Posts tagged history

Photo 1
Notes
Posted 5 months ago
Winston Churchill pets a cat. Zoom

Winston Churchill pets a cat.

Photo
Posted 8 months ago
Text
Posted 1 year ago

D-Day & Robert Capa

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! 

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have
striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The 
hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. 
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on
other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war
machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of
Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well
equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of
1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats,
in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their
strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home
Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions
of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.
The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to
Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in
battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory! 

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great
and noble undertaking.


                                            SIGNED: Dwight D. Eisenhower

With those words from General Eisenhower sixty-four years ago today, the Allied invasion of Normandy, 
D-Day, began.  Along with the brave men of the Allied Expeditionary Force storming the beaches that day 
was a man who carried a camera instead of a gun.  His name was Robert Capa, a Hungarian born 
photojournalist who had made a career of placing himself in dangerous situations.  This would be 
his greatest challenge.  

In a the back of a landing craft along with Company E of the 16th Regiment, 1st Infantry, Capa ran 
onto Omaha Beach at a section labeled "Easy Red".   It was anything but easy.

Capa followed a soldier to an abandoned tank all the while shooting pictures with his Contax rangefinder. 
He fired off 106 pictures before returning to the relative safety of an incoming landing craft.  Excited to 
see the results of his work, he sped the film to London for development. Unfortunately, an overanxious 
darkroom technician dried the film too quickly, which caused the emulsion to crack.  Only ten images 
were usable.  







Robert Capa would go on to cover the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 before vowing to never to put his life
on the line again.  However, he agreed to travel to Vietnam in 1954 to cover the escalating conflict there.  
While on assignment, he was killed after stepping on a landmine.

Photo 1533
Notes
Posted 2 years ago
viscerality: How they made zeppelins. Ladders were key. There’s two things I’m a sucker for: old B&W photos & Zeppelins.  That I would like this photo is a no surprise. Not entirely sure why I’m so fascinated by the Zeppelin & other such rigid airships.  The blimps we occasionally see nowadays don’t grab me the same way.  Maybe because they’re so representative of a bygone era.  I don’t know.  What I do know is that I’d simply LOVE to see a real one.  Probably wont’ happen, though.  *sigh*

viscerality:

How they made zeppelins. Ladders were key.

There’s two things I’m a sucker for: old B&W photos & Zeppelins.  That I would like this photo is a no surprise.

Not entirely sure why I’m so fascinated by the Zeppelin & other such rigid airships.  The blimps we occasionally see nowadays don’t grab me the same way.  Maybe because they’re so representative of a bygone era.  I don’t know.  What I do know is that I’d simply LOVE to see a real one.  Probably wont’ happen, though.  *sigh*

via viscerality