British Vehicle New Guinea

[Mike Cecil]

Lillian Martha Robson.

Mike

[Lang]

Thank you.

[Lynn Eades]

Jeez Mike, all I got from that picture was "It's a Matador and it's stuck"

[Mike K]

The Bedford water truck is seen at 8.36

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C256033

[Lang]

Mike

I love the play on the quartermaster.

A string of people are told "No. We only have one left and if we gave it to you we would not have any in stock for someone who wanted one"

At least he got his new shoelace after proving it was actually broken and having to hand in the broken one before he got the new item. The signature is absolutely essential.

Lang

[Maurice Donckers]

Hi Lang , there is no shear pin on an AEC matador winch , at overload a rod will push the diesel injection pump to the engine stop position , the winch is capable to pull 7 tons , so with the double snatch blocks provided with the truck, it should be able to pull more than the 7 tons the truck itself weights ,

[Lang]

Thanks for that Maurice I knew there had to be some sort of safety feature.

It is amazing how difficult it is to get a vehicle seriously bogged like this out of a hole. The winch may be able to lift the truck if you had a sky-hook but dragging it horizontally is often another matter. Finding something to hook the cable on to is also a common problem - I doubt a coconut tree would hold 7 tons. The back looks as full as a Catholic School bus so probably 14 tons might be more like it?

Great info on another fail-safe system.

Lang

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C256033

The AWM site has at times been criticised for it's collection descriptions. This item description, however, could properly be described as "Comprehensive".

[DaveBuckle]

Thanks Mikes and Lang for all the info in this post - I have been trying to piece together info on CMPs used with searchlights in PNG as remembered to me by a 2/19 btn veteran.
AWM narrowed it down to 6th or 8th Division.
Any more info gladly received.

[Lang]

Dave

2/19th Battalion AIF was a part of 8th Division which was captured in Singapore. Of approximately 1,500 men the battalion suffered the highest casualties of an Australian WW2 unit - about 75 KIA and 545 either starved, worked to death or murdered by the Japanese. If your veteran was in the 2/19 Battalion he certainly was not in New Guinea.

If his unit number was 19th Battalion (no "2" in front of the name) this was a militia battalion not AIF and was in New Guinea. They were initially attached to 3(militia) Division then to 5 (militia) Division. Their first operational role was toward the end of the war in New Britain. They were never a part of 6,7 or 9 AIF Divisions. You can read about the 19th Battalion in the carrier forum "carriers in Darwin" .

The militia (Citizen Military Forces/Army Reserve/Territorials etc similar to the American National Guard) was for much of the war dedicated to home defence and banned by law from being sent overseas. The regulations were changed and they were allowed to be used in Papua New Guinea (because they were Australian administered territories). The bulk of the major operations were still undertaken by the volunteer AIF 6,7 and 9 Divisions.

An infantry battalion of course would have no contact with searchlights but could well have been near to them at some stage.

Lang