Strait of Messina, Sicily, 1943

[Dave TBird]

I was fortunate to win on eBay two of the three photos of the Pionierlandungsboot
in the Strait of Messina, from the estate of Günter Schlosser, 29th Panzer Grenadiers.

I believe they are PiLb 40 type.

Here is the first image, resized to fit here.  (I had scanned the two photos at 1200 dpi).

By the way, these are the first photos I had seen of boats used in Operation Lehrgang.


Dave

[Dave TBird]

And my second photo, also resized.


Dave

[Dave TBird]

And here is the photo I did not win.


Dave

[t-geronimo]

Hi Dave!

Nice win! 

Unfortunately I hade to delete the one that you did not win because I guess you don't have the permission from the owner to show it here. German law says that you have to have this permission.

Did you check out our website about landing craft? It is in german languange only but there are several photos to make comparisons:
https://historisches-marinearchiv.de/projekte/landungsfahrzeuge/pionierlandungsboot/beschreibung.php

[Dave TBird]

Danke, Thorsten.

I did find your website that finally led me to conclude that my boats were Type 40.
It was very helpful indeed since I was having no luck identifying these craft.


Dave

[Arjan]

By the way, these are the first photos I had seen of boats used in Operation Lehrgang.


Dave

Hi Dave, I know two other pics showing a Pilabo 40 during Unternehmen Lehrgang. There's a pic showing British POWs (in a truck with the HG division sign) embarking on a Pilabo 40 to take them to the main land. Also there's a pic just showing a section of the bow of a Pilabo 40 evacuating  Marder II Panzerjäger from the Hermann Göring Fallschirm Panzer division. I could send you a copy of the first, the second is probably still on my old computer so this would take some time. Thanks for sharing your photos !

Regards,


Arjan