British Vehicle New Guinea

[Lang]

I found this in a private collection.

It was in a New Guinea group and background looks right. The photographer was also in Palestine earlier but background does not look correct for there.

Pretty rare, any comments?

Lang

[David Herbert]

That is a very well stuck AEC Matador.

If there is anything to hook the winch cable onto he should be able to self recover and he has run the cable through to the front fairlead but it is then just lying on the ground. Possibly just waiting to be run out or maybe the cable broke and they are wondering what to do next.

David

[Lang]

David

I think the situation is beyond self recovery. More likely the overload shear-pin in the winch has broken. The general purpose recovery winches of that period were not of huge capacity, many modern Land-cruisers have 7 or 8 ton winches which is probably considerably more than the poor old AEC. The CCKW GMC 6x6 only had a 4.5 ton winch.

Almost certainly New Guinea. The palms are definitely coconuts not dates in the Nile Valley or elsewhere in the Middle East.

I have never seen a photo of any British trucks in New Guinea.

Lang

[Mike Kelly]

There was at least one Bedford MWC 15 cwt water truck with a searchlight unit near Port Moresby. The vehicle is seen in a AWM film I downloaded.Will find the reference

[Grant Bowker]

Wikipedia suggests the Matador had a 7 ton winch, with a snatch block or two that's a pretty serious pull... CMPs with seized brakes have been dragged on firm surfaces with 6 ton winches although it sounds less strained with a snatch block.

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Lang

Almost certainly New Guinea. The palms are definitely coconuts not dates in the Nile Valley or elsewhere in the Middle East.

I have never seen a photo of any British trucks in New Guinea.

Lang

Could it be Malaya/Singapore?

The number on the door is "AIF H4476xx" (x = unreadable). The number itself is too high for an original AIF registration, that's a British WD number taken on strength of the AIF. . WD/AIF regos were slowly phased out for the Commonwealth numbering system from early '42, although many vehicles displayed dual numbers to the end of the war.

The Tac sign shows vehicle B4 of unit 58 (on Artillery AoS colours), but the formation sign is tantalisingly unreadable. Might be 8th Div. Did we have 5.5" guns in Malaya?

[David Herbert]

Yes there were 5.5" guns in Malaya.
I knew a guy who served with them. He said that if there was a village being particularly rebellious they would set the guns up nearby and fire into an uninhabited area. Seems like a very expensive way to annoy someone ! Not exactly the way to win people over either....

David

[Mike Cecil]

The AEC Matador belongs to a battery of 2/2 Aust Hvy AA Regiment. Used for towing 3.7-inch HAA gun. Two of the regiment's batteries were moved to New Guinea in June 1942 - one to Port Moresby (2/4 Bty), the other to Milne Bay (2/6 Bty). HQ and 2/5 Bty stayed in Australia until later. In April 1943, 2/5 Bty moved to Oro Bay, NG.

The Unit sign in the image is 56 on red/blue AoS colours. The unit sign is the composite type combining the Unit and Formation signs onto the one plate.

The tractor was taken on charge in the Middle East from British stocks, when 2 Hvy AA Regt (later became 2/2 Aust Hvy AA Regt, and finally, 2/2 Aust Composite AA Regt) deployed to that area in Feb 1941 as part of 1 Aust Corps. The regiment returned to Australia in March 1942, before deploying to NG as mentioned above.

Australia did not deploy 5.5 inch guns to Malaya in 1941 - possibly the British did? The first 5.5 BL Howitzers arrived in Australia in mid-1942, and were not deployed overseas during their many years in service.

Mike