Sherman Crab T147955 “Avalon” Overloon. Regiment? Damage?

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by David Herbert

I thought that the ball mounts were removed and the hole plated over or plugged but not in this case.

The Crab preserved at Westkapelle, Netherlands (the one I’ve been building a model of) also still had its ball mount. Well, until 2018 anyway, when rust caused the shield to fall off. Looking at photos from the late 1940s, so did at least two other Crabs left behind there after the war, but I don’t have pictures of the other three where the MG mount is visible.

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

I noticed in your Post 31 you had listed your National Archive file findings for 1944 War Diaries of two of the 79th Armoured Division Regiments, but you had not listed anything for the 1st L and B Horse.

I’m not Alex, but courtesy of Michel Sabarly, I have a PDF of the 1944 war diaries of 1 Lothians. The words Overloon, Boxmeer and Broekhuizen do not appear in it, a quick ⌘F tells me.

Browsing on to 1 October 1944, it says:

0001hrs. Regt, with C Sqn 22 Dgns under comd, under comd 31 Tk Bde, in sp 3rd (Cdn) Inf Div. Located in area SW of Calais as under:
Tac RHQ - 807699 (Beauregard) Main RHQ & RHQ B Ech - 844583 (Boursin)
A Sqn - 812712 (Bonningues) B Sqn - 819563 (Le Wast)
C Sqn - 760650 (Uzelot) C Sqn 22 Dgns - 847583 (Boursin) Reserve detachment of 264SDS under comd RHQ
B Sec 30 Armd Bde OFP under comd RHQ.
Boursin
Pm. Tac RHQ rejoined Main RHQ. Warned of move to area Cassel/Poperinghe. SW of Calais
Day. RHQ and sqns - recovery and repairs. Rest and refitting.

The regiment spent the next month or so on or near the Belgian coast, which is, at a rough guess, 200+ km away from the Overloon area.