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Group of three rolls of original 35mm black-and-white negatives, each a continuous strip trimmed at the ends, circa 1945, totaling 109 exposures. Each roll is housed in a paper-covered film canister with a metal lid and base, numbered by hand in black on the side and red on the lid: “64,” “73,” and “91.” Canister 91 is further annotated on the side, “Russians in occup. Ger.” Roll 64 is on Gevaert stock, edge-marked “Gevaert Belgium,” approximately 49˝ with 33 exposures. Roll 73 is on Agfa stock, edge-marked “Agfa 381,” approximately 59˝ with 38 exposures. Roll 91 is on Agfa stock, edge-marked “Agfa 144,” approximately 60.5˝ with 38 exposures.
Roll 64 includes views of a collapsed steel truss bridge lying in a river beneath a steep hillside, with a stone pier on the bank and a tower at the bridgehead; a floating bridge with a posted traffic sign; a sign on a brick wall reading in part “…9th Armd. Div.”; a vessel in the river; vehicles marked with stars behind coils of barbed wire; and soldiers and civilians in a town street.
Roll 73 includes damaged buildings and rubble-filled streets, a church, a building bearing the sign “Weinhaus—Wilhelm Dandel,” a building marked “Deutsche Ba…,” a damaged rail yard with wrecked passenger cars beneath terraced slopes, boats on a river, and a jeep.
Roll 91 includes a street arch hung with flags and a star, bearing banners reading “Да здравствует маршал Сталин” (Long live Marshal Stalin) and “Ať žije President Dr. Beneš” (Long live President Dr. Beneš); a group walking beneath a banner reading “Добро пожаловать” (Welcome); uniformed men in peaked caps wearing medals; horse-drawn carts and riders; building fronts hung with portrait banners; and a riverfront with ornate iron railings and a colonnade.
In overall very good to fine condition. According to the consignor, the negatives come from Colonel T. C. Bourke. The name matches Thomas C. Bourke (1893–1977), who served in France during World War I as a first lieutenant in Battery B of the 129th Field Artillery, 35th Division, and as adjutant of the regiment’s 1st Battalion; Harry S. Truman served as a captain in the same regiment.
American troops captured the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen intact on March 7, 1945, and the span collapsed into the Rhine on March 17; the wreckage on roll 64 is consistent with the bridge after its fall. The banners on roll 91 place that roll in Czechoslovakia, where American and Soviet commanders had agreed that U.S. forces would halt at a line marked by Karlovy Vary, Plzeň, and České Budějovice. On May 7, 1945, Combat Command A of the 9th Armored Division, advancing toward Karlovy Vary, was ordered to stop in place. The architecture on roll 91 is consistent with Karlovy Vary, though the location has not been confirmed.
