Moderator's note: this thread was split from the thread "Ram Kangaroo in Mill, The Netherlands".
Alex.
I think you will find that the site of the airfield at Mill is a gravel pit.
So they have a Conger at Overloon, and you say it was a Carrier. Thanks for that. I did not know how it was carried and actually suspected a Churchill AVRE.
The following about the Conger might interest you and other Carrierphiles, because Overloon must have been about the last time anyone contemplated its use. Nitro was and is too bloody dangerous. By the way, if anybody knows where in the Netherlands the Conger disaster occurred, please let me know.
Conger consisted of a hose filled with explosives for gapping minefields. This was used successfully in the assault on the batteries at Cap Gris Nez according to the 79 Armoured Division’s historian, although J.G. Smith ("In At The Finish" - a marvellous book BTW) who was there said it didn’t work, and was, he thought, the only time it was tried. It was later abandoned after a disaster;
‘But they were dangerous weapons. I have visited a spot in Holland where British tanks - equipped with a more sophisticated flame weapon-called Conger - ignited in a massive fireball when preparing to attack the Germans. The unit lost over 50 men - we stopped using nitroglycerine after that episode. The men were Canadian truck drivers who were delivering the nitro and the tank crews were sappers from Wales!’
Source: Graham Watson: A Brief History of 141st Royal Armored Corps.
http://orbat.com/site/history/open1/uk_141rac.html