Operation Infatuate II: Sherman tanks at Westkapelle

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Here’s something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before:

LCT 1005 on Westkapelle beach.jpg

That’s the Crabs from assault group Apple stuck on Red beach, with the bridge from AVRE A2B between them and still resting on LCT 1005’s bow ramp.

This is a still from a video that somebody posted on Facebook. As I don’t do Facebook, I asked the person who told me about it to download it for me, and he very kindly did. However, those of you who don’t have any qualms about visiting that site can view the video here. This part starts at 2:29.

Other things of interest concerning the Westkapelle part of Operation Infatuate are pictures of the approach right from the start, LVTs wading ashore at 2:22, and troops and vehicles in Westkapelle from 2:32.

[Ed Storey]

That unattributed film footage should be credited to the Canadian Army Newsreels which are all freely available on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...CC43B7CD63C686

[Jakko Westerbeke]

I was not aware of those, thanks Finding anything in them seems to be difficult, though, given they didn’t even bother to put the dates they were published into the titles …

OK, randomly trying a few to work out approximate dates helped: it’s from No. 47, https://youtu.be/bRfDDjzID4U?list=PL...CD63C686&t=436

[Ed Storey]

There is a list available which details the contents of each newsreel.

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Not on the YouTube channel you linked to, as far as I could see, but at least the descriptions of the videos summarise the contents.

[Ed Storey]

This newsreel contents listing should get things started.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1295016...&ref_=m_ft_dsk

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Jakko Westerbeke

Here’s something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before:

That’s the Crabs from assault group Apple stuck on Red beach, with the bridge from AVRE A2B between them and still resting on LCT 1005’s bow ramp..

Nice find, I don't think I saw this before either!

Joël Stoppels uses a lot of footage of the Canadian Army Newsreels for his battlefield tours. He's one of the people making sure people know about the Canadian and British role in the liberation of the Netherlands

[MicS]

Originally Posted by Jakko Westerbeke

Here’s something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before:

Attachment 134977

That’s the Crabs from assault group Apple stuck on Red beach, with the bridge from AVRE A2B between them and still resting on LCT 1005’s bow ramp.

Great find again Jakko. This particular sequence and a few others in this film are new to me too.

It shows the third and last beaching attempt by LCT 1005, trying to prevent the remaining vehicles from getting bogged in the cobbles. It seems that the SBG bridge has just been dropped and is still attached to the front of AVRE A2B. The submerged SBG bridge from AVRE A2A (ex LCT 737 "Bramble") is also visible on some frames:
LCT 1005 WK - Notes.jpg

The following photo was shot after the first attempt, resulting in the first two Crabs getting stuck:
LCT 1005 landing - Story of 79 AD p171.jpg
Source: The Story of 79th Armoured Division, page 171


The War Amps issued a contents list for Canadian Army Newsreels here. I am attaching it as well in case the source disappears...

Michel

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by MicS

Great find again Jakko.

I can’t take the credit, someone else found it on Facebook and downloaded it for me when I asked him to

Originally Posted by MicS

The submerged SBG bridge from AVRE A2A (ex LCT 737 "Bramble") is also visible on some frames:
Attachment 135072

I hadn’t noticed that yet … but it nicely shows the bridge indeed was white too, so I got the colour (mostly) right on my model

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Jakko, here's a photo of a stranded LVT-4 on Walcheren you may or may not have seen before:

http://hdl.handle.net/10648/9d880b0c...f-544e2a463400

Dated 1945, so this was taken after the fighting.

HaNA-149-0676.jpg

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Thanks, but it’s one I already knew about This is one of the wrecks on Liebertsweg just outside Vrouwenpolder, next to what is now Hoevehotel Hof Christina. If you’ve got my book, Tanks at Westkapelle, it’s the LVT that’s just visible in the background of the third photo on page 49.

Some online photos of this vehicle are mirrored, BTW, making it seem like it’s yet another one.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Jakko Westerbeke

Thanks, but it’s one I already knew about This is one of the wrecks on Liebertsweg just outside Vrouwenpolder, next to what is now Hoevehotel Hof Christina. If you’ve got my book, Tanks at Westkapelle, it’s the LVT that’s just visible in the background of the third photo on page 49.

Some online photos of this vehicle are mirrored, BTW, making it seem like it’s yet another one.

Thanks, figured you knew everything about it. Is it the same one as shown in the background of this photo? (I'm too lazy to get your book off the shelf... )

NL-HaNA_2.24.01.03_0_934-9747-klein.jpg
Source: http://hdl.handle.net/10648/ad851fc8...8-003048976d84

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Yep, that’s the photo I put on page 49

[MicS]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Jakko, here's a photo of a stranded LVT-4 on Walcheren you may or may not have seen before:

http://hdl.handle.net/10648/9d880b0c...f-544e2a463400

Dated 1945, so this was taken after the fighting.

Attachment 135165

Great photo! It somehow escaped me so far. Zooming in we can see the callsign 2F (in outline) and the name AUTHIE inside a rectangle:
LVT4 2F 'AUTHIE' nr LVT4 3B Pennant P582220x -149-0676.jpg

2F AUTHIE.jpg

The style of both markings is the same as on 2A ROUVRES. ROUVRES is given by B.T. White as 77 Aslt Sqn RE, but he has erred before and I do not know what his source was:
LVT4 2A 'ROUVRES' Polsten #32 AoS 1233 or 1234, Terneuzen 27 Oct 44 - FO032537.jpg

Another similarly styled callsign is 2E below, but the name (possibly BERNIERES) is inside a dark rectangle (which may come from using a different filter) instead of a light shaded one on 2F:
LVT4 2E name 'BERNIERES' maybe, 2B or 2D 'name' AoS 1233 Pennant, LVT2 3F - FO007628.jpg

Since 2 Tp 80 Aslt Sqn was at BERNIERES on 6 June 1944, AUTHIE on 8 July and ROUVRES on 14 August, I believe there is little doubt left that these three vehicles belonged to it. In the same vein, in 1 Tp the commander's LVT was named ESQUAY, where he had had a close shave on 15 July when his AVRE was set on fire.

LVT 3B might also belong to the same Sqn, because the style of the call sign is quite different from the very distinctive ones of 3 Tp 26 and 79 Aslt Sqns. I have no confirmed photo of 3 Tp 77 Aslt Sqn though.

Michel

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by MicS

the name AUTHIE

I think it says AUTHE, without an I.

Originally Posted by MicS

in 1 Tp the commander's LVT was named ESQUAY

That would be this one, I suppose:

LVT Zoutelande.jpg

That photo was taken here:

Zoutelande oblique aerial photo late 1940s.jpg

… which is, oh, approximately three minutes’ walk from where I’m sitting now typing this. Though I’m in a part of town that’s still farmer’s fields in the photo above.

[MicS]

Originally Posted by Jakko Westerbeke

I think it says AUTHE, without an I.

That would be this one, I suppose:

Attachment 135214

That photo was taken here:

Attachment 135215

… which is, oh, approximately three minutes’ walk from where I’m sitting now typing this. Though I’m in a part of town that’s still farmer’s fields in the photo above.

Jakko,

AUTHE without the "I" doesn't make sense.

Yes, this is that (and probably the only) ESQUAY. See here and here

What about a nlce Now photo Jakko? See you in 7 minutes then

Michel