British tank stowage item identification

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Does anyone know what this item is that is seen hanging off a good number of British tanks in North Africa and Sicily?

IWM E 18377.jpgIWM NA 4262.jpeg

I’ve also seen it on some Crusaders, and it never seems to be rolled up more than in these two photos. I can’t work out what it is, or is for, let alone how it’s actually constructed. It seems to have two thin panels on one side and a larger, padded part on the side that’s always towards the tank?

[Philliphastings]

Looks to me like a folding or ‘soft’ stretcher

I have seen one or two among AFV parts lots.

Said to be for removing injured crew members

Just my guess

Cheers

Phill

[Jordan Baker]

It looks like the canvas carrying case for the artillery plotting board with a couple extra large straps for securing it to the side of the hull.

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by Philliphastings

Looks to me like a folding or ‘soft’ stretcher

Do you have any photos of one of those? I tried looking and can’t find any

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

It looks like the canvas carrying case for the artillery plotting board with a couple extra large straps for securing it to the side of the hull.

The only photos I can find of such an item all show items like these:

s-l1600.jpgoriginal-1940-dated-british-mk1-artillery-plotting-board-case_55083_main_size3.jpg

That doesn’t look like the item on the tanks to me, unfortunately.

[charlie fitton]

I'm gonna throw in that it may be a sleeping bag - like a Mills Co "victory Kit"

[Jakko Westerbeke]

That is proving difficult to find a picture of, because the combination "victory" and "kit" results in a ton of hits for model kits of HMS Victory while adding "sleeping bag" produces all kinds of modern ones

But I think a sleeping bag is unlikely. Somebody on Missing-Lynx suggested a British officer’s sleeping bag, and I don’t think it’s that because the shapes don’t match. Plus, it seems an odd place to stow a sleeping bag, right where it will catch as much dust as it possibly can.