Victory demonstrations in Holland

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Sexton GPO (Gun Position Officer) “DARLING” of D Troop, 36th Battery, Canadian 23rd Field Regiment on parade in the Netherlands at the end of the war in 1945. It looks like this GPO was converted from a Sexton Mk.I (note the 3-piece final drive asssembly and M4 bogie and regular VVSS track).

Archive caption: "Sexton self-propelled howitzers passing in front of a reviewing stand at a parade. Date: 1945. This shows a parade (likely a VE-day parade in Holland) where a battery of Sexton self-propelled howitzers are being reviewed. The vehicles are from the 23rd Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, 4th Canadian Armoured Division. The vehicle closest to the stand is a Gun Position Officer variant of the Sexton."

117948826_3241708262574802_7171517149509874833_o.jpg
Source: http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/ourl/...3Apam&lang=eng

[Alex van de Wetering]

The first two pictues show Canadian Sexton GPO plus Sexton 25-pdr SP Guns passing through the village of Goor, The Netherlands. With as 3-ton CMP truck following. The original caption says “These are on their way to a parade between Goor and Markelo in April 1945.”

Hanno, that's odd! I posted the two GPO pics some months ago, but somehow the "mijn stad mijn dorp" website now has a lower quality scan of the GPO "TLE" picture online with a mangled track and proportions which are slightly off! It's the very same picture, with the CMP following the Sexton......but just a lower quality.....I am guessing one might be a scan from the negative, while the other is a scan of a print maybe.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

Hanno, that's odd! I posted the two GPO pics some months ago, but somehow the "mijn stad mijn dorp" website now has a lower quality scan of the GPO "TLE" picture online with a mangled track and proportions which are slightly off! It's the very same picture, with the CMP following the Sexton......but just a lower quality.....I am guessing one might be a scan from the negative, while the other is a scan of a print maybe.

For some reason those online archives seem to change the quality of the photos, sometime upwards, sometimes dwonwards. Also the ability to download photos can vary over time.