Canadian vehicles on South Beveland, Netherlands, October 1944

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Last year, when visiting some new acquaintances in the hamlet of Oud-Sabbinge, I was shown a photograph of what they called “the tank” — one of the tanks of the Allied forces that liberated the area in October 1944. It turned out there were some more pictures of vehicles in a book about the village’s history published something like 15 or 20 years ago titled, Oud-Sabbinge, 800 jaar Sabbinge. I asked if I could get a scan of them, and though it’s taken about six months to get them from the book’s author, I was mailed them today. Since they appear to show Canadian vehicles, I thought I’d share them here.

First a Sherman IC Hybrid, “the tank”:



Too bad no WD census number is visible, but I’m guessing it’s Canadian because this Universal Carrier has a CT-prefixed number:



And what I’m pretty sure is a Sherman I:



Despite the poor quality, it’s clearly not a V because the final drive housing is one-piece. I’m guessing it’s a Sherman I rather than a III because that would make most sense in a unit that also has a IC.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Interesting photos, thanks for sharing them here.

Could they be Fort Garry Horse? Ref. http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=33769

[Jakko Westerbeke]

It would be nice if someone could identify the unit. It’s not something I’m well-versed in, and unfortunately the markings on the Carrier are just about impossible to make out at that. But Fort Garry Horse seems likely, since the photos were taken in the area of where this map (from that thread) has a green arrow going past Oostkerke:



FWIW, where it says “Oostkerke” it would be rather more correct to put “Wolphaartsdijk”.

[Jakko Westerbeke]

I came across a better version of two of the photos:

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/d...3-aca3c73f61a5
https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/d...b-48f3be0ce92c