Operation Infatuate II: Sherman tanks at Westkapelle

[Jakko Westerbeke]

I spent much of the afternoon today at the Polderhuis museum in Westkapelle, looking through photo albums and binders with photos. Here are the more interesting ones I found for the current topic.

Zuidstraat with tanks, from the collection of one J.C. van Winkelen. I don’t think I’ve seen this particular one before, but it caught my eye mainly because the number 10 on the left side of the turret of Wolf of Badenoch is clearly visible here, when it’s usually obscured by the engine deck if the turret’s left side is visible at all:

Zuidstraat AVRE A3 & Sherman %22Wolf of Badenoch%22 (col. J.C. van Winkelen).jpeg

More importantly, it also shows this on the AVRE’s air inlet:

Minotaur.jpg

Front view of “Cock o’the North”, from Willem D. Passenier, who is also the man in the photo:

Sherman %22Cock o'the North%22 (Willem D. Passenier).jpeg

And that same tank with an unknown woman next to it, again from the J.C. van Winkelen collection:

Sherman %22Cock o'the North%22 (col. J.C. van Winkelen).jpg

This is very similar to another photo of that same tank, which shows it closer up. That photo was next to it in the binder, but they seem to be two different photos, rather than the other one being a cropped version of this.