Great work, Jakko! I can’t enhance the photos on the device I am currently using, but here is a list of M4A4 serial numbers which may help to narrow doen the options:
From my website: http://www.mapleleafup.nl/g104/serial.htm

Thanks. I haven’t tried enhancing the photos yet, but I couldn’t make out parts of the numbers on the tank and didn’t find a fifth digit at all. I have a feeling the tank was sandblasted in 1994 and part of the numbers wore away then — the surface they’re on is pretty uneven.

It looks to me like the number is 2130 (and one more number, of course), but I’d be happy to be proved wrong :)

Bead blast the area fine a fine grit 100-120 and just enough pressure to knock off all the clutter of paint and primer that working the area with a wire wheel just makes a confusing mess. If you cannot get in there with a small hand held media gun, chemically remove the paint scale, once the surface is bright (paint free) run a black wax crayon over the stamping to back fill then, or do a paper rubbing. I have had some great results going the black crayon route, but you need to prep and clean the areas better to make things pop. Oblique lighting with the brightest light possible yields great results, but if the stamping are not there (light struck) then they are just plain not there.

I don’t even know what a media gun is, aside from assuming from context that it’s a tool to do with sandblasting :)

Thanks for the tips, though I may not be able to go back before the tank gets sandblasted in order to try some out :(

Technically it should be possible to bring them out with the right equipment, due to the invisible deformation the stamping will have caused in the underlying metal, but that requires all kinds of forensics-type kit, like that used to retrieve filed-off serial numbers from guns. Somehow, I think I won’t have access to that either …

Also, someone pointed out to me that the second digit is probably a 0, not a 1. It’s odd, but when I was looking at the real thing it looked definitely like a straight number 1 to me, but in the photos I see the round shape of a 0 instead … So it’s probably 2030X.

Been looking at your photos for a while now, Jakko, and my guess would be either, ‘22126’, or, ‘21126’.

An interesting mystery.

David

What about the old trick of putting a thin piece of paper over de number and rubbing a pencil against it?

I tried to spice up one of the pictures, but I can't get a clear view.....2106 (too much space between 1 and 0 I guess), 2030, 2036???

You can tell I’m not used to doing this kind of thing, because the thought didn’t occur to me at all when trying to make the number visible on the actual tank.

I’ve also tinkered with the colours, contrast, levels etc. a bit and didn’t really have much success yet. I may need to try again … I think the fourth digit is a 0, though: there seems to be nothing in the middle of the number that would indicate a 6 or a 9, and the left side isn’t pinched in like you would expect for an 8.

Scan from a German language magazine showing two of the Sherman Crabs lined up in the Zuidstraat, Westkapelle, ca.1945-1946.

Closest to the camera is Sherman V Crab, "DANDY DINMONT" Turret no. 15 of 1LBY, "A" Sqn., No.1 Troop. Behind it is Sherman V Crab T-148656 which survived to this day.

Attachment 123952

Ahem, Hanno, Jakko alreary posted this photo in this very thread and so did you :)

Heh, I got a notification of a new reply to this thread, read it, and thought: “Is this something that got held up for quite some time, or a new photo we haven’t seen yet?” :)

Sorry chaps, forgot about that! :)

As for something new, here are some pics lifted off the FB page of Bevrijdingsmuseum Zeeland showing progress is being made on the restoration of the Sherman V:

Attachment 123955 Attachment 123956

Maybe I should go back for another visit before they put it all back together again :)

By the way: note the front mudguards. I gave them a drawing of what they’re supposed to be like, explained the shape some more on one of my visits to the workshop, and they even made them with the strengthening rib that I didn’t actually expect to see.

Some new photos of two of the tanks at Westkapelle just surfaced:

Attachment 124385
source

Attachment 124386
source

(With thanks to Hans Houterman, who mailed me to ask if these were indeed taken there.)

Wow, great to see some new pictures!

Have you gone back to the museum to look at the restoration progress, Jakko?

From another source, I’ve also recently seen a “new” picture of Wolf of Badenoch, and there’s a chance there may be more — though at best, I’ll only find that out next week. With a bit of luck, though, I’ll get permission to use it in the upcoming book the Polderhuis will publish soon …

Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to yet :(

Okay, I went back today, partly because two days ago I got a phone call from Kees Traas about there being some confusion over the locations of the markings I had told them to put on. In the end it turned out they fit after all, but I still think it helped a lot to be able to explain in person how and where they should go.

Attachment 124606 Attachment 124608

Note the replacement mudguards, which look quite good up close. The bow machine gun is a fake, made on a CNC machine, welded securely into the ball mount, whose shield has also been put back on (it rusted off a few years back). I didn’t really want to tell the guy who was obviously proud of his work that it shouldn’t be on this tank at all :)

Most of the wheels are the ones the tank had before, but some are replacements, including the front wheels on both sides, which are now the spoked, welded type. They both have blanking plates installed between the spokes, but are not the later “big hub” types that had plates like these from the factory. On the re-used wheels, the holes in the tyres were patched up with black rubber-like putty. I was somewhat amazed that the wheels actually rotate when I pushed them with my foot.

Here’s an interesting thing for the Shermanophiles:

Attachment 124607

The sprocket rings have been replaced, with an FMC one on the inside on the left-hand side. The other three are simple, plain types much more commonly seen.

The turret was indoors, and will be fitted soon, though it depends a bit on whether they can lift it high enough with a forklift, or if they need to get a crane in.

As for the tracks, they will be replaced by a second-hand set of T48 rubber-chevron type, that has just been sandblasted to get the rust off (Kees showed me a picture), so they await spraying black for protection. One thing is that the rubber on the outside is very (very!) worn, but the inner faces are still good.

It’s currently the intention to have the tank back at Westkapelle in mid-October or so, depending on how well the rest of the work goes and availability of the Army for transportation.

While I was there, I also visited the Bevrijdingsmuseum itself, as I had only been there once a few years ago, and that was when the current buildings were still under construction. First of all, I would say it’s definitely worth a visit if you happen to be in the area and have an interest in military history and/or WWII equipment.

Second, Kees took me up to the offices and storeroom, as he had some photographs he thought might interest me. After a fair while looking for them in vain, it turned out they had already been sent to the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies for digitisation and to be entered into their collection (the originals will come back to the Bevrijdingsmuseum), so I didn’t get to see them yet. However, I did come across the following couple of pictures that I thought might be of interest here (quality is not great, as I took photos of them with my iPad and then had to push and pull them to straighten them out a bit).

Two wrecks of Weasels at (almost certainly) Westkapelle:

Attachment 124609

Two Terrapins somewhere on Walcheren:

Attachment 124610

LVTs on the Markt square in Middelburg, two of them carrying Weasels in the cargo bay:

Attachment 124611

Thanks for the update Jakko! I am excited to learn about the marking scheme you have designed for this tank.


On a related note: another Infatuate relic was unearthed last week when a German bunker was rediscovered after digging for a new building had started. An LVT sprocket was one of the artefacts dug up, surprisingly. The other artefacts were all related to the bunker itself.

Attachment 124647 Attachment 124648
Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1032...21590037916682

Some months ago, I made the following instructions for them to use, as well as 1:1 size drawings of the markings:

Attachment 124658Attachment 124660

Those 1:1 drawings went to a company that makes adhesive stencils, some of which I also saw yesterday and which seem to look good (as far as I could tell, with them still on the backing paper :))

As for accuracy, there is, of course, a bit of a problem. The markings on the glacis are not those of T148656, as it had both the AoS and division markings on the front of the right flail jib, which is missing. However, they are correct most of the other 1 Lothians tanks, so I felt it would be best to copy those. The positions on the rear are as they appear in the few available photographs of the back of the tank.

The census number on the side is in the position it was in before T148656 was converted to a Crab. I chose this because else the one on the left would have been at the front while that on the right would be nearly at the back, and that will have some people wondering without being able to get an explanation. Using the pre-Crab position seemed better.

I debated over including the hand-painted CHERRY 6 on front and/or rear, as well as the 148-over-656 on the bow, and decided against them. The main reason is that this is a tank on public display, and text that appears hand-painted will look too much like graffiti — which invites more.

I had read about the sprocket, yes. I know of at least two LVT wrecks in Vlissingen (of the twenty deployed there in all), but not near this bunker, so perhaps one was lost here too?

Nice finds Jakko.


First photo probably shows the same two Weasels as on this shot:

Attachment 124895
Source


Last photo is the same as BBZ 66478, but less cropped on the left side (and more on the right):
Attachment 124896
Source

It does look like that, yes. Now to try and find the exact spot they were in …

This one was actually a postcard. Or maybe I should say, a photo printed on paper that has postcard markings (lines for the address etc.) printed on the back.

… and it’s back!

Attachment 125254 Attachment 125255 Attachment 125256 Attachment 125257 Attachment 125258

Excellent Jakko! Great to see this project finished in good time.

See https://www.omroepzeeland.nl/nieuws/...-weer-compleet for some more pics and videos.

Attachment 125259

The freshly restored Sherman T-148656 back in situ at the WW2 memorial on the Westkapelle dyke. The grey sky backdrop makes for a fantastic photo.

Attachment 125578
Photo by Jan de Jonge - see https://www.facebook.com/10000867471...243584973/?d=n) and https://jandejongefotografie.nl/de-weke-op-wasschappel/

I just keep thinking: “I wish I had a WRENCH, adjusting, idler,” though … :)

Definitely…

Very worthwhile to watch:

“Operation Infatuate: the Landings at Walcheren with Stephen Fisher”

https://youtu.be/cE7j8hhZBP0

Attachment 125811

It’s an hour and a half, though … not going to watch that right now, but thanks for the tip. I do hope it’s better than this one, though.

Eunice
 

Yesterday Storm Eunice raged over The Netherlands. I saw some footage of the Sherman on the dyke: it's feet got wet as water flooded over the crown of the dyke! That's what a combination of high tide and storm does - must have been some tense moments in the village of Westkapelle.

Attached picture shows the dyke looking in the other directiom, away from the Sherman:

Attachment 127614