On This Day...20th January

‘Totenkopf’ (Death’s Head) SS division during Operation “Konrad” near the Hungarian city of Szomor (West of Budapest), January 20, 1945.

A welder from the 26th Infantry Division works on an M-36 Tank Destroyer at Esch-sur-Sûre (Luxembourg), January 20th, 1945.

Four Beaufort bombers of No. 100 Squadron RAAF in flight near Wewak, New Guinea, 20th January, 1945.

B-17 Flying Fortress bomber having crash landed on a snowy field, exact location unknown, Europe, 20 Jan 1945. You can clearly see the trail of the wheels up landing where it clipped the post and skidded through the snow.

12 Squadron's Wellington Z8370 PH-Y, after it crashed on the east beach at Terschelling, Netherlands, on January 20th 1942.

Crew;

Sgt. Edmund John Roberts FOWLER, 20, 2nd pilot, killed.

Sgt. William RUTHERFORD, 26, Wop/Rg, killed

F/Lt. W.H. THALLON, Pilot, PoW

P/O. P.R. ROSS, Obs, PoW

F/Sgt. F.W. WALKER, PoW

F/Sgt. G.H. GROVES, PoW

The second image (below) is another sobering image of just how vulnerable the rear gunner’s position was in these beasts.

20th January 1945, American 7th Army Sherman tanks pictured on the front in Alsace, Northern France.

...same day, a Sherman crew fights it's way forward in Alsace.

Sixteen of the crews from 12 and 626 Squadrons lined up in front of the control tower at RAF Whickenby, Lincoln, UK. , January 20, 1944. Astonishingly, in 20119, only two Lancaster’s in the world are airworthy.

HMS Rodney playing ‘deck hockey’ at Mers-El-Kebir (French) Algeria, on January 20, 1943.