military bridging

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Michel,
This is a wealth of information, with some magnificent photos. Thank you for taking the trouble to post.

Is that one of the four seat Bofors Blitz crossing behind the Jeep??
Rich.

[servicepub (RIP)]

Crass, self-serving, commercial, message follows;

John Sliz has authored three booklets on Engineer bridging that may be of interest to the membership;



Available from www.servicepub.com/weapons.html

[MicS]

Originally Posted by Richard Coutts-Smith

Is that one of the four seat Bofors Blitz crossing behind the Jeep??
Rich.

Sorry, can't help you as I know next to nothing about SP AA . All I can say is that the markings show the 51 (Highland) Div 'HD' emblem, and that the AoS number on the right should read '47', for 40 LAA Regt.

[Bob Carriere]

Are my eyes deceiving me...... I realize the pictures are grainy but.....

The wooden decking on the bridge seems to be getting more and more worn/chewed up by the traffic...... no doubt the tank tracks must have been nasty to a wooden deck....... early pictures seem to show moderate wear with a reasonable intact middle section....later pictures the centre unworn section is very narrow......

Would the deck beams need to be replaced often......???


If the instruction sign for constant first gear speed was respected the CMP vehicle speed must have been about the pace kept by an infantry man ...approx... 3 mph.....????? and slower for a tank..?

Thanks for posting.

[Les Freathy]

Michel better late than never here is a close up of the crab tank on the bridge i hope it provides details you are looking for
cheers
Les

[MicS]

Les,

Thanks a lot for posting this close-up. The turret number '21' is consistent with 'A' Squadron, and would make this tank part of 2 Troop 'A' Sqn 1 Lothians.

Other markings are not readable but could include the AoS number '52', the tank name and T-number, plus maybe some loading code:



The name of the tank should be one of these four, since No.20 was RHODERICK DHU T212645, see http://proxy.handle.net/10648/ac053d...8-003048976d84

ROB ROY
RED DOUGLAS
RED COMYN
RED TOD

Maybe the name could be guessed if the original photo is a good print and could be further enlarged ?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by MicS

The turret number '21' is consistent with 'A' Squadron, and would make this tank part of 2 Troop 'A' Sqn 1 Lothians.

Other markings are not readable but could include the AoS number '52', the tank name and T-number, plus maybe some loading code:

14410266554_73a60edb8d_o.jpg

The name of the tank should be one of these four, since No.20 was RHODERICK DHU T212645, see http://www.gahetna.nl/collectie/afbe...rm/00011000125

Michel,

The link you provided above is dead, but possibly it pointed to the attached picture of Sherman Crab T-212645 RHODERICK DHU after it met its demise at Westkapelle, The Netherlands, during Operation Infatuate II in November 1944.

HTH,
Hanno

af7211829b5d7052d84771d886ea3d3aa16bca93f04f7e68ac560012dac7a40f.jpg
Source: http://proxy.handle.net/10648/ac053d...8-003048976d84

[MicS]

Hanno,

Thank you for the new link . These otherwise excellent photobanks have a tendency to change their interface every so often, and I can't always keep up

I've updated the link in the referred post.

Michel

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by MicS

Thanks a lot for posting this close-up. The turret number '21' is consistent with 'A' Squadron, and would make this tank part of 2 Troop 'A' Sqn 1 Lothians.

Other markings are not readable but could include the AoS number '52', the tank name and T-number, plus maybe some loading code:

The name of the tank should be one of these four, since No.20 was RHODERICK DHU T212645, see http://proxy.handle.net/10648/ac053d...8-003048976d84

ROB ROY
RED DOUGLAS
RED COMYN
RED TOD

Hello Michel,

As I saw you reference to a Sherman Crab named "ROB ROY", I attched a picture of "ROB ROY IV" taken during a demonstration in the Netherlands shortly after WW2:

gahetna.nl_344024_022_Sherman Crab_Rob Roy IV.jpg

Source: http://proxy.handle.net/10648/5a4e3b...1-46ae0266c1e9

[Bob Carriere]

...Rototille the garden!!!!!!!

[MicS]

Hello Les,

As ever looking for more Crab pictures, I stumbled upon what is certainly a large scan of yours here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6738464...n/photostream/

Here's an extract that shows that with a very high probability it must have been named RED COMYN, as the other three possible names (ROB ROY, RED DOUGLAS and RED TOD) do not fit, wheras the first letter after what does resemble the word 'RED' looks very much like a 'C', and the length and shape of the second word look just about right for 'COMYN':



There is however a measure of doubt remaining, as 1 Lothians tank names were normally painted (red with a white shadowing) on the hull sides, but there seems to have been exceptions such as (possibly) 'COEUR DE LION', painted on the flail jibs because the various stowage items would have obscured them if painted on the hull.

The Arm of Service number 52 (white over red square) is clearly recognizable on the front of the jib (with the yellow circle of the bridging class below), and can be guessed on its other customary location in 1 Lothians on the top right corner of the hull front plate.

Crossing a Bailey bridge with a Crab was visibly a precision job, with a very watchful crew member each side assisting the driver, and the other two guys seemingly enjoying the view but probably ready to jump off any moment!

Many thanks for this hi res scan, which brings one more match between tank number and tank name in one of my favourite units!

Michel

[MicS]

I came across this photo at Belgian image bank Pallas Cegesoma (http://pallas.cegesoma.be/pls/opac/p...neral/opac.htm). Link to the photo:
http://pallas.cegesoma.be/pls/opac/o...&rqdb=1&dbnu=1

I include the photo here as well in case the above link becomes obsolete:



From the caption it looks like it's part of the Canadian collection.

I wonder if the "thing" in the water to the right of the bridge (top right of photo) might be the remnant of one of the destroyed bridge piles? It is visible on some of the other photos as well.

Michel

[Lang]

I just got back from driving through NE India. Went up from Imphal to the Burma border. The crossing between India and Burma/Myanmar is a serious Bailey bridge - a triple triple (three wide by three high). Although span has a lot to do with the bridge composition this is not particularly long and I think it could carry just about any modern day heavy truck.