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

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Speaking of the 2nd County of London Yeomanry (Westminster Dragoons), have you seen this history ?

http://www.westminsterdragoons.co.uk...pe_1944-45.pdf

As the main site www.westminsterdragoons.co.uk seems to be gone, I have uploaded the file for safekeeping here.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Alex.

There are some photos on this site of the castle prior to and right after the battle.

David


http://www.castlesontheweb.com/photo...417&sessionid=

Thanks David; I've found the same pictures from multiple sources....I am still hoping one day a picture will pop op showing "Avalon" knocked out in the field.

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Speaking of the 2nd County of London Yeomanry (Westminster Dragoons), have you seen this history ?

http://www.westminsterdragoons.co.uk...pe_1944-45.pdf

As the main site www.westminsterdragoons.co.uk seems to be gone, I have uploaded the file for safekeeping here.

Yes, I mentioned it earlier in this thread. Thanks for saving the PDF though.....with the site gone already, it might be a matter of time until the pdf is taken down too.

Originally Posted by David Herbert

Someone's home.....

David

Yes, definitely a sad story. Most of Broekhuizen was turned into rubble and had to be rebuilt post-war. Sadly the battle also took the lives of several civilians, which saw their small village turned into a small fortress by the Germans, in an attempt to keep the allies from crossing the Maas river.

[Alex van de Wetering]

I found a new (to me) website which could be very helpful for research; AHN viewer.
It's a tool that shows the current height differences in the Netherlands. This allows you to look "under" the trees in a wooded area.

I have used this tool to have a look around Broekhuizen. I have attached a few screenshots. Sadly I couldn't find any other remains like craters or trenches, but it does clearly show the layout of the castle and farm, the lawn and the location of the former bridge entrance.

For those who want to have a look around. AHN viewer can be found here:

https://ahn.arcgisonline.nl/ahnviewer/

In the upper right corner you can turn different layers on and off . You can also make a layer transparant and combine more layers.
I am having the most luck with a combination of the 3rd and 5th layer (AHN3 "maaiveld dynamic" and "Hillshade".

The last picture attached is from Google maps showing the area.

[David Dunlop]

A very interesting tool, Alex.

From the image you posted, it looks like the damaged castle was not really hauled away, but rather the unsafe walls were simply pushed over to prevent them falling on somebody later on.

The castle was an interesting example of brick construction. For that amount of material, there must have been a large brick works in the area at one time.

David