CMP vehicles in service with the Royal Netherlands Army

[Hanno Spoelstra]

This thread is a placeholder to gather available information about CMP vehicles in service with the Royal Netherlands Army, both in the Netherlands and abroad in the former Netherlands East Indies.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

A long time ago Dutchman Bernard van Meurs published a basic overview of CMP trucks in Dutch service on his webpage: http://www.bernardvanmeurs.nl/index....ge=cmp-info-en

He made use of Army archive pictures and listed the following:

f60-fat.jpg vanmeurs_used in the dutch army.JPG

[Hanno Spoelstra]

The Netherlands Army image library hosts a good number of photographs which are accessible online:

https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/beeldbank

Not all captions are correct, which means some creative searching is needed to find them. Many pictures are official photographs used for inventory listing and publication purposes.

Searching for "Canadian Military Pattern" returns only 7 hits, including hits C60X workshop:

"Werkplaatsauto GMC ( Canadian Military Pattern) 3ton, 6x6, met vaste opbouw."
AKL080965.jpg
https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/m...1-13966e870614

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Some other interesting finds:

Earth borer: "Grondboorauto Chevrolet C60S, 3 ton, 4x4"
AKL046310.jpg
https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/m...1-13966e870614

"Bureauauto Chevrolet, C60L , 3ton, 4x4."
AKL080966.jpg
https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/m...1-13966e870614

"Een GMC Otter gepantserd verkenningvoertuig. Gebruikt bij de Koninklijke Marechaussee tot 1970."
b1771266-793a-deba-a2b5-acfeb7241dfb.jpg
https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/m...e-b71cf033d065

The Otter was in service with the Netherlands Military Police until 1970. That is one reason why a fair percentage of surviving Otters are ex-Dutch.

More to follow later!

Enjoy,
Hanno

[Hanno Spoelstra]

This is where many if not all CMPs for the Dutch army came from - the Deelen dump:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-2H...utu.be&t=6m25s

105.5 Army Vehicles Demobbed
Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers classify trucks as they drive by; close-ups of shields, signs, numbers on vehicles. Trucks, armoured cars, tanks, jeeps and other military vehicles parked on large military vehicle parking lot at the Arnhem Airport, Holland.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

The thread CMP history - in Dutch has links to three articles in Dutch with more information about CMP trucks of the Royal Netherlands Army after WW2.

Some statistics:

• About 900 C60L's in use until 1960;
• The Artillery had 165 CGT's plus 101 FGTs on strength;
• In 1951, 338 C15A's were listed on strength, but undoubtedly more were in service early after WW2.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

The Otter was in service with the Netherlands Military Police until 1970. That is one reason why a fair percentage of surviving Otters are ex-Dutch.

An Otter of the Military Police in front of the "Concertgebouw" (Concert hall) during a military parade, Museumplein, Amsterdam, 27 March 1952 (Foto Ben van Meerendonk / AHF, collectie IISG, Amsterdam)

4075099082_91d6619b6f_o.jpg

Not much later an another Otter serving as a target in the 1950's on the aircraft gunnery range on Vlieland, the Netherlands. The vehicle has sank into the sand, caused by a high tide.

Screenshot_2019-12-24 All sizes Vlieland - Vliehors - doel Klu Flickr - Photo Sharing .jpg
Source: https://flic.kr/p/qdtBkZ

[Hanno Spoelstra]

C30 LAAT with Dutch census 32910:

AKL046276.jpg AKL080880.jpg

Source: https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/f...7-f88749ccc403

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Ford F60L with reg.no. 67202
Towing Dutch-made 1-ton trailer
Source Dutch National Archives

99404B83-0CC8-413D-821C-E413BB227BCB.jpeg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Ford F60L parading with Hispano-Suiza AA gun in the back in 1955. I have never seen this configuration before.

Defilé te Haarlem met vooraan een Ford F60L welk een Hispano-Suiza luchtdoelkanon in de laadbak heeft, gevolgd door een Dodge T110L ook voorzien van een Hispano-Suiza luchtdoelkanon.
NHA De Boer

273378867_5178787955488271_234329573214135160_n.jpg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Humber Scout Car and Chevrolet C15 or C15A with registration number "58407" during an Army exercise near the Maas river, Venlo, June 1951.

NL-HlmNHA_1478_01730C02_01_resized.jpg
Source: Noord-Hollands Archief, collectie Fotopersbureau De Boer, NL-HlmNHA_1478_01730C02_01

[David Dunlop]

Was the bicycle part of that Exercise, Hanno?

David

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Was the bicycle part of that Exercise, Hanno?

I don't think so David. It doesn't look like a military bike. And in Holland it is hard to take a photo without a bicycle showing up in it

2070-011_0001_resized.jpg 2070-013_0001_resized.jpg 2070-024_0012_resized.jpg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Ford F60L Ambulances and GS trucks in use during a Dutch Army exercise in 1951.

Most photos I've found of Dutch CMPs to date are those taken in depots, so I am happy to have found pics of CMPs in actual use. For good measure, I've thrown in pic of a Willys MB / Ford GPW too.

NL-HlmNHA_1478_00954A03_04(1).jpg NL-HlmNHA_1478_00954A03_03.jpg NL-HlmNHA_1478_00954A03_07.jpg NL-HlmNHA_1478_00954A03_01.jpg

Source: United #### manoeuvre Veluwe, Noord-Hollands Archief, collectie Fotopersbureau De Boer, NL-HlmNHA_1478_00954A03

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

These are as large as the images get I'm afraid, but I haven't seen this setup before. Images came from the Dutch Defence research site http://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/be...archfield=Ford
The link is to search for Ford, you can also search for Chevrolet

These photos are dated 1951 and the Royal Netherlands Army registration number "32505" denotes it was taken up in service. The only reference*) I can find is an entry "Ford F60S motoraffuit 2 tl" which stands for "Ford F60S motor gun carriage, 20-mm, anti air targets". The census noted six were on strength on the stock taking dates 31 May 1948 and 5 April 1951. In 1951 all six were struck off strength and sold for scrap.

AKL501479.jpg.jpg
Source: https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/f...6-7c6b316506d1

AKL501478.jpg.jpg
Source: https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/f...d-cb687bb9f330

*) Sander Ruys: Wiel en Rups, 2021 (https://www.walburgpers.nl/nl/book/9...2/wiel-en-rups)

[Hanno Spoelstra]

The Canadian Army did use the F60B during the liberation of the Netherlands and this type was used by the postwar NL Army, too.

A Netherlands census entry for "Ford F60B motoraffuit 4 tl" - which stands for "Ford F60B motor gun carriage, 40-mm, anti air targets" - notes that fifty-three (53) were on strength on 1 November 1954. These may have come from later Canadian Military Aid (CMA) supplies as non were shown on strength on the stock taking dates 31 May 1948 and 5 April 1951, even though the photo below is dated 1951 and the Canadian Army left theirs behind in 1945.

The caption of this photo in the NL MoD image bank dated 1951 notes "this equipment was received as Canadian military aid and was assigned to 25 and 35 Light Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division".

Een Ford CMP (3 ton, 4x4) motoraffuit met Bofors 40 mm luchtdoelkanon. Datum: 1951
Deze motoraffuit is als Canadese militaire hulp ontvangen en was ingedeeld bij 25 en 35 Afdeling lichte luchtdoelartillerie.

AKL046336.jpg
Source: https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/f...f-cd331fcafb9c | https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/f...8-59c8d51eb10c

[Ed Storey]

That F60B was indeed supplied by Canadian Military Aid as it still carriers its Canadian Army Registration 83-099.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

That F60B was indeed supplied by Canadian Military Aid as it still carriers its Canadian Army Registration 83-099.

So this F60B is likely to have been shipped from NWE to Canada shortly after WW2, refurbished and then sent back to NW Europe as CMA in the early 1950s?

[Ed Storey]

I guess it depends on how many were manufactured as the vehicle may also have been used in Canada during the war, and those F60B vehicles could have been shipped to the Netherlands in the early 1950s.