Steve shared this photo that includes some specific information about the jeep and its occupants. I’m wondering if these photos are related to the Brenner Pass counter intelligence operation described in this book? I’ve included more photos from Lt. Kradeskis below this one. You can see many more photos here that were taken by Lt. Kradeskis.
View all the information on eBay
“Original WWII Snapshot Photo of COUNTERINTELLIGENCE CORPS JEEP & TRAILER of Lt. Kradeskis at BRENNER PASS between Austria and Italy, 1945. Photo was taken by Lieutenant William (Bill) Kradeskis of the Counterintelligence Corps (CIC). Lt. Kradeskis was variously assigned to the 6th Armored Division, 101st Airborne Division, and 7th Army in France, Belgium, Germany, and Austria. He was from Marblehead, Massachusetts, and married (to Bee) on 18 December 1943 just before shipping out for the ETO and did not get his honeymoon until after the war starting 6 January 1946. See the other photos I have listed from this officer. Search for “CIC” in the titles of my listings.”
There are more photos that include jeeps. Lt. Kradeskis seems to have documented a lot of his travels during WWII.
2. OFFICER McGRATH COUNTER INTELLIGENCE JEEP “CAPTURES” KAISERSLAUTERN 52
4. COUNTER INTELLIGENCE HQ SIGN GUARD AUGSBURG 9
5. Photo JEEP CONVOY Entering SAARBRUCKEN 1945 Germany
6. INTELLIGENCE GAS JEEP & TRAILER PONTOON TRUCK ULM
7. 411th INFANTRY 103rd DIVISION SIGN BRENNER PASS Austria Italy
8. INTELLIGENCE JEEP MACHINE GUN 6th ARMORED DIVISION
9. NAMED COUNTER INTELLIGENCE JEEPS BLEIALF Germany
10. INTELLIGENCE JEEP & TRAILER BRENNER PASS Austria
11. JEEP at SIEGFRIED LINE DRAGON’S TEETH TANK TRAPS
12. NO FRATERNIZATION SIGN BELGIUM GERMAN BORDER
“There isn’t” is written on the back.
Cool pictures. I’m surprised not to see a wire cutter on the front of the jeeps though.
Tom, I think you raise a good point. I haven’t encountered a discussion yet on which jeeps had wire cutters installed and which didn’t. Who ordered them (was it branch wide or locally determined), Where (Europe, Africa, Pacific, all) and When (when did it start) would be interesting questions to explore. Maybe someone knows?
Windshield up, no wire cutters needed ??
noticed the pistol pic . Shooter is using a revolver and not a 45 auto. I should know this but have forgotten, I believe the 45’s were for combat ops and these guys were not doing that directly so they would have received 38’s.
Most of these photos are late war, non combat or post war so no need for wire cutters . My guess on the revolver is he found it ,or traded for it , and is testing it . Some Aircrew men were issued .38s as well as other units .
i had a lot of relatives in MARBLEHEAD , MASS , — of course grandpa chamberlain invented the CHAMBERLAIN DORY — very very popular in the old days , now in museums .. they were there because my distant relative THOMAS ROGERS landed at PLYMOUTH ROCK – 1620
Thanks for the great info guys. There are all kinds of WWII details I know little about.
The M38 Reference Guide has a photo of M38 Jeeps with wire cutters. The caption of the photo says they were on the Jeeps to prevent injuries when the Jeep was operated with the windshield down. It further states that this was done in World War II and post-war in parts of occupied Germany. I hadn’t realized the wire cutters were used for that long.