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Originally posted by horsa
My other post was just a series of comments related to not always being able to trust things found at a muesum or historical site as being genuine.
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The battle damaged artillery pieces at the British airborne muesum at Arnhem are not original to the grounds and were donated after they established the memorial. Most people would assume they were last stand pieces from the fighting there.
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Hi David, I can't comment on the T16 at Singapore (Did not know they had one on display! In which museum is it?) nor the battle damaged remains of one at the Normandy museum Rod mentioned. The crucial word here is "provenance". If the museum people have done their job they have assured where the artifacts on display came from and should be able to inform any visitor who wants to know more about them.
Now, the fact is that the 17-pdr AT guns at Arnhem
are genuine battle relics, this has been proved by a group of enthusiasts. However, the Sherman M4A4 at the same Airborne Museum at Oosterbeek is
not a genuine battle relic, and where id did come from remains an enigma to this day. Pictures taken immediately after WW2 show the census number T-288627 and the name "Argyll Roger". Since the museum could not come up with provenance they simply painted it up as "Argyle" which was a Canadian Sherman VC Firefly
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I have no doubt that T16s landed at Normandy during the war and drove down the roads on their way to the fighting further inland after the breakout was completed. All armor had to cross the channel and then drive to its next destination. For the real proof, we need to get into the IWM and Canadian archives and find the series of photos from the other "Normandy T16" message thread.
For all we know, the photos are from a film or documentary similar to "Theirs is the Glory" which was made on location at Arnhem and used real soldiers and equipment but it was a year later.
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The claim that T16s were used in the Normandy fighting is not only based on that photo, also on other facts such as 448 having been received by the Canadian Army in the UK by April 1944 (CMHQ Report no.141). And yes, it will take further digging to unearth enough pictures and references to prove it beyond any doubt.
H.