Ede, Holland 1945

[MicS]

On this tank, as often on burnt out / heavily weathered tanks, paint shades seem inverted, i.e. what were white outlines (of the turret number and tank name) have become darker than the body of the outlined digit/letter.

I read the first digit of the turret number as a 9, with the characteristic shape of 1 LOTHIANS turret numbers:
No.9x.jpg

This means that the tank originally belonged to 4 Tp C Sqn, which initially comprised Crabs Nos. 90 to 94:

90? RED GAUNTLET
91? GREEN MANTIE
94 WANDERING WILLIE
92 ALAN FAIRFORD
93? COLIN CAMPBELL

The Ede Crab cannot be RED GAUNTLET, which was written off on 8 Aug 44, nor either ALAN FAIRFORD or COLIN CAMPBELL which had different stowage arrangements.

I also see a 'D' plus shades of letters compatible with No.94 WANDERING WILLIE:
Tk name.jpg

No.94 Crab 'WANDERING WILLIE' 4 Tp C Sqn 1 LOTHIANS, 7 Aug 44, Athis Farm, Op TOTALIZE - Concord.jpg

Maybe the 1945 War Diary for C Sqn could provide details on the loss of WANDERING WILLIE?

Finally, the T-number cannot be T148187 which was a Sherman V of 22 Cdn Armd Regt:
T-12727 - 0628 - '' A '' VEHICLES PREPARATORY CHART.jpg
I believe it is T148167, or possibly T148197.

Jon, could you scan this photo once more, at least the part with markings, in high resolution (600 or 1200 dpi), maybe tweaking the constrast to improve legibility of those markings?

Michel