Operation Infatuate II: Sherman tanks at Westkapelle

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by MicS

Superb view of DANDY DINMONT's markings! While on other photos the markings are alreay faded, they look quite sharp here.

I was a little surprised to see the white highlighting on the upper and right sides. I hadn’t expected that to be there, from the few other photos I’ve seen of this tank that actually showed the name.

This image is not even all that early, though: it’s from a cinema newsreel date 4 March 1946, so probably taken weeks or even months before that. Call it at least a year after the landings. The flail is entirely gone from the tank already, and the houses nearby have already been demolished. (And I like how they braced the last remaining house in the row against the tank

Talking of Dandy Dinmont and T148656, I suspect this photo may also be new to a lot of people:

1A799E6F-4159-41AD-9257-17E55CE1C97F.jpeg

This is from the German military/popular history magazine, Clausewitz, which got it from some or another image bank that seems to require a subscription. It was certainly new to me, and shows a side of the tanks that I’d never seen in this kind of detail either. (Quality here isn’t great, as I took this photo with my iPad because I didn’t feel like going to my computer and scanner.)

The photo is clearly earlier than the newsreel, as the front wall of the house on the far right of the photo is still standing. However, the flail gear has already been (partially?) removed, as the left-hand jib is on the ground behind the tank.