The Headquarters Staff, taken in Eger [German Name] or Cheb [Czech Name] in the Sudetenland in late June or early July 1945. Starting front row, left:

1. Lt Col Robin E. McCormick, BN CO --Major Elmer Schneider, XO --Major Jack Rogers, S-3, Operations
2. Capt. Smokey Stover, Motor Officer [ ??] --third from left Capt. Art Novick, S4, Supply --Capt. Bill Schaefer , S-2, Intelligence
3. Dr Oxman, Bn Surgeon --Capt. John Winkler, Hq Btry CO --Capt. Joe Suter, S-1 Personnel
4. Center , Warrant Officer Plummer, Recon Officer --Warrant Officer Doug Bracher, Ass't Supply Officer

On the left is John Winkler, Headquarters Btry CO. To the right is "Jock" who had been a jockey (hence the nickname) and was a very fine Operations Sergeant in the S-3 Section.
In the background, half turned away from the camera is Lt Col McCormick, the Bn Commander. The picture was taken on the East Bank of the Rhine as we moved south in the process of closing out the Ruhr Pocket.

An almost identical copy of Jack Rogers and Jock in front of the same Jeep. At this point they knew the war was nearly over, hence the smiles.

Tom Tanner, C Battery, France 1944.

Capt. Boys and Tom Tanner, C Battery, France 1944.

Leek, England. April 1944.

This is a great photo of a 40mm Gun, fully manned. It is either in Italy--the Arches in the background look Roman--or in France very shortly after the Invasion; the soldiers are still wearing canvas leggings, which were replaced by boots around the end of July 1944. They also seem to be wearing the old-style field jacket over wool shirts; that jacket was very thin, almost just a windbreaker. It was replaced, like the leggings, shortly after D-day.
The photo appears to have been posed, but it is obviously an operational site; lots of ready ammunition, in storage racks on the side of the gun and even on top of the sandbags. The standing man is the loader, holding a four round clip just above the magazine which is full. As the gun fired, feed pawls pulled the rounds down and he would drop the new clip into the magazine and reach for--or be handed--another. He fired the gun with a foot pedal by his left leg; it could also be fired by the azimuth tracker on the right who had a foot pedal to use when the gun was on minimum manning, with only two men.
The rate of fire when the pedal was held down was 120 rounds/minute. It was recommended, by some that the rate be held to 60 per minute by firing rounds singly, but when an enemy aircraft was bearing down on the gun, 120 was the norm.
The trackers are using speed ring sights but there is a sighting device connected to both speed rings- the details are partially obscured, but it may have been the British Stiffkey Stick.

Two soldiers bending over something at the tail end of a truck, perhaps checking a map. Since neither is wearing a helmet, nor is there a weapon in sight, it is suspected this was taken on a maneuver. Neither man identified.

This was probably taken while the 79th were being Military Governors after the war in Europe ended. The Helmet liner was worn under the steel pot, and was much smoother as this appears to be. That the bedroll is on a cot rather than the floor, strengthens the assumption that this is post-war.

Anzio Annie, the huge German Railroad Gun that was first encountered at the Anzio landings in Italy. The 79th ran into this one--probably not the the original, but the same model--in Alsace Lorraine. It was of 380mm. caliber [approximately 15 inches] and from the East Bank of the Rhine could reach the city of Saverne, at the foot of the Vosges Mountains 30 miles away.

Soldiers cooking bacon in front of an LCVP. The Army issued excellent bacon in cans, it was so good that the leftovers from WW II were sold in the Commissaries and were wildly popular with Army Wives. The river, from width and terrain is the Rhine, but the men are not from its crew, too muddy and rumpled. The man on the right is wearing the infamous Wool Knit Cap, issued to be worn under the helmet for warmth and which some idiot in the pentagon's "Office of Unenforceable Orders" had decreed was not to be worn as an outer garment; in short, if the soldier took his helmet off, he was supposed to take the wool knit cap off too, and expose his head to the cold. You can imagine the troops reaction: they kept the cap on, ostentatiously, and their heads warm.

This is a 105mm. Howitzer in action, firing across a river--not the Rhine, too narrow. The piece has just fired; it is in full recoil, with the breech open. The gun and crew need to be rotated and trimmed. The background is not germane.

This is the Rhine crossing. The width of the river proves that, as does the terrain on the far bank. The landing craft is an LCVP [Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel] It would take a jeep and trailer or a 105mm. Howitzer. This must have been taken after both banks of the river were secure, possibly around D+ 3.