Surrender and the end of the war.

[gwb123]

I am fascinated by photos from the end of the war.

Typically they capture so much emotion... relief to have survived, fatigue and a sense of loss, fear of what happens next...

They capture a unique moment.

For the collector and material historian they are often rich in detail.

These came from a thread posted on Facebook by member WWII U.S. Capture Photos & the Spoils of War

He in turn obtained them from someone identified as combatcamera.be (apparently from Belgium).  On that site there is the name Patrick Brion.

Other than that, there is no further attribution of these photos.  So it is hard to tell if these were news photos or if they were taken by military photographers.

I am adding a selection of the 42 that were posted.  As noted, the more you look at these, the more details you will find.

 

[gwb123]

 

Clearing the wreckage of war... helmets, weapons, supply boxes all fodder to be swept away by an American bulldozer.  Abandoned German vehicles line the road.

C

[gwb123]

Every possible conveyance being used to move troops to a surrender point.

 

[gwb123]

Discarded weapons and helmets.

[gwb123]

Happy to be alive.

[gwb123]

Surrendered hardware.

[gwb123]

Crowd waiting at a crossing point.

[gwb123]

Apparently, after crossing the broken span, disarmament took place.

[gwb123]

Luftwaffe personnel, including a woman.  Flak crew?

[gwb123]

Interesting photo of a weapons collection point.  Notice in the center of the photo a surrendered soldier is being hit across the back to encourage him to move forward.  Interestingly, it is German prisoners clearing the weapons and stacking them on the truck.

 

 

[gwb123]

Ambulance moving forward.  Note the banner on the hood.

[gwb123]

Waiting their turn to cross.

[gwb123]

Crossing to surrender.

[gwb123]

SS personnel standing out in the crowd like sore thumb.

[gwb123]

SS personnel singled out.

[gwb123]

Apparently German medical personnel making the crossing.

[gwb123]

Lined up and ready to go.

[gwb123]

Luftwaffe.

[gwb123]

Vehicles lined up for miles.

[gwb123]

Not disarmed just yet.

[gwb123]

Waiting.  The fatigue is evident.

[gwb123]

Liberated Brits, perhaps?

[gwb123]

Anything that moves.. 

[gwb123]

Saw in hand, some of these men actually appear to have been given a work assignment.

[gwb123]

Traffic jam to the surrender point.