Sherman Crab T147955 “Avalon” Overloon. Regiment? Damage?

[Alex van de Wetering]

It is a subject I have been wondering about a long time myself. I'll share this thread in the hope that other may be able to come up with archive material from War Diaries or other prime sources.

Yes Hanno, please do! I also put up a thread on the same subject on ww2talk some time ago.

I forgot to add...I did ask the museum about the history of Avalon years ago when we were working on the Conger carrier, but sadly the archive didn't give any answers, apart from 2 more early museum pictures and a small note from a previous repaint job. Sadly the people that were involved in the museum in the early days have since passed away, which means that it's hard to find the background of some of the exhibits in the collection. For instance; we are not sure when the Conger carrier was added to the museum collection, nor where it came from and why it was marked as a "Wasp" in the early days of the museum.

I am not sure who moved the exhibits from the battlefield to the museum grounds in early 1946.....could be a civilian company, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it was the British army as I think they were closely involved when opening the museum.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Here is another picture of the early days of the museum; source: https://www.strijdbewijs.nl/slag/overloon1.htm

it seems the writer on the website assumes it shows the actual battlefield, but in my view this is in fact the museum (Cookie in the background) shortly after it opened.
I seem to remember this picture was also included in a old museumguide, but I can't find it at the moment.

For those interested.....early museum pictures of a number of the vehicles can be found here:
https://studiezaal.erfgoedhuisweert....56693742f4b18c
https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onde...hTerm=overloon

Not WW2 pictures, but to me these are still very interesting pictures as most of the exhibits still carry their original paint and markings.

over020.jpg