What going on in this picture?

[rob love]

"Description
1942-10-05. RECOVERY UNITS OPERATING WITH THE A.I.F. IN THE WESTERN DESERT ARE DOING GOOD WORK IN THE SALVAGE AND REPAIR OF VEHICLES DAMAGED BY MINES AND ENEMY ACTION. THESE MEN OPERATE IN THE FORWARD AREAS AND CARRY OUT THEIR VALUABLE WORK OFTEN UNDER DIRECT FIRE FROM ENEMY BATTERIES. THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN WHILE A SALVAGE CREW WAS AT WORK ON A BREN CARRIER. THE OPERATION WAS DISTURBED BY AN ENEMY SHELL EXPLODING UNCOMFORTABLY CLOSE. (NEGATIVE BY HURLEY)."

Call me a cynic but there is a thing or two in this photo that don't add up. There is shrapnel still leaving the point of impact so the detonation is very fresh. Yet the guy on the ground somehow got there in fractions of a second.


On the other hand, it may be a fire mission of more than one round, so perhaps the guy on the ground is the only one with any common sense, and this round was not the first in their vicinity. Quite the luck getting a shot of an explosion while it happens.


I had a rocket or two land in my general vicinity within the last couple years, and like the old vets say, the ones coming at you are the ones you don't hear. The projectile flies faster than the speed of sound, so the first thing you hear is the explosion. If you are hearing the whistle, that one is going somewhere else, and may well have already passed by.