Churchill Avre log carpet

[Noel Burgess]

It seems that there were two different log carpet devices fitted to the AVRE at different times: the drawing posted by Hanno(from G Futters Book) is of a later development or proposal from later in the NW Europe campaign, the one used on D Day (in very small numbers) is very poorly documented but appears to have had the logs fitted lower down on the bow of the tank.
Cracking Hitlers Atlantic Wall is an excellent book but it is a shame that there is not more detail on the different AVRE attachments.
Noel

[servicepub (RIP)]

Here are two photos from my files showing a log carpet layer developed for Dieppe by a Canadian Engineer, Maj B Sucharov MBE. The photos were taken in May 1942, on the Isle of Wight.



Sucharov was awarded the MBE for his work. The citation reads:

SUCHAROV, Bert, Major - Member, Order of the British Empire - Engineers (1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Engineers) - awarded as per Canada Gazette dated 1 January 1943 and CARO/2983 dated 4 January 1943; confirmed in CARO/3580 dated 2 September 1943.

The initiative, drive and zeal of this officer have been outstanding since he landed in England in February 1940. He displayed great leadership and tireless energy in the engineer preparations for the Dieppe operations and experimented with new design of high explosives for offensive demolitions. He personally designed and produced the official attachments which enabled the tanks to overcome the shingle beaches and surmount the sea wall at Dieppe and during operations displayed the highest qualities of courage and resolution under heavy fire.

Of interest is that Sucharov was not just a back-room boffin but actually accompanied his invention into battle.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Something that sticks in my mind is the species of tree used for the "fascines" is chestnut. They are almost a weed. There have been other discussions on MLU about Canadian Forestry Corps units. It is not a stretch of imagination to have a work party detached from the more traditional lumbering duties to land clearing.

[Mark W. Tonner]

Hi Johnny;

The image that Hanno posted on 16 Oct 2013 (see attached), is an accurate representation of the AVRE with Log Carpet Device, which was developed for the Normandy landings - description: a carpet of one-hundred 6-inch (15.2 centimetres) diameter logs, each 14-feet (4.3 metres) long, which were bound together with wire rope, and was mounted (looped) on a removable steel frame, above the AVRE itself (as in the attached image). The looped carpet of logs, was released over the front of the vehicle by the detonation of a light charge, from within the turret of the AVRE.

Later, as the crossing of the Rhine river was being planned, the 79th (British) Armoured Division, devised a similar device, in the form of a log carpet, looped on a removable steel frame, mounted on a Buffalo amphibian (LVT), with the looped carpet of logs being released over the rear of the Buffalo, as it climbed the bank, which was meant to provide a firm base for following DD tanks climbing the river bank

Cheers

[Johnny gers]

As I said in my title. Thank you all for your help. This is what I have found out and Mark is right of the use of the Log carpet. There were 11 across the three british/commonwealth beaches. Also the reason there may be no photographs of this vehicle I was told. They were used on H Hour . The allies could of been sensitive to the Germans fining out about these Vehicles. Well I hope to build one next year.

Johnny

Always thankful to all the great Canadian service people how fought for our freedom and those who made the ultimate sacrifice . Lest we forget.

[Noel Burgess]

According to Goeffrey Futter's book, the Log carpet device posted by Hanno and repeated by Mark was "developed by F wing of 79th Armoured Division at Gheel in Belgium during late 1944". However I am aware that some of the AVRE attachments shown in the book have since been shown to be proposals or experimental.
But this was not the same device as used on D Day. I have just searched my hard drive for the following which was sent to me by a friend - it is from the National Archives and is from a document entitled "Assault Royal Engineers - Equipment and training - may 1944. I am pretty sure that this is what a D Day log carpet looked like. I understand that there were some other devices in the document which were not used on D Day - such as a chespale carpet mounted in a similar way to the log carpet shown below

[Johnny gers]

Thank you Noel for your help. This is becoming a right pain . So what did it look like. It such an important part of history. Yet it a vehicle no one knows how it looked like.


Johnny

[MicS]

Hello all,

The Log Carpet as used during the Normandy landings was indeed of the type shown in Noel's post above. I attached all the relevant pages, as sent by a friend (probably the same as Noel's ), which include a detailed description of how it was made and how it was to be launched.

More photos in next post.

Michel