CMP vehicles in service with the Royal Netherlands Army
 

This thread is a placeholder to gather available information about CMP vehicles in service with the Royal Netherlands Army, both in the Netherlands and abroad in the former Netherlands East Indies.

A long time ago Dutchman Bernard van Meurs published a basic overview of CMP trucks in Dutch service on his webpage: http://www.bernardvanmeurs.nl/index....ge=cmp-info-en

He made use of Army archive pictures and listed the following:

Attachment 101778 Attachment 101779

The Netherlands Army image library hosts a good number of photographs which are accessible online:

https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/beeldbank

Not all captions are correct, which means some creative searching is needed to find them. Many pictures are official photographs used for inventory listing and publication purposes.

Searching for "Canadian Military Pattern" returns only 7 hits, including hits C60X workshop:

"Werkplaatsauto GMC ( Canadian Military Pattern) 3ton, 6x6, met vaste opbouw."
Attachment 101780
https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/m...1-13966e870614

Some other interesting finds:

Earth borer: "Grondboorauto Chevrolet C60S, 3 ton, 4x4"
Attachment 101781
https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/m...1-13966e870614

"Bureauauto Chevrolet, C60L , 3ton, 4x4."
Attachment 101782
https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/m...1-13966e870614

"Een GMC Otter gepantserd verkenningvoertuig. Gebruikt bij de Koninklijke Marechaussee tot 1970."
Attachment 101783
https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/m...e-b71cf033d065

The Otter was in service with the Netherlands Military Police until 1970. That is one reason why a fair percentage of surviving Otters are ex-Dutch.

More to follow later!

Enjoy,
Hanno

This is where many if not all CMPs for the Dutch army came from - the Deelen dump:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-2H...utu.be&t=6m25s

The thread CMP history - in Dutch has links to three articles in Dutch with more information about CMP trucks of the Royal Netherlands Army after WW2.

Some statistics:

• About 900 C60L's in use until 1960;
• The Artillery had 165 CGT's plus 101 FGTs on strength;
• In 1951, 338 C15A's were listed on strength, but undoubtedly more were in service early after WW2.

Couple of C15's pictured in use with the Dutch Army. With thanks to Alex for pointing them out.

"Beauty shots" used to catalogue and document the vehicle inventory:

Attachment 103750 Attachment 103751
Source: https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/m...1-13966e870614 and https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/m...1-13966e870614

Here's one pictured during maintenance out in the open ("backyard mechanics?"):
Attachment 103749
Source: https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/m...9-665851298ea1

Hanno.

Is there a logic, or system, that you are aware of for the 5-digit numbering system showing up on these RNA vehicles?

David

David,

Someone once told me that the 5 digits were just the last 5 of the original Canadian Census numbers, but I have never checked if this is indeed the case.

Alex

Colonel Schafroth directing maneuvers at Oldebroek, The Netherlands. Date: 8 april 1948

Note this C15A Cab 13 is fitted with a 2B1 body, not common on C15A’s. Part of the Foliage Pattern (a.k.a. Mickey Mouse) camouflage is still visible on the tilt. Also note two “aftermarket” headlights fitted instead of the original ones.

Attachment 108264

Source: http://proxy.handle.net/10648/a8b500...8-003048976d84

Any ideas on the second in line??? C8A, like the HUW behind? D-rings and bumper seem different from the C15A in front.

Alex

Also, what is that white angular arm mounted where the original Chev mirror bracket was located on the upper door hinge assembly?

I thought it was a folding mirror bracket but cannot see any mirror fitted, round or rectangular.

David

David, looks like a trafficator (indicator). I think some late war British softskins came with these fitted as standard(?).

Not all survived...
 

An Otter of the Military Police in front of the "Concertgebouw" (Concert hall) during a military parade, Museumplein, Amsterdam, 27 March 1952 (Foto Ben van Meerendonk / AHF, collectie IISG, Amsterdam)

Attachment 111042

Not much later an another Otter serving as a target in the 1950's on the aircraft gunnery range on Vlieland, the Netherlands. The vehicle has sank into the sand, caused by a high tide.

Attachment 111041
Source: https://flic.kr/p/qdtBkZ

Laat
 

C30 LAAT with Dutch census 32910:

Attachment 111259 Attachment 111260

Source: https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/f...7-f88749ccc403

Sometimes the background is just as interesting as the foreground.....A Staghound AA and carrier on the right and a Standard Beaverette on the left, which has possibly been cut down(?)

Alex

Here is another fascinating picture from the NIMH archives. According to the description it shows a Ford CMP, in which case it would be a rare F60H......but on closer inspection, it looks more like a GM C60X, judging from the brush guard, prop shafts and brake booster fittings. The truck has been fitted with an engine and winch to control moving targets on the Vliehors firing range. Any ideas on the engine ???......possibly a 6-71 Detroit diesel....or half of a GM diesel Sherman M4A2 power pack??

Alex

source:https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/f...a-4b0b1dd58a6a

Alex,
Yes I think you are right about the engine mounted on the CMP. I am certain that it is a GM 6-71 out of a Sherman or M10. They have even mounted the radiator as it would be in the tank installation so that the pipes could be re used. The generator mounting is the same too.
It looks as if the engine is mounted well off centre on the truck which might suggest that this is a complete 6046 twin set but I don't think that I see the transfer box that joins the two engines, though it may have been removed to get at the clutches, quite a common job if the engines are not properly synchronized.
I think that that is a M41 light tank behind it on the left of the photo.
I am puzzled about why a moving target range needed its power unit to be mobile, usually they are in a protected bunker at one end of the target track.

David

Hi David,

Thanks for your confirmation on the GM Diesel! That's quite the engine to sit on the back of a CMP!

There was no further explanation on this with the photo in the archive.....the only reason I can think of is the fact that the Vliehors range is at a beach and the range might change with high-low tides, making a mobile unit a better choice (?)
According to the picture description the tank in the background is an M24 (and probably another standing in front of it), which sounds logical as the Dutch army did have M24's, but no M41's that I know of.

Alex

Derrick truck, captioned as "'Bokauto', Ford, F60S, 3 ton, 4x4".
In use with the Royal Netherlands Army, 1955.

Attachment 115908
Source

And some snaphots from Mr. Leen Boshuizen who drove these when he was serving as a conscript in 1946:

Attachment 115909

Ford F60L with reg.no. 67202
Towing Dutch-made 1-ton trailer
Source Dutch National Archives

Attachment 124899

Postwar parade at Haarlem
 

Ford F60L parading with Hispano-Suiza AA gun in the back in 1955. I have never seen this configuration before.

Humber Scout Car and Chevrolet C15 or C15A with registration number "58407" during an Army exercise near the Maas river, Venlo, June 1951.

Attachment 127548
Source: Noord-Hollands Archief, collectie Fotopersbureau De Boer, NL-HlmNHA_1478_01730C02_01

Was the bicycle part of that Exercise, Hanno?

David

I don't think so David. It doesn't look like a military bike. And in Holland it is hard to take a photo without a bicycle showing up in it :D

Attachment 127549 Attachment 127550 Attachment 127551

Ford F60L Ambulance
 

Ford F60L Ambulances and GS trucks in use during a Dutch Army exercise in 1951.

Most photos I've found of Dutch CMPs to date are those taken in depots, so I am happy to have found pics of CMPs in actual use. For good measure, I've thrown in pic of a Willys MB / Ford GPW too.

Attachment 127562 Attachment 127563 Attachment 127564 Attachment 127565

Source: United #### manoeuvre Veluwe, Noord-Hollands Archief, collectie Fotopersbureau De Boer, NL-HlmNHA_1478_00954A03

"Motoraffuit met vier 20mm mitrailleurs"
 

These photos are dated 1951 and the Royal Netherlands Army registration number "32505" denotes it was taken up in service. The only reference*) I can find is an entry "Ford F60S motoraffuit 2 tl" which stands for "Ford F60S motor gun carriage, 20-mm, anti air targets". The census noted six were on strength on the stock taking dates 31 May 1948 and 5 April 1951. In 1951 all six were struck off strength and sold for scrap.

Attachment 133314
Source: https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/f...6-7c6b316506d1

Attachment 133315
Source: https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/f...d-cb687bb9f330

*) Sander Ruys: Wiel en Rups, 2021 (https://www.walburgpers.nl/nl/book/9...2/wiel-en-rups)

Ford CMP (3 ton, 4x4) motoraffuit met Bofors 40 mm luchtdoelkanon
 

The Canadian Army did use the F60B during the liberation of the Netherlands and this type was used by the postwar NL Army, too.

A Netherlands census entry for "Ford F60B motoraffuit 4 tl" - which stands for "Ford F60B motor gun carriage, 40-mm, anti air targets" - notes that fifty-three (53) were on strength on 1 November 1954. These may have come from later Canadian Military Aid (CMA) supplies as non were shown on strength on the stock taking dates 31 May 1948 and 5 April 1951, even though the photo below is dated 1951 and the Canadian Army left theirs behind in 1945.

The caption of this photo in the NL MoD image bank dated 1951 notes "this equipment was received as Canadian military aid and was assigned to 25 and 35 Light Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division".

F60B with 40mm Bofors
 

That F60B was indeed supplied by Canadian Military Aid as it still carriers its Canadian Army Registration 83-099.

So this F60B is likely to have been shipped from NWE to Canada shortly after WW2, refurbished and then sent back to NW Europe as CMA in the early 1950s?