Early CMPs in NW Europe

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

>>>

Hendrik, David, I agree.....even though I have no official documents to back it up. I don't think there was a luxury position to replace ALL cab11/12's with cab13's. Maybe the general rule, yes...but there was a shortage of everything, so I would not be surprised if someone turns up with a document stating that (cab 11/12) trucks are to be properly serviced and maintained.....and are only to be replaced by newer trucks if they are completely worn....frontline units coming first if new trucks are available.(?)
.....

I doubt such a document will surface. Field armies never have enough of what they need and too many of the burdens of well-meaning staff officers. A RCEME veteran acquaintance told how one of the first things they threw out after landing in Normandy was an engine block for some very big truck. Some farmer near Bernier-sur-mer has a lump of cast iron in a filled-in slit trench.

After Desert Storm, I watched US trucks dragging around the most amazing collection of flatbeds, containers and trailers. When the units mobilized, everything old and new in the compounds got loaded.

The war moved fast, the logistics train was struggling to keep up, and the convoys didn't stop coming and shake out until the surrender. (If the staff asked for 30 sheets of plywood and 50 sheets show up, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.) Or if someone behind the fighting echelon found something abandoned or broken down in desert, so be it. Better to have something and not need it, than to leave it behind for the locals or stragglers to steal or use against your own troops. Besides, extras are always useful for trading and reconciling the books.

Contrast that to the retreating Iraqis. Everything they owned was dropped and abandoned. Every cab over engine 6-cylinder truck; every cam' net; every crate of ammunition; every fibreglass copy of the Kevlar helmet.

All of this is to say, if the soldiers can get their hands on working equipment, they will keep it.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Two 15cwt 4x2's in action in Normandy.
Pictures show French volunteer drivers that transported food to Paris. The British army supplied Dodge D15's for this task, and also at least two CMP 15cwt's, so it seems.

source: http://www.manche.fr/archivesDepartementales/

[Alex van de Wetering]

C15A cab 12's in Zutphen, april 6th 1945. Judging from the position of the star on the roof, there are at least two different Monkey faces in this footage, maybe even three.

The pictures are grabs from this footage

First two grabs show the same truck. You will note that the location of the third picture is the same as the picture posted by Henrik earlier....but it's a different truck, judging from the vehicles driving in front of it.

check around 2:20, 6:10 and 6:30


Alex

[marco]

Photo taken in Leeuwarden, Holland in the second half of May 1945.
The location is at or nearby the railway station and the photo shows a line-up of vehicles from RCCS attached to the XII Manitoba Dragoons.

The 15CWT on the left has a marking "AC 4" on the bumper.
According to a wartime list from the XIIMD administration, this vehicle was a "RCCS - IM Shop" van, not clear to me what this means.
The one on the right has a marking "AC 3" , meaning "RCCS (LP) Ech Set Link".

Marco.

[David Dunlop]

Marco.

AC4 appears to be an 8-cwt HU. I wonder if it is a ZL bearing a fancy name? AC3 looks to have a house type wireless body on it. The LP probably means 'Low Power'. It might be some form of field relay vehicle.

Looks like an interesting building behind them.

David

[Alex van de Wetering]

Awesome picture Marco!
I agree with David....could be a rare ZL. Also great to see a C15A with house type body ....and even a rare 3Ton truck with house type body.

Looks like an interesting building behind them

I am pretty sure the building is a freight storage building; the size and shape of these buildings were very similar all through the country. Freight trains could stop on one side, trucks on the other. These buildings were usually positioned quite close to the regular passenger railway stations.



Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

You do need good eyes for the next one....

The picture is from Bill Miller's Canadian Kangaroo Regiment Association and archive facebook page and originally came from Art Bell's collection. According to the description the picture was taken in Germany, 1945.......a 4x4 cab11/12 in 1 CACR service(?)


Thanks Bill!

Alex