Operation Infatuate II: Sherman tanks at Westkapelle

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Wow, great to see some new pictures!

Have you gone back to the museum to look at the restoration progress, Jakko?

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Wow, great to see some new pictures!

From another source, I’ve also recently seen a “new” picture of Wolf of Badenoch, and there’s a chance there may be more — though at best, I’ll only find that out next week. With a bit of luck, though, I’ll get permission to use it in the upcoming book the Polderhuis will publish soon …

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Have you gone back to the museum to look at the restoration progress, Jakko?

Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to yet

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Okay, I went back today, partly because two days ago I got a phone call from Kees Traas about there being some confusion over the locations of the markings I had told them to put on. In the end it turned out they fit after all, but I still think it helped a lot to be able to explain in person how and where they should go.

IMG_7902.jpg IMG_7911.jpg

Note the replacement mudguards, which look quite good up close. The bow machine gun is a fake, made on a CNC machine, welded securely into the ball mount, whose shield has also been put back on (it rusted off a few years back). I didn’t really want to tell the guy who was obviously proud of his work that it shouldn’t be on this tank at all

Most of the wheels are the ones the tank had before, but some are replacements, including the front wheels on both sides, which are now the spoked, welded type. They both have blanking plates installed between the spokes, but are not the later “big hub” types that had plates like these from the factory. On the re-used wheels, the holes in the tyres were patched up with black rubber-like putty. I was somewhat amazed that the wheels actually rotate when I pushed them with my foot.

Here’s an interesting thing for the Shermanophiles:

IMG_7903.jpg

The sprocket rings have been replaced, with an FMC one on the inside on the left-hand side. The other three are simple, plain types much more commonly seen.

The turret was indoors, and will be fitted soon, though it depends a bit on whether they can lift it high enough with a forklift, or if they need to get a crane in.

As for the tracks, they will be replaced by a second-hand set of T48 rubber-chevron type, that has just been sandblasted to get the rust off (Kees showed me a picture), so they await spraying black for protection. One thing is that the rubber on the outside is very (very!) worn, but the inner faces are still good.

It’s currently the intention to have the tank back at Westkapelle in mid-October or so, depending on how well the rest of the work goes and availability of the Army for transportation.

[Jakko Westerbeke]

While I was there, I also visited the Bevrijdingsmuseum itself, as I had only been there once a few years ago, and that was when the current buildings were still under construction. First of all, I would say it’s definitely worth a visit if you happen to be in the area and have an interest in military history and/or WWII equipment.

Second, Kees took me up to the offices and storeroom, as he had some photographs he thought might interest me. After a fair while looking for them in vain, it turned out they had already been sent to the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies for digitisation and to be entered into their collection (the originals will come back to the Bevrijdingsmuseum), so I didn’t get to see them yet. However, I did come across the following couple of pictures that I thought might be of interest here (quality is not great, as I took photos of them with my iPad and then had to push and pull them to straighten them out a bit).

Two wrecks of Weasels at (almost certainly) Westkapelle:

IMG_7969.jpg

Two Terrapins somewhere on Walcheren:

IMG_7970.jpg

LVTs on the Markt square in Middelburg, two of them carrying Weasels in the cargo bay:

IMG_7971.jpg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Thanks for the update Jakko! I am excited to learn about the marking scheme you have designed for this tank.


On a related note: another Infatuate relic was unearthed last week when a German bunker was rediscovered after digging for a new building had started. An LVT sprocket was one of the artefacts dug up, surprisingly. The other artefacts were all related to the bunker itself.

241666484_573638027014580_5453753327806486314_n.jpg 241637473_573639287014454_7077154286132049263_n.jpg
Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1032...21590037916682

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

I am excited to learn about the marking scheme you have designed for this tank.

Some months ago, I made the following instructions for them to use, as well as 1:1 size drawings of the markings:

Markeringen T148656 1.jpgMarkeringen T148656 2.png

Those 1:1 drawings went to a company that makes adhesive stencils, some of which I also saw yesterday and which seem to look good (as far as I could tell, with them still on the backing paper )

As for accuracy, there is, of course, a bit of a problem. The markings on the glacis are not those of T148656, as it had both the AoS and division markings on the front of the right flail jib, which is missing. However, they are correct most of the other 1 Lothians tanks, so I felt it would be best to copy those. The positions on the rear are as they appear in the few available photographs of the back of the tank.

The census number on the side is in the position it was in before T148656 was converted to a Crab. I chose this because else the one on the left would have been at the front while that on the right would be nearly at the back, and that will have some people wondering without being able to get an explanation. Using the pre-Crab position seemed better.

I debated over including the hand-painted CHERRY 6 on front and/or rear, as well as the 148-over-656 on the bow, and decided against them. The main reason is that this is a tank on public display, and text that appears hand-painted will look too much like graffiti — which invites more.

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

An LVT sprocket was one of the artefacts dug up, surprisingly.

I had read about the sprocket, yes. I know of at least two LVT wrecks in Vlissingen (of the twenty deployed there in all), but not near this bunker, so perhaps one was lost here too?

[MicS]

Originally Posted by Jakko Westerbeke

While I was there, I also visited the Bevrijdingsmuseum itself, as I had only been there once a few years ago, and that was when the current buildings were still under construction. First of all, I would say it’s definitely worth a visit if you happen to be in the area and have an interest in military history and/or WWII equipment.

Second, Kees took me up to the offices and storeroom, as he had some photographs he thought might interest me. After a fair while looking for them in vain, it turned out they had already been sent to the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies for digitisation and to be entered into their collection (the originals will come back to the Bevrijdingsmuseum), so I didn’t get to see them yet. However, I did come across the following couple of pictures that I thought might be of interest here (quality is not great, as I took photos of them with my iPad and then had to push and pull them to straighten them out a bit).

Two wrecks of Weasels at (almost certainly) Westkapelle:

Attachment 124609

Two Terrapins somewhere on Walcheren:

Attachment 124610

LVTs on the Markt square in Middelburg, two of them carrying Weasels in the cargo bay:

Attachment 124611

Nice finds Jakko.


First photo probably shows the same two Weasels as on this shot:

NL-HaNA_2.24.01.03_0_900-7400 - Overturned Weasels.jpg
Source


Last photo is the same as BBZ 66478, but less cropped on the left side (and more on the right):
LVT4 1B 'STOAT', 1C 'SABLE' USA{89xx36} - Middelburg 6 Nov 44 - FO066478.jpg
Source

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by MicS

First photo probably shows the same two Weasels as on this shot:

It does look like that, yes. Now to try and find the exact spot they were in …

Originally Posted by MicS

Last photo is the same as BBZ 66478, but less cropped on the left side (and more on the right):

This one was actually a postcard. Or maybe I should say, a photo printed on paper that has postcard markings (lines for the address etc.) printed on the back.

[Jakko Westerbeke]

… and it’s back!

IMG_8057.jpg IMG_8058.jpg IMG_8072A.jpg IMG_8072B.jpg IMG_8075.jpg