World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
7 Feb 2011 07:36:18 PM

Tiger 131 of SS-PzAbt.101 lost 107 tigers,
and destroyed 500 enemy tank. Location
Normandy, France, vehicle to right in photo
is the VW Schwimmwagen.

2.  Bill says:
14 Feb 2011 09:37:01 AM

ITS A TURN DOWN DAY:

Tiger 131 Commanded by Untersturmfuhrer Walter Hahn, of the 1st.SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.

3. Craig R. says:
6 Jun 2020 11:40:30 PM

I have done a little more research into photos Bild 101I-299-1804-04, Bild 101I-299-1804-05 and Bild 101I-299-1804-06, as I want to make a small diorama based upon the column of Tigers they show rolling through town.

Knowing that these photos were part of a larger group taken by photographer Scheck around the Morgny area of Normandy in June 1944, I wanted to try to see if I could narrow down the location. Using the name ‘Nieuverburg’ on the building in Bild 101I-299-1804-06, I found that there WAS a hotel in Morgny maintained by a Van Nieuverburg in the past… going off that bit of info during an image search of Morgny, I found a 2015 Wikimedia Commons street-photo of a church - église Notre-Dame - in Morgny that resembled the one in this photo beyond Tiger 131, though from a different angle; Tiger 131 was passing behind the church, based upon the architecture visible (the curved apse with part of the steeple visible beyond), while the 2015 photo is of the church’s entrance and steeple.

I then searched a satellite-view map of Morgny and found église Notre-Dame to be located on Rue Saint-Adrien/D15. Tiger 131 was travelling north to south just behind the church on the crossroad Rue Andre Carpentier/D316. Photographer Scheck’s Schwimmwagen was parked across the intersection from église Notre-Dame facing roughly toward Rue Saint-Adrien/D15, but on HIS side of the intersection the road is named Rue Georges Lefevre/D13. Confusing, I know, but it makes more sense when looking at the map.

Anyway, from that point I used Google Street View to confirm that most of the buildings in these three photos still stand in Morgny, obviously including the church. Today, near the middle of the intersection is a signpost with directional signs to the many nearby towns surrounding Morgny. I can only presume that this signpost was there in 1944, but it doesn’t show up in any of the Scheck photos; here in Bild 101I-299-1804-04 it may actually be blocked by the Schwimmwagen and its driver.