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

[Alex van de Wetering]

Here is a part of the article on William Hall:

At Overloon - in appalling weather, over boggy ground and under continuous fire - Bill Hall beat a path up to the bridge across the canal, then led his squadron across, though well aware that enemy tanks were waiting on the far side and that his flanks were exposed. His was the first tank to cross the Beek and in the ensuing battle his troop gave invaluable assistance to Allied armour and infantry.
He kept the squadron leader constantly informed of the situation ahead, engaged an enemy anti-tank gun and also knocked out a German mortar position which was inflicting losses on the infantry. He also engaged a Panther tank.
Although constantly under enemy fire, Hall showed complete disregard for danger and earned the highest praise both from his squadron leader and the commanding officer of the 4th Coldstream Guards. Hall had had to change tanks when his own became a casualty, and the flails in his troop frequently had to be replaced after being damaged, but this did not stop them pressing on and killing 24 enemy and assisting the infantry to take 20 prisoners.
Hall, who was also mentioned twice in despatches, was in the forefront of the action at Broekhuizen the following November when his tank cleared the approaches to the town before being hit by a bazooka which wounded him. His tank was later recovered by the Dutch authorities and is now on display in the War Museum at Overloon, complete with flails.

source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obi...liam-Hall.html

[Alex van de Wetering]

Target practice or battle damage?
The other “mystery” around this tank is the number of penetrations on the right hand side. All sources say the tank was put out of action by a Panzerfaust and some of the remaining ammo exploded. The strange thing though is that the tank has around 20 penetrations on the right hand side, that all penetrated into the fighting compartment. I have measured the holes and they are all somewhere between 17-20mm in diameter (they didn't exit the tank on the left). Apart from the penetrations there is also evidence of hits with smaller calibre weapons that didn't penetrate the armour.



Some suggest the tank might have been used for target practice, but to me that doesn't seem very likely. I don't think the Germans would have had the chance, and time, to use the tank for target practice. Allied units using the tank for target practice sounds like food for a court martial to me, especially as a Crab was an important bit of kit and likely to have been recovered for repair or parts. The third possibility for the target practice theory is that it was used for target practice post war........Dutch army? To me that doesn't sound likely as the tank was already moved to the museum in 1946/1947 and the army was still busy rebuilding itself at the time. So, did some youth find a bunch of Panzerfausts and use the Crab as a target?

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[Alex van de Wetering]

Personally I think all damage might have been from the actual battle in which it was put out of action. But, what caused the damage to the tank? Multiple Panzerfausts? Maybe a 2cm KWK or FLAK gun at close range? A plane maybe.....German or even friendly fire?
One of the hits went through the armour protecting the Flail drive gear on the right side of the hull and exited again slightly lower and more to the rear. This is a very shallow downward angle.......a plane flying very low?


I would love to hear what others think about the damage to the tank and what might have caused it. I would also be very interested if anyone knows more about the history of this tank......or even publications that I don't know of.



Attached are some pictures of the actual tank in the museum.

Alex

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[Alex van de Wetering]

Attached are some pictures of Avalon shortly after the Overloon museum opened in 1946/47. The tank still had a lot of its original fittings, stowage bins, spare chain and track links welded to the turret. Above all, the tank still was still in its original paint.

Colour pic; source: https://studiezaal.erfgoedhuisweert.nl/
picture with the children... picture with men standing on the tank.....and the head on picture: https://www.nationaalarchief.nl
The last picture is a section of another Dutch Archives picture.

Avalon kleur-forum.jpg Kindjes.jpg

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Avalon lichte2.jpg

[Alex van de Wetering]

Here are three pictures from about the same angle....but taken at different times.

In cronological order:

The first is a slide from a movie, taken shortly after the museum opened. It can be found in a documentary on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEMu...ndex=3&t=1064s

The second is a postcard I recently bought and it shows the tank in the late 40's.

The third is another postcard....still in the fairly early years of the museum (presumably 1950's)....but in the meantime the tank has lost the track links on the turret, the frame for the canvas mantlet cover and the stowage bin on the left hull side.

By the way....You can also spot Sherman "Cookie" in the background of some of the museum pictures; a relic of the US 7th Armoured division. About 10 years ago, this Sherman was painted in Canadian markings and used as a Monument in Ortona, Italy. It recently returned to Overloon and is now awaiting re-paint into the original (US) Overloon markings.

Avalon youtube.jpg Avalon-museum.jpg Avalon-museum2.jpg

[David Dunlop]

Hi Alex.

I am having a little trouble sorting out these photos of Avalon. Can you help?

The blurry black and white from the rear and the one with the two children on the front of the tank look like they were taken at the same location. AVALON has lost the right track and seems rather dug into the sandy ground on that side. The large tree behind her seems to also be in the photo with the children. There is no sign of COOKIE anywhere. Are these photos taken where AVALON was actually knocked out and abandoned? The colour photo looks like it might be the same spot.

COOKIE then shows up in the background in another black and white shot. AVALON looks like it is still in its original resting place. The surroundings seem to be a field in a wooded area.

Suddenly, we then have a series of Black and White photos of AVALON and COOKIE in approximately the same positions to each other as in the field photo, but they are both sitting on a prepared road way. In the photo with the men standing on AVALON, COOKIE has a sign leaning against the front of it. In one photo, the road between the two tanks is littered with debris, like an attempt at an outdoor diorama, the next photo the road is clear, AVALON seems to be sitting very level and the surrounding area does not look at all like the earlier photos of the blurry rear view and the ‘open’ field.

My thought is there are two photos of AVALON where she was put out of action. Possibly that field. Cookie was recovered from another location and parked near AVALON in that field. Then both vehicles were moved to museum property??? And placed on a prepared roadway in approximately the same positions as they had been in the field?

Not being at all familiar with the natural landscapes of Holland, I wonder if the two possible locations for AVALON to have been knocked out are very similar, or are there enough differences to rule one out in favour of another.

Another possibility. If AVALON was moved from where it was knocked out to museum property, who moved it? That is an interesting project at any time. Somebody may have taken photos of that work or might know who, or what organization did it? And where AVALON was recovered from.

If a final resting place for AVALON could be narrowed down to two possible locations, perhaps a metal detector sweep of both locations could turn up pieces unique to a Crab and help confirm what was found.

A very interesting puzzle!

David

[Alex van de Wetering]

Hi David,

Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts!

The Overloon museum opened on may 25th 1946 in the wooded area on the Eastern edge of Overloon, bascially on the original battlefield. "Avalon" was there from the start. In the early days the museum tried to replicate the battlefield as much as possible, with weapons, shrapnel, boxes and vehicle parts littering the area around the vehicles. After a few years the "litter" was put indoors in a museum building and a path was created along the outdoor exhibits.
It seems that at some stage the vehicles were put on proper hardened surfaces, until the early 2000's when all vehicles and guns were put indoors in the new large museum building.

As far as I can tell Avalon and Cookie stayed in approximately the same location from 1946 to the early 2000's. "Approximately", as it seems they did end up a bit closer to eachother.

I presume "Cookie" isn't in the colour picture and the picture with the children, because Cookie is either obscured by Avalon, or it's just outside the frame.
The picture with the children is part of a series all taken at the same date and one also shows "Cookie" with the rurret reversed. These pictures are dated June 13th 1946, so only a few weeks after the museum opened.

The coloured picture is dated 1946/47 and is from a series that also includes the Panther and Cromwell tank, other well known Overloon exhibits.

Attached is an early picture of the museum with scrapnel and ammo boxes littering the museum grounds. On the left you will see "Cookie" with the turret reversed and on the far right you can see "Avalon".
source: NIOD through https://beeldbankwo2.nl

Overloon 1946-3.jpg


Also attached is a picture of Cookie from the same series as the ones with the children sitting on Avalon. June 13th 1946.
source: https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onde...field=overloon

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The third picture shows Cookie with Avalon in the background.....the blurry picture in my ealier post is in fact a section I cut from this picture. This picture is dated May 27th 1946.
source: https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onde...field=overloon

Overloon 1946.jpg



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[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

If a final resting place for AVALON could be narrowed down to two possible locations, perhaps a metal detector sweep of both locations could turn up pieces unique to a Crab and help confirm what was found.

A very interesting puzzle!

Fascinating, isn't it?!?

Some areas of the former Operation Aintree battlefield have been surveyed to assess the risk of unexploded ordnance. Maybe surveys like this will yield additional info?

E.g.: "Vooronderzoeknaar het risico op het aantreffen van Conventionele Explosieven in het onderzoeksgebied "Loobeek te Venray – fase 1”."
https://venray.raadsinformatie.nl/do...748/1/document