Jun 13, 2013
Messages
5,741
Points
113
Location
limbo
First Name
Paul
Nope, those looked like this:



Except upright and with less damage, of course :smiling3: (That’s my brother and me, by the way, in July 1990.)


bloody hooligans! previous owners had only just vacated the premises and you had to vandalise it! :tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy:
 

Jakko

Way past the mad part
SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 28, 2018
Messages
10,590
Points
113
First Name
Jakko
It's the steel dome of one of the observation bunkers on Walcheren.
Looking over the Schelde estuary on what looks like a lovely day there..
26 degrees and slightly cloudy, say a look at the thermometer and out the window, respectively :smiling3:

Yes, it is an observation bunker on Walcheren. Now all we need is the type … (BTW, the panorama goes from southeast on the left to northwest on the right, if that helps.)
 

Jakko

Way past the mad part
SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 28, 2018
Messages
10,590
Points
113
First Name
Jakko
bloody hooligans! previous owners had only just vacated the premises and you had to vandalise it! :tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy:
The previous owners were even still around, patrolling on a motorbike. All the towers had been pulled down, though, and there was a big rubbish tip with all kinds of papers, insignia, and other junk in the area too. I still have some of those somewhere :smiling3:
 

Jon Heptonstall

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 30, 2018
Messages
1,193
Points
113
First Name
Jon
A type 143 Artillery Observation bunker. I'd guess this is the one at Zouteland.
Jon.
 

Jakko

Way past the mad part
SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 28, 2018
Messages
10,590
Points
113
First Name
Jakko
Despite the typo, I’ll consider that correct :smiling3: Your turn again.

As kids playing on and around those bunkers, we always thought it was a gun mounting. Only after the bunker was dug out about fifteen years ago did I learn it was actually an observation bunker and -cupola. The cupola in the photo is missing most of its interior, especially the periscope, but apparently that is in place in the one in Vlissingen (see my Land-Wasser-Schlepper thread: that bunker is at the foot of the windmill visible in the present-day picture).
 

Jon Heptonstall

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 30, 2018
Messages
1,193
Points
113
First Name
Jon
Got to be worth a visit Jakko.
Now what's this and where's it come from?
Any one know where it is now?
Ludlow-s-cannon..jpg
 

Allen Dewire

Proud Rabble Member
SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
4,066
Points
113
Location
Bamberg
First Name
Allen
The previous owners were even still around, patrolling on a motorbike. All the towers had been pulled down, though, and there was a big rubbish tip with all kinds of papers, insignia, and other junk in the area too. I still have some of those somewhere :smiling3:

Oh what a flashback of my time in Berlin. Never thought the wall would come down and never thought this was possible...
IMG_1429.JPG
That's me on the left and my friend Don on the right. Who's that in the middle???
 

prichrd1

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
614
Points
93
First Name
Paul
Alan,

Looks like your friend is wearing hand cuffs - so the middle guy is the officer who
is about to cart you both off to the gulag!!!! :smiling2::smiling2::smiling2::smiling2::smiling2::smiling2::smiling2:
 

Jon Heptonstall

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 30, 2018
Messages
1,193
Points
113
First Name
Jon
I suppose I'll have to give you that Paul. Mainly because it's right!
Hoped someone might have recognised the Russian crest.
26 pounder apparently.
Jon.
 

Jakko

Way past the mad part
SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 28, 2018
Messages
10,590
Points
113
First Name
Jakko
Got to be worth a visit Jakko.
That’s why they made some of the bunkers into a museum :smiling3: (Including this one, open Wednesdays and Sundays from May to October, off the top of my head.)

But yes, Walcheren is certainly worth a visit if you’re interested in the Atlantic Wall — there aren’t that many places where you can drive past several sets of bunkers just standing in the middle of farmer’s fields, I suppose. (Anecdote time: twenty years ago a foreign Internet-friend of mine came to visit; when driving home from the station, she asked, “What are those things?” and pointed into a field. I looked and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then it clicked and I realised she meant the bunkers, which none of us who live around here give a second thought to :smiling3:)
 

Jon Heptonstall

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 30, 2018
Messages
1,193
Points
113
First Name
Jon
That is the Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä. Credited with over 500 kills during the Winter war.
Jon.
 

prichrd1

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
614
Points
93
First Name
Paul
Blimey Jon, 15 minutes !!

Correct - nicknamed "The White Death" by the Russians, ha survived the war
and lived until he was 96.

O.K. your go - I will have to try harder next time!
 

Jon Heptonstall

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 30, 2018
Messages
1,193
Points
113
First Name
Jon
It was the bloke next to him that gave away his nationality.

What is this and why is this one probably an early example?
1796P-heavy-cavalry-troopers-sword-hatchet-point.jpg
 

Lee W

Rum before 10 makes you a pirate not an alcoholic
SMF Supporter
Joined
Feb 21, 2014
Messages
3,927
Points
113
Location
Dorset
First Name
Lee
Envelope opener

Lee
 
Top