nuuumannn Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 Hi Guys, Some vehicles spotted on the road through Normandy this summer. M3 Half Track outside the museum in Arromanches-Les-Bains. Europe 28 Sherman DD in the square at Arromanches. Europe 33 Europe 34 Swimming Jeep. Europe 50 Up close and personal with a DUKW. Europe 56 Patriotic Jeep. Europe 57 DUKW showing the goods. Europe 58 Storming the beaches 2019 style; DUKW at Gold Beach 6th June. Europe 62 Centaur I 'Vidette', Pegasus Bridge. Europe 93 Stuart at Ouistreham. Europe 110 More to come. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuuumannn Posted July 9, 2019 Author Share Posted July 9, 2019 More Normandy vehicles. Kubelwagen. Europe 122 Plymouth Special Deluxe staff car. Europe 129 M8 Greyhound. Europe 130 USS Texas Jeep. Europe 131 1 M4 Sherman, Airborne Museum, Ste-Mere-Eglise. Europe 131 Vehicles at Camp Geronimo; Sherman. Europe 137 M8 Greyhound. Europe 138 327nd Bombardment Squadron Jeep. Europe 139 Sherman at Utah Beach. Europe 161 Finally, Trabant at Caen! Europe 183 Thanks for looking. 19 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 Nice ones Grant, they had some pretty interesting metal there, pity the other team couldn't muster some too, there could be a reason for that though. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malpaso Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 There should have been a Panther and a Panzer IV somewhere around, as I saw them load up and set off from Saumur the week before D+75... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Bradley Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 Typhoons took 'em out...... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsman Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 (edited) The "M4" outside the airborne museum is an ex-French M4A4T, the A4 never being used by US forces in Europe and the A4T being re-engined post-war with the Continental radial replacing the A57 multibank. The Saumur Panther was probably on its way to Bovington Tankfest. Edited July 9, 2019 by Das Abteilung addition 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigster Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 That Trabant in "sandy" base paint, sure must be from Africa Campaign :-)) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuuumannn Posted July 10, 2019 Author Share Posted July 10, 2019 14 hours ago, zigster said: That Trabant in "sandy" base paint, sure must be from Africa Campaign One of their base colours. Maybe the manufacturers had an alterior motive! A better example spotted in Zossen and an example in the other popular base colour on display at the kitschy Trabiworld in downtown Berlin across the road from Goering's RLM building. Afrika Corps Trabbi Kriegsmarine Trabbi The Trabant would have been a nice wee car, if it wasn't so awful. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbthejester Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 The Centaur was restored at Duxford to sent to France, I made the track guards for it 😀 glad to see it is still looking decent 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsman Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 The DD is a replica of some sort, and sadly not a good one. US DDs were all M4A1s. This one has a welded hull. And the skirt has gaps where it meets the hull. British DDs on D Day were all M4A4 Sherman Vs. There were some M4A2 Sherman IIIs converted but they were only used on the Rhine crossing and the Scheldt Estuary. And their back ends were different to this one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympic1911 Posted December 25, 2019 Share Posted December 25, 2019 You know that in German it is actually Die Abteilung and not Das Abteilung Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsman Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 Yes I do. Now. Made that mistake a long time ago and it's become too late to change it. And "die" has a very different meaning in English. I believe I can get my user name changed on this forum, but not on others. Although some others now require real names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EwenS Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 On 22/12/2019 at 01:44, Das Abteilung said: The DD is a replica of some sort, and sadly not a good one. US DDs were all M4A1s. This one has a welded hull. And the skirt has gaps where it meets the hull. British DDs on D Day were all M4A4 Sherman Vs. There were some M4A2 Sherman IIIs converted but they were only used on the Rhine crossing and the Scheldt Estuary. And their back ends were different to this one. Re British Sherman DD on D-Day, not all were based on the M4A4 Sherman V. 80 M4A1 DD conversions were supplied to Britain from US stocks as the British conversion programme was running late and the Americans had more than they planned to use. 76 of these, and 4 spares, were issued to 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards and Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, which were part of 8th Armoured Brigade. These landed on Gold Beach in support of the reinforced 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. Due to weather conditions they were landed either directly on the beach, or waded from close inshore. British production totalled 400 Mk.V and then 293 Mk.III between March and Dec 1944, with none of the latter being available by D-Day. The latter may not have seen action before 1945. Some Mk.III were used in Italy in in 1945 and some found their way to India where the 25th Dragoons were equipped in 1945 but never had the opportunity to use them in combat before the war ended. US production started in Jan 1944 and was based on the M4A1 as noted above and totalled 350 all delivered by 30 April 1944. Planned US utilisation was such as to allow 80 to be transferred to Britain. Not all were used on D-Day, with 48 finding their way to the Med for Operation Dragoon (36 used). In 1945 Britain sought more DD production from the USA and orders were placed for 200 M4A2(76mm) HVSS models, which was the then lend lease production model of the Sherman, with production scheduled to start in Sept 1945. A couple of pilot models were all that came of that plan and these had noticeable differences from previous models and would make a wonderful “what if” for someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsman Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Thank you. I already knew the DD history and am currently trying to ascertain if the Bovington III DD is a comparatively rare and enigmatic (in preservation, at least) Pullman Standard tank underneath, Everything visible points to that being the case, mid-late 1942 build. In DD terms, despite having the self-locking skirt struts and the turret-mounted skirt struts it does not have the air compressor or power steering of the DD Mk II and so is something of a mix. My point about the Normandy tank is that it is a welded hull but is marked as a US tank, which is not correct. As you point out, all US DDs were cast-hull M4A1s and excess stock were passed to the UK to make up for a shortfall, the III DD being delayed beyond D Day availability and more Vs having to be allocated to DD conversion. Sadly, none of the uncertain number of III AY DDs sent to the UK survived. The sole survivor is in a US museum's back yard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radpoe Spitfire Posted April 27, 2020 Share Posted April 27, 2020 (edited) Nice to see the M3 A3 Stuart, a bit of a rarity. The M3A3 has a couple of connections to my local town. The late Tony Budge had one in his collection, land the type was also operated in Normandy by the Notts Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, who's Sgt Doug Nelson and Trooper Vin Cantrill (both Retford lads) in a Stuart M3A3, became the first British troops to enter Germany in WW2. Edited April 28, 2020 by Radpoe Spitfire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanandjuanunited Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 Hoping to do a huge DDay adventure next year. Reckon I will need three weeks to do it. Great pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malpaso Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 I may have missed a detail in earlier discussion, but last spring I thought I saw a fairly complete but rusty DD Sherman in the boneyard at the front of Saumur museum? I'm not very good at spotting the variations of armour, so the bow mods may be something else, I was sure I saw another hull with props too. There seemed a lot of interesting stuff just mouldering out the front, I heard there were hundreds more out of sight round the back somewhere. Besides which I was distracted by the sight, and particularly the noise, of them loading a Mark.IV and a Panther! Ruined the tarmac though... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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