Operation Infatuate II: Sherman tanks at Westkapelle

[MicS]

Originally Posted by Jakko Westerbeke

Let’s add another one: Crab Dandy Dinmont is T148143:

Attachment 116869

This is a still from Walcheren Heroverd (“Walcheren Reconquered”) available on the Wikipedia page about the inundation of Walcheren: the tank appears 1:22. The commentary at that time doesn’t mention the tank at all, BTW, but talks about damaged and destroyed homes instead.

Superb view of DANDY DINMONT's markings! While on other photos the markings are alreay faded, they look quite sharp here.

Reg No T148143 appears in the War Diary for a Crab received by 1 Lothians during March 1944, which is consistent with DANDY DINMONT having a full set of markings, including the original name, turret number and formation sign, unlike "Memorial" tank T148656 which must have been a replacement one.

Michel

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by MicS

Superb view of DANDY DINMONT's markings! While on other photos the markings are alreay faded, they look quite sharp here.

I was a little surprised to see the white highlighting on the upper and right sides. I hadn’t expected that to be there, from the few other photos I’ve seen of this tank that actually showed the name.

This image is not even all that early, though: it’s from a cinema newsreel date 4 March 1946, so probably taken weeks or even months before that. Call it at least a year after the landings. The flail is entirely gone from the tank already, and the houses nearby have already been demolished. (And I like how they braced the last remaining house in the row against the tank

Talking of Dandy Dinmont and T148656, I suspect this photo may also be new to a lot of people:

1A799E6F-4159-41AD-9257-17E55CE1C97F.jpeg

This is from the German military/popular history magazine, Clausewitz, which got it from some or another image bank that seems to require a subscription. It was certainly new to me, and shows a side of the tanks that I’d never seen in this kind of detail either. (Quality here isn’t great, as I took this photo with my iPad because I didn’t feel like going to my computer and scanner.)

The photo is clearly earlier than the newsreel, as the front wall of the house on the far right of the photo is still standing. However, the flail gear has already been (partially?) removed, as the left-hand jib is on the ground behind the tank.

[MicS]

Great photo again, with a full view of the Memorial tank's rear markings, which will be useful in its restoration!

I wonder what the small marking just under 'CHERRY 6' on the wading trunk might be?

Note that the Memorial tank still has its spare chains on the turret side on this photo.

Michel

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by MicS

Great photo again, with a full view of the Memorial tank's rear markings, which will be useful in its restoration!

And for my model of it

Originally Posted by MicS

I wonder what the small marking just under 'CHERRY 6' on the wading trunk might be?

I just looked at the photo in the magazine with a strong magnifier, and it’s either too small to read in the print, or it’s simply a line somebody painted under the name. I lean towards the latter, because it seems to be about as thick and even as the strokes that make up the letters. Though it could, of course, also be that somebody used a smaller brush to paint something underneath.

Originally Posted by MicS

Note that the Memorial tank still has its spare chains on the turret side on this photo.

Those were on it for a fair while, but I’ve not yet pinned down when they seem to have been taken out.

[MicS]

Back to the Memorial tank T148656, I am wondering about a marking which appears to be on the transmission housing.

It clearly includes a 5 and a 6:
No.M Crab T148656 '6 CHERRY' - Marcel van Hoepen - 3 - Notes.jpg

and might have more numbers or letter to the left of '56':
No.M Crab T148656 '6 CHERRY' - 509 NFR - Notes.jpg

I guess it could be its Reg No T148656 or just 148656, because the next sign left of '56' looks like it could be a 6 (next photo), the presence of a 8 before it being possibly the reason for what we see on the first photo above just left of the pairs of chains left of the 56:
No.M Crab T148656 '6 CHERRY' - 522 NFR - Notes.jpg

In summary:
No.M front marking.jpg

I think I have seen examples of the Reg No being painted in large numbers in this location, but naturally I can't find them right now...

Other photos of the front of the tank do not seem to show this marking, that is, on photos where the transmission housing is not obscured by the rounded guard plate between the flail jibs.

Any ideas?

Michel

[MicS]

Originally Posted by MicS

I think I have seen examples of the Reg No being painted in large numbers in this location, but naturally I can't find them right now...

I must be getting old, because I posted just one such example on this very forum only a couple of days ago :
http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...232#post273232

Michel

[MicS]

From these photos shot while it was still in its (very faded) original livery, it seems that the marking was within the middle casting of the transmission housing only:

FO121672 Tank Memorial - original markings.jpg FO121673 Tank Memorial - original markings.jpg

So, if this marking was indeed the WD No. and given the size of the digits, it must have been written in two lines:

148
656

Michel

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by MicS

Back to the Memorial tank T148656, I am wondering about a marking which appears to be on the transmission housing.

Now you point this out, I seem to recall noticing it before as well but for some reason not digging deeper into it. Chances are I forgot due to having all kinds of other stuff to figure out as well

Originally Posted by MicS

I think I have seen examples of the Reg No being painted in large numbers in this location, but naturally I can't find them right now...

Luckily you remembered, because I was about to go and find the one posted the other day

Originally Posted by MicS

if this marking was indeed the WD No. and given the size of the digits, it must have been written in two lines:

148
656

I’m not sure. In this photo:



I’m not convinced the character left of the 5 is a 6. It seems to be missing its left-hand side and the remaining part appears too angular to me. I also can’t really make anything of the markings in the 1958 photos, as they’re really just a blur.

On the other hand, I have no idea what else could be painted there that would have the number 56 in it … AoS number 56 seems unlikely, and why would it be on the tank? (A replacement transmission salvaged from another tank is about the only reason I can think of, but see above.)

The 5 is a fair deal larger than the 6, as is most obvious in the photo with all the people posing in front of and on the tank. This seems to suggest it’s hand-painted.

[Jakko Westerbeke]

I spent much of the afternoon today at the Polderhuis museum in Westkapelle, looking through photo albums and binders with photos. Here are the more interesting ones I found for the current topic.

Zuidstraat with tanks, from the collection of one J.C. van Winkelen. I don’t think I’ve seen this particular one before, but it caught my eye mainly because the number 10 on the left side of the turret of Wolf of Badenoch is clearly visible here, when it’s usually obscured by the engine deck if the turret’s left side is visible at all:

Zuidstraat AVRE A3 & Sherman %22Wolf of Badenoch%22 (col. J.C. van Winkelen).jpeg

More importantly, it also shows this on the AVRE’s air inlet:

Minotaur.jpg

Front view of “Cock o’the North”, from Willem D. Passenier, who is also the man in the photo:

Sherman %22Cock o'the North%22 (Willem D. Passenier).jpeg

And that same tank with an unknown woman next to it, again from the J.C. van Winkelen collection:

Sherman %22Cock o'the North%22 (col. J.C. van Winkelen).jpg

This is very similar to another photo of that same tank, which shows it closer up. That photo was next to it in the binder, but they seem to be two different photos, rather than the other one being a cropped version of this.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Jakko Westerbeke

Talking of Dandy Dinmont and T148656, I suspect this photo may also be new to a lot of people:

This is from the German military/popular history magazine, Clausewitz, which got it from some or another image bank that seems to require a subscription. It was certainly new to me, and shows a side of the tanks that I’d never seen in this kind of detail either. (Quality here isn’t great, as I took this photo with my iPad because I didn’t feel like going to my computer and scanner.)

It was new to me too, a local battlefield guide kindly sent me scan of this photo:

Clausewitz.jpg