Bill Cross reviews Panzerwrecks'' "Forgotten Archives 2" by Darren Neely.

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Thanks!

Thanks, Darren, for making this one "live."

I have had the privilege and honor of actually meeting one of the Combat Photographers featured in this book; Joseph Karr of the 167th SPC. We met at the Lowell, IN, Buckley Homestead, WWII reenactments some years ago. He walked into our encampment and announced, "you guys reenact what I did!"

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(Left Photo) Joe Karr; 167th Signal Photo Company - Ubach-Palenberg, Germany, 1944 . . . . (Right) Joseph Karr Sr. & Joe Jr.;
Buckley Homestead, Lowell, IN, 2009

Is that why your handle here is 165thspc? That's really pretty neat.

Yes sir, that would be correct. Here is a photo of one of our largest unit encampments: Jeffersonville, IN as part of the traveling LST 325 event back in 2003. Bill, thank you for noticing and making the connection!



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The unit has a combined collection of over 30 working WWII era still, aerial and movie cameras.

That's very cool. The Graflex is the coolest part. Those were THE standard press camera through much of the 60s.

Yes. Regarding the timeless Graflex: in the early seventies I worked first for a University Information Office, then for a portrait studio and finally for a Fortune 100 Electrical Manufacture. I shot 35mm most of the time and had a serious 4x5 view camera for the studio work but whenever we went on location and needed the quality of the 4x5 negative I would use the Graflex Press camera. It was lighter and smaller than the view camera but still produced the large, quality 4x5 image negative that was called for.

My post-war, ex-US Air Force, KE-12 Speed Graphic 4x5 - Coupled Rangefinder focusing, Grafloc back, Flash Bulb attachment, olive drab body with black bellows and black hardware:

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As you can see in the war era portrait of Joe Karr shown several posts above, and the Joe Rosenthal photo below, the 4x5 Graflex was THE still camera most often carried into combat in WWII. The newspapers, Army Publications and magazines required/demanded the high quality only the large negative could deliver!

"Forgotten Archives" Vol. 1 & 2 - ORDERED today!

Joe Rosenthal on Iwo with "THE" 4x5 Graflex:


And again 60+ years later:

AP Photographs used here for discussion purposes only.

Did not realize Joe used a Graflex.

Yes, He fell and smashed one camera on the way up the mountain. He had to run back down to wherever to get a second camera and then hightail it BACK up the mountain to catch the flag raising.

Also for the record, the flag raising was NOT a posed picture. Movie film shot at the same time clearly shows this is exactly what happened and Rosenthal did a marvelous job of capturing just the right moment.

"Forgotten Archives Vol. 1 & 2 received. -- Highly, highly recommended.

The two books combined; a beautiful work, but each book by itself stands as a valuable modeler's and historian's reference! 240 pages of super high quality images, shot on 4x5 negative and printed on heavy grade glossy paper. These books are a wonderful example of the printer's art and offer the best quality reproduction possible. Both volumes are done in a horizontal 8.5" x 11" format with most pages featuring one large photo per page.

These pictures show the ultimate realism of the war in Europe, shot by the men who were actually there with the mission to be our witness to history.

Dirt, mud and steel are all you are going to see. No pin washes, panel shading or painted ladies here. This is how real armor looked in real combat!