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Wed Jan 27, 2010 3:26 am

These were the "Band of Brothers" fame guys. Perhaps they can be contacted...

B

Wed Jan 27, 2010 8:57 am

I contacted the "Big Red 1" several years ago and they did say that they had 'an odd picture' of a car, but when I pushed for more info they backed off; and I never heard back from them. I got the feeling that they didn't want to have any kind of black mark against the unit, and I couldn't convince them that It wouldn't be viewed like that. So try again. I don't have the contact info at this time- it is probably somewhere in my moving boxes. I'll try again as well since we now have a more detailed unit listing.

eric

Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:40 pm

Forgive me, Eric, if I am not too much into the army terminology but who is “Big Red 1”? Would be great if some more details could be revealed.

In the meantime I found out through some of the leads you guys gave that Porsche is indeed connected with the E Company; several sources (online and for instance Stephen Ambrose in his book "Band of Brothers") mention that Carwood Lipton, famous officer of Easy company, “assisted Easy in the capture of the Nazi's symbolic home, Berchtesgaden. While there, Lipton became acquainted with Ferdinand Porsche (responsible for the Panther and Tiger tanks), who could speak English very well. They ate their meals together while Porsche was at the POW camp L.A.G.A.R.”.

Still not clear to me when and where the first encounter of the allied forces with Porsche occurred and most important question what happened to all those prototypes that were listed in July 1945! :D

Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:43 pm

Quote: 1945 - City serves as a base for Company "E" of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), 101st Airborne Division

Bingo! Anyone making inquiries into this should be sure to include the battalion and regiment nomenclature.

I don't have a period-correct org chart for the 101st in front of me, so I can't be sure how it was organized, but there would have been multiple E companies; most battalions would have had one.

Sun Feb 14, 2010 8:35 am

My Father (dead 20 years) use to tell a story about a cache of porches found during the war. Claims that one of them looked like a early prototype of the James Dean Spyder. He said the top was cut off of it and was used to joy ride the area. He was in Headquarters Company, Second Battalion, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne.

MD

Sun Feb 14, 2010 1:11 pm

MDog wrote: My Father (dead 20 years) use to tell a story about a cache of porches found during the war. Claims that one of them looked like a early prototype of the James Dean Spyder. He said the top was cut off of it and was used to joy ride the area. He was in Headquarters Company, Second Battalion, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne.

MD

:shock: Welcome to The Samba and what a great story!

Did your dad ever tell you what city or area that was in? Any chance of any men of that company still alive?

Sat Mar 20, 2010 2:20 pm

Did not do that much searching on this subject lately. Such a shame we did not hear from MDog anymore.

However I came across some more proof that Zell am See was occupied by the 506th PI (APO 472?) in May 1945. I found this 3 page after action report by colonel R.F. Sink.

It covers the 506th PI activities in Austria. Unfortunately there is no mention of capturing Porsche or finding any of his vehicles. I guess it wasn’t such a big deal back then? :cry: It does mention the find of several art collections and the apprehension of 32 war criminals (could Porsche have been one of them?). Anyway, thought I’d share this.

Sat Mar 20, 2010 3:09 pm

Keep looking, something will show up somewhere.
Interesting info in any case

Sun Dec 05, 2010 9:10 am

So interesting!!!!

Last post has been a while... any news???

regards..

Mon Dec 06, 2010 2:14 am

Tanoki wrote: So interesting!!!!

Last post has been a while... any news???

regards..

Not much unfortunately. Too bad MDog never replied anymore (practical joker?). :(

I started reading Ferry Porsches biography (Ein traum wird Wirklichkeit, 1983) and of course first skipped to the end of the war part.

Porsche leaves no doubt about the location of the whole family at the end of the war, Zell am See, and he even mentions the names of British colonel G.C. Reeves and US major Torre Franzen who first apprehended his father in May 1945. Both men where involved with cars and the Porsches knew them already from a US visit in 1936. The book also mentions the prototypes, with one of the Berlin Rome cars amongst them, which where kept at the flight school in Zell.

Next to that I found a report by the British OSS on Porsche of May 17th 1945 in the Nuremberg Trial Library. This again indicates that the British and probably also the US intelligence services knew very well who Porsche was and what he has been involved with before and during the war. Nevertheless at that time they might not have seen the historical value of the prototypes developed by Porsche and his team.

There are several websites dedicated to the soldiers who liberated Europe and had there final stay in Zell am See in 1945. Some, not many, are still alive and there must be some who recall or maybe even have pictures of the Porsche cars from the flight school. I considered contacting some of these websites but I feel that it is some what disrespectful to these brave men who also liberated my country (The Netherlands) and fought for my parents freedom to bother them about these silly beetle shaped cars.

I am still fascinated by these events though and I am sure there must be more to know. :wink: