Quote:
Originally posted by kevinT
Thank you for your post Crewman.
Are you aware of any named vehicles or WD serial numbers of tanks used by these units?
Thanks for any info supplied.
Cheers
KevinT
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Hi Kevin,
There is a kind of eight-volume encyclopedia of all Polish tanks and the other AFVs that fought in the MTO and ETO and that had their own names painted on the armour. I do not have all volumes unfortunately. There are also the other various monographs of the Polish Shermans or the units that used them. Give me a week or two and I will check much deeper Polish ETO Sherman IIIs because you seem to be interested mainly in this front. But do not expect too much -- M4A2s were used by the Poles in large quantities in the MTO but not ETO, what is more in Italy we had II Corps in NWE only one armoured division.
What I may write now, I know six color plates where the Polish Sherman IIIs from NWE are showed. The only one classic combat variant of them belongs to the HQ Squadron of the Polish 1st Armoured Division. The tank comes from August 1944 period. It has one-tone SCC No. 15 Olive Drab camouflage scheme. No WD serial which is painted out. It has only typical white stars on the hull sides. The other markings situated in typical tank places are as follows:
Bridge Classification Number -- 40
Unit AoS -- 40
Formation Sign -- 1st Armoured Div. badge, see below
National markings -- PL in oval
The other Polish Sherman IIIs from NWE I know are support vehicles or non-combat:
▪ Sherman III ARV, 24th Ulans Regiment, 1st Armoured Div., T148322
▪ Sherman III ARV, 24th Ulans Regiment, 1st Armoured Div., T267
▪ Sherman III ARV, 3rd Squadron, 2nd Armoured Regiment, 1st Armoured Div. No WD serial.
▪ Sherman III Fascine Carrier, unidentified unit of the Polish 1st Armoured Div. No WD serial, no other markings on the side surfaces.
▪ Sherman III Dozer, unidentified unit of the Polish 1st Armoured Div. No WD serial, no other markings on the side surfaces.
Best regards
C.