More photos from my trip with my college-grad son, Peter, on our "Band of Brothers" tour of France, Belgium & Germany. This time it''s the "Dead Man''s Corner" Airborne Museum outside Carentan, France with its nifty FlaK 37 88mm.


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Thanks!

Thanks for these (and all the other) photos Bill! I happen to be working on a series of 88s at this time and these photos are very helpful.

What a great trip with your son too.

Thanks, R.E. It was a fabulous trip. Glad the photos are helpful.

Fantastic walkaround. Only to note, it's not an flak 37 but a spanish made Trubia Ft-44!

Thanks Bill! I'm 26 and my father is 70 and we plan on making the trip (from Missouri) next May!! I'm working on a Flak 36 and 37 so this helps for both and the trip planning . I went backpacking in '07 with some college friends and now I'm wondering if the one we saw at the Ouistreham bunker was an original or not. Great photos!

Bill,you state that Dead Mans Corner got its name from a knocked out German tank,actually it was a knocked out American M5A1 Stuart.A quick Google search for dead mans corner Normandy will turn up several sites to verify this.A couple even have pictures of the tank.

Javier: What makes you say that this example is a Trubia Ft-44? Given that it's in Carentan France, wouldn't it more likely be an actual German-made gun?

What are the differences between a Trubia Ft-44 and a 8.8cm Flak 37?

Ericadeane, look at the barrel, is different. But of interest is the big number stamped in the breech block and inscriptions "fuego" and "alto el fuego". Same origin has the Bayeux museum flak, the one at Arromanches, and others I don't remember. Constated by myself.

Spanish Trubias are today available in some junkyards for about 5000€....

Javier, the barrels used on FlaK 18s, 36s and 37s varied quite extensively. The Germans developed a two-piece barrel to allow for swapping out the inner sleeves when they became worn-out, which was easier than replacing the entire tube. But my understanding is there is no conformity to barrel type once the war was winding down. It's entirely possible this is a gun made under license in Spain, but the similarities to the FlaK 37 seem close enough for modeling purposes. The other possibility is that this is a composite gun from various parts put together after the war. I found some evidence of that sort of thing as museums look for vehicles and artifacts.

Jeepman, thanks for the update on where the place got its name. These sorts of things always come down to who remembers what.

Nathan, Carentan isn't much to see today (just another rebuilt French one-horse town, but Vierville, Ste-Marie-du-Mont and Brecourt Manor are all still much as they were in 1944. St. Mere Eglise is also quite close to the original, which is of course surprising after nearly 70 years.

My strong recommendation is to hire a guide. Ours was Christoph Rault, and he was superb, though quite expensive. Still, it was worth every Euro.

Bill, I have to agree with JEEPMAN it was an M5A1 at dead mans corner. Is this an oversight on yours, because all the research depicts a US M5A1 (not that I have been there, but am surprised this is posted as a German AFV)??????????????

No, Jason, I checked into the origin, but did not make an exhaustive search of it. I have removed the word "German" which should allow readers to draw their own conclusions.

No worries Bill, thanks for confirming.

Hi Bill,

Really great you draw attention to this great museum.
I vivisted it 2 years ago, spoke to some of the staff and was surprised that this place is overlooked by (too..) many D-Day Beaches Tour goers.

It's one of the very few places in Normandy where you can find the real Band of Brothers properly represented.

If there will be a next time you and your son go on a Band of Brothers Tour Part Two, do not forget to come to the Netherlands to see the many places the Band of Brothers have left their footsteps; on many places remembered with a memorial.

I have found the actual location where the 'Crossroads' fight took place, very close to the Rhine river near the small village of Heteren.
Here is a pic attached of the small but moving memorial at the foot of the Crossroads river dike.(...upload didn't work as I hoped, sorry )

And about 3kms to the East is another one dedicated to them, this one for their part in the big rescue river crossing, getting the remains of the British 1st Airborne to the Allied side of the Rhine.
Eindhoven and Nunen are other places connected with B. of B.

Thanks, Jerry, I had thought about doing the Market-Garden portion of the BoB for the trip, but it became too unwieldy at that point. It will give my son a chance to revisit Europe someday on his own. Please see if you can upload the photo to the "Photos" section of the site and create a link.