Who is This man?

[justino2263]

Hello, all.

While cleaning out from her past husband, She had uncovered many pictures of my great great grandfathers, grandmothers, and so on and so forth.
Anyways, we're able to identify almost all of them, Except only two. These are the mysterious ones. The first, is a total mystery. Nobody knows who these two people are, only except that one photobombed the other, lol.

I've provided photos of the back of the photobombing one, because it has words written, and hopefully, someone can read cursive better than I. I've made out 4/4/41, somewhere in Belgium. "Georg Pfeifer" or Schorsch. The rest is illegible. Nobody in my family knows who the photobomber and photobombee is.. The handwriting doesn't match up to any of the writing on any of my other family photos, either. Really strange. We don't know where this came from. We're all really perplexed. He isn't apart of our family, . I've tried my best, but I can't really find anything. I know that the photobomber is either a mountain troop, or an Oberschutze due to the bright white, or a button on his sleeve. Any information on tiny details I've missed would be of much help.

The next photo features a whole lot of soldiers on a tank, I believe. Just curious if it could be a tank crew, or something else. Thanks, all!

[Larry C]

Last name " Pfeifer ".. that`s all I can get out of it..maybe a closer look by member HPL2008 ..could shed some light on the script translation.

[justino2263]

Thanks for the fast response. Greatly appreciated.

Please note, that the writing is on the backside of the two men only. The pictures didn't show on the forum in order.

[TrondK]

I can read alittle bit- ""In enemy country... on the 4/4/ 41.""

It looks like the piping on the shoulderboards is black for pioneer. But thats only a guess.

[HPL2008]

The text on the photo says:

"Im Feindesland
gemacht am 4.4.41
in Andenardie
Belgien

Schorsch Pfeifer
Feldpostnummer [...]36"

... meaning:

"Taken on 4/4/41
in enemy country
at Andenardie
Belgium

Schorsch Pfeifer
Field post no. [...]36"

Used in Austro-Bavarian dialects, "Schorsch" is a colloquial/affectionate form of "Georg".

Not much can be told from his uniform, other than he is an army private.

I don't think the men in the group photo are tankers. The photo appears to have been taken in the field, yet none of them were a tank crew uniform. (Most are in field blouses, one has a Drillich work/fatigue jacket, several wear the rubberized coats issued to motorcycle despatch riders.)

Also, from what little we can see of the tank, it doesn't appear to be a German one. Apparently, a captured/knocked out enemy vehicle.

[justino2263]

Many thanks! Thank you all for commenting. I believe that the tank is an IS-1?

[HPL2008]

Many thanks! Thank you all for commenting. I believe that the tank is an IS-1?

No way; this is something much smaller. More like a Renault R-35 or something.
(Tanks are not my area of expertise, though.)

[justino2263]

Okay. Thanks!

[jpgonc]

Hello everybody, I can give my opinion about the tank. What I understood, the photo with the tank and a bunch of soldiers doesn not have any date, isn't it? If the tank is knocked-out I can only assume the photo must have been taken in May of 1940 during the Battle of France (including the invasion of Belgium and Netherlands). The tank is definitely a french-made Somua S35. If the tank is not knocked out, it must have been used by the Wehrmacht, because a lot of those were confiscated as a second-rate tank by the german military in operations such in the Soviet Union.

[jpgonc]

IS-1? Impossible. That's a heavy Soviet tank... way bigger. And we would've been talking 1942 then.

I wrote it could be a Somua, but it can also be a Hotchkiss h-35 or 39 - Very similar. But its more preponderant frontal part may actually point to a Hotchkiss or, like HPL2008 noted, a Renault R35... sorry... it seemed so easy.