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Old 11-02-18, 17:51
Hanno Spoelstra's Avatar
Hanno Spoelstra Hanno Spoelstra is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: The Netherlands
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Default Operation Infatuate II: Sherman tanks at Westkapelle

The past few months, on and off, I have been researching the use of Sherman tanks during the landing at Westkapelle in November 1944, part of Operation Infatuate II or the battle for Walcheren Island.

The objective of this research is to document the sole surviving tank used during this Operation. It is very much a work in progress and I am posting my findings here so others can chime in - please add to or correct the information provided here.

For those who have access to Facebook, see my photo album "Sherman tanks at Westkapelle" which contains all the photos I have been able to find. I will post all of them, plus more, on here too in due time, but in a more sorted/ chronological order.

This will not be a full account of the Operation, as that has been described elsewhere in detail. I used the following sources to find as much as I could about the use of the Sherman tanks, plus other AFVs. I am hoping to identify as much as possible of them: WD census numbers, unit markings & names, crew names and actions they were involved in.

Sources:

[1] Story of the 79th Armoured Division from October 1942 to June 1945. Hamburg: BAOR, 1945. (See background review on this book.)

[2] Brooks, Richard: Walcheren 1944: Storming Hitler's island fortress. Osprey Publishing, 2011.

[3] Stacey, C.P. (Col.): The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944-1945 (Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War, Volume III), 1966.

[4] Thompson, R.W.: The Eighty-Five Days: The Story Of The Battle Of The Scheldt. Hutchinson, 1957.

[5] Sabarly, Michel: various internet forums (including Maple Leaf Up Forum).


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