Operation Infatuate II: Sherman tanks at Westkapelle

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

The armoured support element totalled 24 armoured vehicles:

• 2 Sherman V gun tanks
• 10 Sherman V Crabs
• 8 Churchill AVREs: 4 with SBG bridges, 2 with fasciness
• 4 D7 Armoured Bulldozers

When summarising this thread, one can conclude that of the 12 Shermans committed to this Operation, 2 of the Sherman gun tanks landed and went into action.
Of the Crabs, 3 did not land. Of the 7 that did land, 3 were bellied on the landing beach. While contemporary sources mention either 2 or 3 of the Crabs made it off the beach, this analysis proves in fact 4 Crabs made it off the beach and into the village.

For now I would ask if anyone can add any more identifiers for the Sherman tanks, like WD census numbers, unit markings & names. And let's not forget about the crews!

Last picture for today is this one from 1946, showing three Crabs in relative position to each other in the Zuidstraat.
From left to right: Sherman V Crab T-148656, with Sherman V Crab DANDY DINMONT behind it, and Sherman V Crab Turret No.2:
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The photographer is looking East, as the light house can be seen in the background. This lighthouse is an iconic landmark as it was built on top of an old church tower. Therefore it is located almost 1 kilometre inland, rather than directly at the seafront.

I will provide more detail on the landing and subsequent actions later. It was a harsh Operation - the Commandos involved found it much harder fighting than during Operation Overlord!

Thanks,
Hanno

[maple_leaf_eh]

Superb effort Hanno!

The number of rounds fired by the surviving gun tanks begs a second question - where did they get it all? The combat load of a single Sherman 75 was not in the thousands! Did the remaining crews salvage all consumables to keep the operating tanks firing? Most likely. How did other supplies get forward? By LSTs or other amphibious craft? What sort of "ADREP" or administration report did the OC and his NCOs make up and send backwards? Interesting questions.

[Mike Cecil]

Hanno,

Nice work. Great images. Clearly much work has gone into this research thus far.

Are the Ops Report and Unit War Diaries for the various units involved, resident in the National Archives at Kew? You may find the titles at least on line, even if the contents are not. They may provide some illumination of the decision not to undertake any form of battlefield recovery of the stranded/swamped AFVs, at least, and possibly list losses by Census Number.

Others with more knowledge of the Brit archival system can doubtless inform us foreigners of the likelihood of the above.

Capturing Antwerp was one thing: clearing the Boche from the approaches was much, much more difficult.

Mike

[David Dunlop]

Hanno.

You mention that several of the various Shermans made it successfully off the beach and/or into town only to be swamped shortly thereafter. Was this an unusual tidal phenomenon or was the area deliberately flooded by the German troops?

David

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by maple_leaf_eh

Superb effort Hanno!

The number of rounds fired by the surviving gun tanks begs a second question - where did they get it all? The combat load of a single Sherman 75 was not in the thousands! Did the remaining crews salvage all consumables to keep the operating tanks firing? Most likely. How did other supplies get forward? By LSTs or other amphibious craft? What sort of "ADREP" or administration report did the OC and his NCOs make up and send backwards? Interesting questions.

Thanks Terry! The troops and tanks were resupplied by LVTs doing several resupply runs. The LVTs were indispensable in this operation, the Weasels were not suited for the strong currents and were all lost.
I have not read about the crews salvaging all consumables from the swamped tanks, but that sounds like the thing they would have done.

This is Sherman V, WOLF OF BADENOCH, Turret No. 10, being resupplied by an LVT, most likely at Domburg. WOLF OF BADENOCH was carried ashore by LCT 737, hence the marking "5 BRAMBLE" on the deep wading trunk at the back:
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Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Nice work. Great images. Clearly much work has gone into this research thus far.

Are the Ops Report and Unit War Diaries for the various units involved, resident in the National Archives at Kew? You may find the titles at least on line, even if the contents are not. They may provide some illumination of the decision not to undertake any form of battlefield recovery of the stranded/swamped AFVs, at least, and possibly list losses by Census Number.

Others with more knowledge of the Brit archival system can doubtless inform us foreigners of the likelihood of the above.

Capturing Antwerp was one thing: clearing the Boche from the approaches was much, much more difficult.

Thanks Mike! Indeed, and as per Stacey (p. 407) "The costly opposed landing at Westkapelle became the most controversial portion of the whole Scheldt battle." Infatuate II was a true amphibious operation, involving Navy, Air Force and Army to get the job done.

I have not been able to locate the war diary via the National Archives. I hope to read it some day, meanwhile Michel apparently has.

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

You mention that several of the various Shermans made it successfully off the beach and/or into town only to be swamped shortly thereafter. Was this an unusual tidal phenomenon or was the area deliberately flooded by the German troops?

David, the dykes of the island of Walcheren were bombed by Bomber Command. The flooding was to immobilise the German troops, if not to take them out of action. From 17 September through 30 October, Bomber Command had flown 2219 sorties against Walcheren and dropped 10,219 tons of bombs (Stacey, p.411).

One of the largest breaches, the one at Westkapelle, was also used as a landing beach as it provided access to the island without have to scale the huge sea dyke.

The pic below shows how the village of Westkapelle and the area behind it being swamped each time the tide came in.

Hanno

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