War Dept. numbers

[Ian Grieve]

Richard

Thank you for your note.

There are always mysteries when it comes to records. We see it time and time again.

I have copies of handwritten Contract Cards for SM2621 and SM2820 from The Tank Museum in 1998. The numbers in Chilwell are certainly different to those on Card SM2820, ie P5219692 - P5219876. Another mystery!!

SM2621 has no dates.

SM2820 has dates of 30-4-44, 17-5-44 and 19-4-43, however, does not say to what the dates refer. Other notations on the front of the card are also meaningless to me. The card has allocations on the back, namely UK (Admin) 8, UK 330, ME 111, India 164 and S Africa 8. This totals the 621 vehicles. It appears only 386 were allocated Census Numbers at that time. Dates on the back say 21-12-44 and 3-1-44 however they mean nothing to me without explanation.

Ian