[Roddy de Normann]

Bill -

Couple of further Pathe cuts ref laden 'Roos. Both come from Pathe film 2026.02 of Brit troops entering Hamburg, early May '45.

I fully take your point ref the travelling caravan appearance of some of the Kangaroos fm 49 APC Regt. Having said that, there are a number of questions that do fall out of the same pics...

First, did all carriers belong to 49 APC ? Presumably ammo carriers and the towers belonged to the various units they were assigned to, both within 79th Armd Div and outside.

Second, I presume that those vehicles that were solely used for troop lifts would have remained uncluttered as they only had a permanent crew of about three. I accept that some kit would be carried on the rear as troops would have exited over the front and sides.

Third, I presume that there were a number of vehicles in each sqn that would have been used in a support role (ambulance, command etc) and thus could be allowed to become cluttered. Do you know the actual sqn orbats that could poss illustrate whic/how many vehicles of this sort there were ?

Ref the two pics, interested to see that each veh had its own sqn serial - R8, S9 ect.

Also interesting to note that one of the vehs has had a series of brackets welded onto the hull rear to take kit...

All comments eagerly awaited !

Roddy