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”:

Sherman IC.jpg

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

Universal Carrier.jpg

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

Sherman I.jpg

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.