German Sherman

[Michael R.]

Canadians Private A.W. Thornton and Captain D. French examining 'Sherman' tank reconditioned by the Wehrmacht, Armsfoot, Netherlands, 10 May 1945.
Photo credit Archives Canada

[Ed Storey]

Check out the captured Airbrone Jeep in the right hand corner, it even has a Wehrmacht WH plate. Seven months after Arnhem and still running.

[Maurice Donckers]

The middle one is still alive ,but it still needs assembly again.

[Lynn Eades]

Ed, Airborne or British Jeep?

[Maurice Donckers]

it is probably one of the jeeps left at Arnhem.

[Ed Storey]

Didn't I say that in my post...?

[Alex van de Wetering]

I know this has been discussed before without a conclusive answer, but maybe Maurice, maybe you know(?)

If I remember correctly the Firefly in question has a PAK 40 muzzle brake fitted. As the 75mm PAK round is slighty narrower than a 17pdr round, one has to wonder if they modified the PAK muzzle to make it accept the larger rounds....or that the gun was not "active" any more??

Alex

[Maurice Donckers]

The muzzle brake from the pan 40 is welded onto the end bit from the 17 pr muzzle brake , including 4 strips welded lengthwise over the 2 , the diameter from the pak40 muzzle brake is bigger then the diameter of the barrel , but if it ever fired ? The is damage on the differential housing , gun shield and half way on the barrel , so there must have been an impact on extra tracks welded to the front , and then damaged the other parts as well.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks Maurice; clear story on the muzzle brake.

The is damage on the differential housing , gun shield and half way on the barrel , so there must have been an impact on extra tracks welded to the front

I know some more pics of the same sherman have been published in issue number 1 of the Panzerwrecks book. I don't have the book myself, but I wonder if any of the damage can be seen in the pics. It all sounds like the tank was hit before being captured by the Germans (?)

Edit: the pics from the Panzerwrecks book have been published here:
http://beutepanzer.ru/Beutepanzer/us.../firefly-2.htm
http://beutepanzer.ru/Beutepanzer/us.../firefly-3.htm



Alex