Carrier grave yards

[shaun]

well i have just spent a few hours scanning a shed load of photos from years gone by, the first batch of carrier photos were taken in 2000 for me by a Brigadier i knew who worked in Shape Mon Belgium. he lived to the west of Mons and as he told me "I have tanks at the bottom of my garden" so he sent these photos. in my opion these vehicles were abandoned by the retreating British BEF and then stripped for spares by the Germans. there is no sign of a gas axe being used. they lay in a "nature reserve" but i now understand they have been recovered by the Belgium tank museum.

[shaun]

more pics of 3 brens

[Ben]

Hi Shaun

I emailed the Belgium tank museum about the Brens, they said they were scrapped after a member of staff from the IWM said they were too far gone.

Seems a shame if it's true.

Ben

[shaun]

i did not want to say it but that is what i was told. they would have been good for paterns if that was all they should have not been scrapped.

[roy206]

last june we were in kapellen and out there was 2 carriers,they are so unbelievable bad. everything on it was scrap,even the tracks are so stucked that even jump on a part from 1 meter that was hanging in the air no effect had. i guess that these are the carriers from your pictures shaun

[shaun]

THE NORFOLK CARRIER GRAVE YARD, When i was a young boy my father and i had been hearing stories about a carrier in a farm , after 5 years of chasing up leads on christmas eve 1983 i came across the farm by chance in the middle of the country side. the following photos were taken on new years day 1984. This carrier finished behind the bulkhead. I did recover this one about 2 years later and the front armour is now on the carrier i am running (puddle Jumper). and yes i did need a hair cut ! My father John is in the flat cap.

[shaun]

can you see a carrier in this picture ?

[shaun]

well here it is a bit closer, it a welded hul , very badly cut about and the fermers scrapped it not long after these photos were taken in 1984. it still had 2 spare track links in a stowage bin in the floor

[Lynn Eades]

What a shame. I could have done with those air ducts. You just dont find them laying about everywhere.
With their curved sides, they were only made like that prior to the Universals.
Shaun, are you able to send me some higher resolution images of the brens?

[shaun]

T16's - there were 3 in the pile on my first vist , and only 2 the next time so i made sure they were not going to cut them up. i recovered them about 2 years later, one is now being restored by a friend near manchester the other i sold to Kevin Wheatcroft, but i have seen it on milweb in the last year for sale again and still not restored.

[shaun]

here are the remains of 2 other carrier. I managed to recover these in 1998, one of which Ben is now restoring.

[shaun]

Here is the first carrier i recovered and restored,(yes there is a carrier in the first photo ) it had a mountain of scrap infront of it and a tree grown trough the rear. after many hours over several weekends we finally recovered it. it was a MMG carrier, I loaned all the MG fittings to a guy to copy and never got them back. as soon as it was home i tried a bren for size and it still fitted !

[shaun]

In 1998 i had a call from the guy how owned the farm and said did i want to clear the rest of the carriers up, so i organised a team and we set of to see how many were left. the problem being the recovery as there were piles of scrap trucks and crap 6 feet high not to mention the man shredding brambles. After a couple of calls to mates a 434 tracked REME wagon was borrowed as well as a tractor and trailer. we located the remains of the carriers and waded in with the 434 and a chain saw. the carrier hanging from the jib is one of the carriers martyn used as a pattern for his copy.

[shaun]

In total i recovered 11 carriers or the remains of from the farm, that was untill this christmas when i was driving past the farm on my way home thinking "it was 26 years ago i got my first carrier from there, B***ER me there another one and its right along side the road" . that was the carrier found in the hedge. I have since been back over the last week and covered every inch of the land and i am sorry to say that is finaly it, there are no more. But it does just go to show you never can be to sure. There must be more scrap yards with kit hidden way at the back.

more photos of the 1998 recovery

[RichardT10829]

yes your right i walked into this scrap yard tuther week and found these little treasures



i am going to recover them all

[Lynn Eades]

U R FOS

[RichardT10829]

TeeeeHeeee yes your right...full to the brim mate

[eddy8men]

great thread shaun and i take my hat off to you for recovering and saving all those carriers, nice to hear a bit about the history behind them aswell.

see you at stoneleigh

eddy

[Clive_Dakers]

Originally Posted by RichardT10829

yes your right i walked into this scrap yard tuther week and found these little treasures

i am going to recover them all

Tescos car park must have been full.

[RichardT10829]

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

if only it was that simple..... Shaun it has to be said its great that you have saved these beasties over the years....oh look it has been said.

Mind that goes for the rest of you guys who have carriers too !

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by shaun

well i have just spent a few hours scanning a shed load of photos from years gone by, the first batch of carrier photos were taken in 2000 for me by a Brigadier i knew who worked in Shape Mon Belgium. he lived to the west of Mons and as he told me "I have tanks at the bottom of my garden" so he sent these photos. in my opion these vehicles were abandoned by the retreating British BEF and then stripped for spares by the Germans. there is no sign of a gas axe being used. they lay in a "nature reserve" but i now understand they have been recovered by the Belgium tank museum.

Shaun,

Thanks for putting up these pictures. I saw the remains of these Carriers at Kapellen in 2004, and always was interested to see them in their original setting. The remains are nothing more than that, everything that remained was wafer thin.

See Bren Carriers of the British Expeditionary Force recovered for their background:

Historically, researches to determine the unit who owned them permit us to give some hypotheses. The wood in question is in the sector appointed to British in the region. It has been occupied by C Company of the Royal Welch Fusiliers who were part of the 6th Brigade of the 2nd Division under Major General Loyd. who were dug in on the Dyle from May 12 between St Agatha-Rode and Wavre. After having carried out a diversionary counterattack on the night of May 15/16, the 6th Brigade withdrew into the Dendre before the German main body crossed the Dyle.
One can suppose therefore that the three recovered vehicles, either broke down or ran out of fuel and had to be abandoned by their crews. They do not carry any trace of battle damage and it seems that Germans never tried to recover them.

Regards,
Hanno

[shaun]

Hanno, thanks for filling in the gaps on those carriers. i did not realise there had been a thread on them before. the one that was up on its side still had all the steering linkage etc going by my photos. im sure there must have been something worth saving.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by shaun

Hanno, thanks for filling in the gaps on those carriers. i did not realise there had been a thread on them before. the one that was up on its side still had all the steering linkage etc going by my photos. im sure there must have been something worth saving.

Shaun,

It is good to see these snippets of information appearing on MLU over the years, completing the picture of a specific item. Here's hoping the Brussels Tank Museum indeed saved some of the parts and made a complete photographic record before scrapping them.

It is amazing to find these type of battle relics in situ, although today nearly none remain in densely populated and developing nations.

Here are a two pictures found on the internet somewhere which stir the imagination. Where are they, how did they get there, what is the story behind them, etc., etc. . . .

Hanno

[Keith Webb]

They look like true Rust In Peace shots.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by roy206

last june we were in kapellen and out there was 2 carriers,they are so unbelievable bad. everything on it was scrap,even the tracks are so stucked that even jump on a part from 1 meter that was hanging in the air no effect had. i guess that these are the carriers from your pictures shaun

Wait a minute - sorry to have missed this the first time I read this thread, Roy.

You say last June there were still 2 of these carriers left? That is great news.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Here are some of my pictures I took in July 1985 when I visited the famous Pounds Yard at Portsmouth: http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=34673

A veritable carrier grave yard!

[RichardT10829]

Hanno, it makes me cry every time i see pics from pounds yard...but alas life goes on as they say.

[shaun]

Here is a T16 i managed to get from Pounds in 1998 this was sold to Kevin Wheatcroft 2008. The bottom run of track on both sides had rotted away as it had been sitting in the salt water. this has been again for sale on milweb in the past few months but now with out the tracks and still not restored. Have you stopped crying yet Richard or do i need to take you and show you 2 tanks laying on a Norfolk beach ?

[RichardT10829]

Nooooooooo. hahahaha it is sad though guys you have to admit

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Richard, indeed it makes you cry, but in all fairness Pounds Yards is one of the major sources of surviving AFVs today. Many Sextons, M10s, Churchills, Centaur Dozers, M5A1 Stuarts and T16s seen today come from there. Luckily they were not all scrapped due to a slump in scrap steel prices and the fact that Harry Pounds likes/liked military vehicles - reportedly, of each type coming in his yard he kept the best. Also see this earlier thread: Carriers in Pounds shipyard

Some more pictures here: http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...205#post296205