Where is this cathedral located in Belgium?

[Remy Spezzano]

Frame No. 21

What's interesting is how we get a chance to see a non propaganda photo of his co worker typing away. I like the K98 rifle leaned up against the wall within his reach.

[Remy Spezzano]

Frame No. 25

Often during the quiet times the units photographers will do favors for officers and enlisted men by taking their portrait. Sometimes it's a photo for a loved one back home and other times you can tell the photo will be used for their SS-Soldbuch.
In this case he only took two photos of this officer. One shot where the officer is making an ugly face on purpose. And then the shot you see her where he gives a proper pose. I like how the photographer is using the natural sunlight coming from the window to light his shot. Very nice clarity and uniform details. From the black piping on the shoulder boards this officer belongs to the combat engineers.

Can anyone ID this officer? I believe he is from the 27. SS "Langemarck" Div.

[Remy Spezzano]

Now here is an interesting self portrait of SS-KB Damm-Jensen.
Being a former US Army cameraman myself, I had to laugh when I first saw this photo. It tells me that Damm-Jensen was really an amateur still learning the ropes of photography. Almost every camera enthusiast I know when first starting out took a photo of himself looking through the camera lens into the mirror.

I'm sure when Herr Damm-Jensen was playing around with his camera that day he never in a million years would have thought this one photo of him would be posted online for all the world to see. He actually took a total four photos looking at the mirror. This is the only one which was in focus. Another sign he was still getting used to using a 35mm Leica Typ III camera. The lens is an Elmar 1:4/9cm. Which explains the need for the VIOOH viewfinder you see him looking through.

And one last thing I would like to point out is the silver skull ring on his hand.

[Olivier V.]

Nice ones once again, the cafe the group is standing in front of still excists and is on the corner of the "Aardestraat" and "Nieuwstraat". Makes me wonder if their office was across it and thats why he took the pictures from the 1st floor?

Dont know the officer you asked to ID am afraid but i have a question about the camera he uses, do you know if this would be the "standard" camera used by all kriegsberichter or one of a few/many models?

Kind regards, Olivier.

[Remy Spezzano]

Nice ones once again, the cafe the group is standing in front of still exists and is on the corner of the "Aardestraat" and "Nieuwstraat". Makes me wonder if their office was across it and that's why he took the pictures from the 1st floor?

Dont know the officer you asked to ID am afraid but i have a question about the camera he uses, do you know if this would be the "standard" camera used by all kriegsberichter or one of a few/many models?

Kind regards, Olivier.

Olivier,

Thanks for sharing the info about the cafe still being there today. I also was wondering how he had access to the 1st floor to the take the photo from this angle. One way to answer the question is to maybe try Google Maps street view to see what is directly across from the cafe.

In regards to your question about the camera used by the German Kriegsberichters. For the most part all of them were issued the German made Leica IIIc which was the main model produced from 1941 till the end of the war. Prior to that they used during the war years.

Here is some technical information about the cameras history which I found on a Leica camera website.

1941 Leica IIIc This wartime camera is the beginning of the die cast models which are 1/4" longer than the older models. The top plate is now one piece and these wartime models have a step under the rewind lever which post war IIIc's (serial No. 400,000 and above) do not have. Some early wartime IIIc's have a red shutter curtain due to wartime shortages of suitable shutter material. The version pictured (without the red curtain) has a Summitar f2 / 50mm lens.

[Remy Spezzano]

And here is the model which you see being used by Kriegsberichters during 1939 to 1941. Of course they were issued various lenses and most photographers carried two cameras with them with different lenses mounted to the body.

1939 Leica IIIa (G) is identical to the III except that it now has a top shutter speed of 1/1000th instead of 1/500.
This version has a standard Elmar lens attached.

[Remy Spezzano]

And last but not least here is the other variant which was produced by Leica during the early war years.

1939 Leica IIIb (G - 1938) is similar to the IIIa except the viewfinder / rangefinder windows are placed immediately next to each other and the diopter adjustment is now a lever under the rewind knob. This is the last pre-war Leica. This example has the super fast post-war Summarit f1.5 / 50mm lens which was the successor to the pre-war Xenon of similar design.

[randy@treadways]

That Elmar lens looks pretty crappy. I wonder how it came to be adopted as the standard? Maybe it was so simple it help up well in the rough treatment one could expect in the combat zones.

[Remy Spezzano]

That Elmar lens looks pretty crappy. I wonder how it came to be adopted as the standard? Maybe it was so simple it help up well in the rough treatment one could expect in the combat zones.

The Leica camera body was designed to have interchangeable lenses. And there are definitely some expensive high end lenses which could be had but the military is not going to spend big bucks to equip every military photographer within the Wehrmacht with that kind of a set up. As I stated in one of my captions, this guy was new to photography and was stationed with a unit in a peaceful area. Plus he holds the rank of a private! So no way are they going to issue him a top notch lens.

[Olivier V.]

Hi Remy,

thanks for the extensive info on the Leica, did a search on the forum here and found out loads about it. Another potentially dangerous and costly collecting field it seems, for now i'll stick to the civilian Zeiss Tengor 55/2 and 54/15 i just got lucky on.

More on topic now... If the picture of the officer was taken in early-mid 1943 aswell he would not have been in the "27. SS "Langemarck" Div. " but either the "Flemish Legion" (that was disbanded around that time) or the "Sturmbrigade Langemarck". Could you elaborate on the connection with i presume one of the latter?

Regards, Olivier.

[Remy Spezzano]

More on topic now... If the picture of the officer was taken in early-mid 1943 aswell he would not have been in the "27. SS "Langemarck" Div. " but either the "Flemish Legion" (that was disbanded around that time) or the "Sturmbrigade Langemarck". Could you elaborate on the connection with i presume one of the latter?

Regards, Olivier.

I realize now that the unit did not form until after this photo was taken. My mistake in saying he is from the Langemarck Div. The contact sheet in which this photo comes from is date May 1943.