some new ww2 aussie vehicle recovery photos from north africa unearthed
 

my step grandfather was in the vehicle recovery section of 2/4 AUST ARMY FIELD WORKSHOPS in north africa and later in new guinea, here are some of the photos i have to show.

this is of a jerry canteen bus being liberated..




http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/3...rucksidire.jpg

more photos
 

the unit water truck,, what is this one?

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9759/watertruck.jpg

more photos
 

jerry tank abandonned..


http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/2025/germantank.jpg

more photos
 

sidi rezegh http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/8710/sidirezeghq.jpg

1941 Chevrolet. Holden assembled going by the quarter vent windows and the cowl would have had side vents as well.

stuck truck
 

ill get some more photos scanned soon,

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/9884/truckstuck.jpg

cliffs reply
 

cheers for the quick reply cliff,i know where there is a truck that looks like this, but looks like it used to be a tow truck as it still has the old style tow frame on the back, ill have to take some photos...mike

staff car in tow
 

italian heavy tow truck?
 

written on the rear of the photo it looked like italian, once blown up though it was probably indian...


http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/7045/towtrucks.jpg

My immediate reaction to your photo captioned "italian heavy tow truck?" was that it was a good example of a Scammell wrecker with a trailer that I suspect was built in the local shop to meet what the boys saw as their needs.

25 pdr.
 

No gun shield on the 25 pdr. First time I've seen that.

Pictures
 

Excellent pictures Mike .
Thanks for sharing .
Regards
Jim S.

re photos
 

Thanks for sharing your photos.
As Bruce noted the sheild and firing platform both missing from the 25.
The tank is a Mk2.
I have been searching for a photo of the chev "Indian patten" truck and now know what the rear tray would have looked like, bloody ugly.

I see! The Aussies took away all those wrecks I am desperately searching for in the desert!!!! Great pics!

water truck
 

The water truck is very similar to the one 2/9th Field Reg used in the middle east. Like the 7 ton recovery trailer the chev is almost on.

In this 'Staff Car on tow' the wrecker is a 12 cab CMP which is unusual in itself as most photos show 13 cab's but I wonder what the writing on the cab door is?

The missing sheild on the 25lb'er suggests that it may be a recovery from the battle field or from an accident involving the gun's original tractor as the photo's are of a recovery unit.

Thanks for sharing these as it is nice to see the photos taken by soldiers at the time and not 'staged' as many official photos were. :)

This truck is a Ford MCP, while KiwiQuad's first pic is a Chev, but the rear bodies are the same. Even thought it was the identical same truck at first! :eek:

Awesome pics Mike,
Thanks for taking the time to post them.

Justin.

in the desert
 

thanks for all the comments on the photos i uploaded for you all to see also the details on the vehicles. ill endeavor to put more up over the week. mike


http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/2518/inthedesert.jpg

photo entitled "more desert"
 

you can imagine driving on this with no end in site following the trails of wreckage

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/570/thedesert.jpg

i looked at your site
 

i wish i went on your trip ! ill order a copy of the book soon,there would have been plenty to find if it werent for the 2/4 AUST ARMY FLD W/SHPS work,i missed the docco.. mike

Add my thanks for sharing
 

Mike these are simply great photos, thanks ever so much for sharing them and adding them to common knowledge about CMPs.

Cheers Phil

Recovery after the battle is one of those misc. tasks that is written in the books. As long as the area is reasonably safe, smart armies send out salvage parties. Besides looking for bodies and signs of missing soldiers, a lot of valuable equipment can be gathered for reuse or recycling back into the supply chain. What the Germans lost in Eastern Europe, you can bet the Russians put to good use one way or another.

An old shooter friend talked about recovering Shermans in Italy to reuse the final drives. He never sent his men into burnt tanks because he didn't want them also to live with what he'd seen and found. In Normandy, Maj "Rad" Radley Walters (Sherbrooke Fusilier Regt) made all his replacement crews do battle runs on German hulks to refine their combat shooting to his satisfaction.

Mike; Brenda is ready to send you a copy at any time :salute:

water
 

Scanned from the Vanderveen bible 1972 edition

Looks like the truck

Mike