Plastic Models on the Internet: Military landmarks

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Military landmarks vol.3: Lyceé Roosevelt: the capitulation room 71 years ago today

www.cnpd.fr

Subject: Lyceé Roosevelt, Eisenhower's SHAEF in World War I

Location: Reims, France, 2013

On Monday, 7 May 1945 at 2.41 am in the War Room of General Eisenhower’s supreme headquarters (S.H.A.E.F.), which occupied part of what was Reims’ technical college, the Allied Forces put an end to the Second World War in Europe by obtaining the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich’s armed forces. This momentous news was broadcast simultaneously the following day, 8 May, at 3 pm in the capital cities of the allied nations. The site was subsequently turned into a museum in 2005, including its Salle de la Signature (Signing Room), which has remained intact. The museum displays, among other attractions, more than fifty authentic, vintage figures. (http://www.reims-tourism.com/Discover/Heritage/Museums/(fiche)/127587)

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Military Landmarks vol.2: Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen

Subject: Ludendorff Bridge
Location: Remagen, Germany

Comments: The Ludendorff Bridge (also known as the Bridge at Remagen) was in early March 1945 one of two remaining bridges across the River Rhine in Germany when it was captured during the Battle of Remagen by United States Army forces during the closing weeks of the Second World War. Built in 1918 to help deliver reinforcements and supplies to the German troops on the front, it connected the villages of Remagenand Erpel between two hills flanking the river. The town of Remagen is located close to and south of the city of Bonn. At the end of Operation Lumberjack (1-7 March 1945), the troops of the American 1st Army approached Remagen and were surprised to find that the bridge was still standing. Its capture enabled the U.S. Army to more quickly establish a bridgehead on the eastern side of the Rhine. After the U.S. forces captured the bridge, Germany vainly tried to destroy it multiple times over the next two weeks. While it stood, the bridge enabled the U.S. Army to quickly get 25,000 troops, six Army divisions, and thousands of heavy tanks, artillery pieces and trucks across the Rhine. The bridge collapsed on 17 March 1945, ten days after it was captured, killing 18 U.S. Army Engineers. It was never rebuilt. The towers on the west bank were converted into a museum and the towers on the east bank are a performing art space. (Ref. Wikipedia).

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Military landmarks vol.1: Ouvrage Hackenberg

Subject: Ouvrage Hackenberg

Location: Ligne Maginot, France

Comments: This is a new series of posts on my blog. As modeling is all about history, i fell the need to post here some pictures of various military landmarks. I started with this particular site for no specific reason except the fact that it was well documented in pictures in a recent trip to France. The fort is quite well preserved and the tour to visit it is really nice, lasting more then two hours.

Ouvrage Hackenberg, one of the largest (a gros ouvrage) of the Maginot Line fortifications, is part of the Fortified Sector of Boulay. It is situated twenty kilometers east of Thionville, in the Moselle département, near the village of Veckring, on the Hackenberg (343 meters). It is located between gros ouvrage Billig and petit ouvrage Coucou, facing Germany. The fort occupies the wooded Hackenberg ridge. Before World War II it was considered a showpiece of French fortification technology, and was visited by British King George VI. In 1940 Hackenberg was never directly attacked, providing covering fire to neighboring positions and harassing nearby German forces. Its garrison was one of the last French units to surrender after the June 1940 armistice. In 1944, under German occupation, it was in action against American forces advancing along the Maginot Line. It resisted for three days before artillery bombardment from the rear forced the Germans to evacuate. Following World War II it became part of a strongpoint meant to delay a potential advance by Soviet forces into northeastern France. Hackenberg has been preserved and operates as a museum.The site was approved in stages by CORF (Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées), the Maginot Line's design and construction agency, between 1929 and 1932. Work by the contractor Enterprise de Travaille de Fortification began in 1929 at a cost of 172 million francs. A planned second phase was to add two 81mm mortar turrets and three more casemates on the back side of the ridge. Original plans called for a turret block with 155mm guns and another with long-range 145mm guns. More than 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) of underground galleries connect the entries to the farthest blocks 4 and 5, at an average depth of 30 metres (98 ft). An "M1" magazine, arranged with a horseshoe-shaped perimeter gallery connected by cross galleries between the legs, is located close to the ammunition entrance, while the large underground barracks and utility areas are just inside the personnel entry. The ouvrage is Y-shaped in plan, with the main gallery splitting in two almost 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) in from the ammunition entry. A 500-metre (1,600 ft) gallery runs to the principal combat blocks of the west wing, while the other passage runs another approximately 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) to the combat blocks of the east wing. The gallery system was served by a narrow-gauge (60 cm) electrified railway that continued out the ammunition entry and connected to a regional military railway system for the movement of materiel along the front a few kilometers to the rear.