Operation Infatuate II: Sherman tanks at Westkapelle

[David Dunlop]

Jakko.

Can you clarify something for me?

In your colour aerial photo with the wartime overlay of the location outlined in white, there is what now appears to be a large, white sand public beach in the area marked “t’ Gat”. In the Northwest corner of this photo you can clearly see the cluster of assorted armour that never made it ashore and the outer white lines of what appears to be the original wartime shoreline pass roughly North/South down through that area before swinging off to the East at the bottom of the photo.

Was the land flooded out subsequent to the wartime landing, never diked back off and reclaimed, or am I just getting the information wrong from the two photos? I was so interesting in tracking the postwar movements of some of the armour, I only just noticed this possible loss of land mass.

I cannot help think some of that armour did more travelling in town after the war than they managed during the landing.

David

[David Herbert]

Hi Alex,

After I typed the second part that you quoted in your last post # 80 I realized that it didn't add up so deleted it and replaced it with the first part that you have quoted. Well done for getting both !

However you have shown that the arms do indeed go over the suspension spring (sorry) so I think that the explanation is that the arms on the beach have had the pivot points cut off them where the arm bends down to the pivot - so about 30" removed. Looking at the zoom of the beach photo one can persuade oneself that one can see a cut box section.

For the benefit of others the suspension spring is a massive transverse spring the ends of which engage with the track frames just in front of the forward top roller. The track frames themselves pivot on the shaft that goes through the sprockets which also rotate around that shaft.

David

[Alex van de Wetering]

Hi David,

so I think that the explanation is that the arms on the beach have had the pivot points cut off them where the arm bends down to the pivot - so about 30" removed

I agree......it does seem they took the easy way out, by just cutting the arms off!

Well done for getting both !

I pressed the quote button, but it took me a while to find a picture to display what I meant. When I did find a picture and posted, I noticed the original text was missing! I did however post, as I think it help us learn more about these Armoured dozers, vehicles I have always found very fascinating.

Alex

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Was the land flooded out subsequent to the wartime landing, never diked back off and reclaimed, or am I just getting the information wrong from the two photos?

You’ve got it exactly right: the old dyke ran as the pale lines show, then curved more to the southeast just below the map until it got to the dune now known as Erika; from there it continued on to the southeast. When the dyke was reconstructed after the war, it was built in a big curve the other way — the footpath along the top is clear on the aerial photo, and pretty much follows the curve of the new dyke — to connect the remaining part of the old dyke to Erika. A sandy beach then formed at the foot of the new dyke. (The lake marked “De Kreeke” at the lower right also didn’t exist before 1945 — that area was farmland back then.)

If you want to see how the coastline changed because of the RAF’s actions, http://topotijdreis.nl is a good resource: type “Westkapelle” into the search box at the top right, then play with the date slider along the left.

“’t Gat”, BTW, translates as “the Gap” — the reason for that name is probably obvious

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

I cannot help think some of that armour did more travelling in town after the war than they managed during the landing.

Crab T148656 certainly did