Vehicles used by Czechoslovak armed forces

[Jan Mostek]

“My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.”

These were words of Neville Chamberlain after returning from Munich in September 1938. The first country which should have paid for this was Czechoslovakia. And further development in Europe proofed how deeply mistaken Mr. Chamberlain was. And in the war against Nazi Germany, which followed, alongside with all Allied forces there were also Czechoslovak units who brought the peace to Europe.

May this thread helps to collect more information about vehicles used by Czechoslovak units in Allied armed forces.

Happy searching,
Jan.

[Jan Mostek]

Everybody should know that all pictures or pictorial material like books or magazines, remembering the Czechoslovak units in Allied service were considered as "prohibited" during the communist regime in former Czechoslovakia, so sometimes it is a small wonder that the pictures survived till today.

And becauase the main subjects of this Forum are CMP vehicles, here is a F15A. I have always been interested more in technical aspects rather than in history so I am not able to say much about units, location, time and other consequencies, but the location is clear from the picture. Perhaps some of readers could add more details.

[Jan Mostek]

By the way, is there any trick how could I put more than one picutre into one reply?

Here is another F15A, possibly the same truck as on the above picture.

[Jan Mostek]

And one more from Palestina...

[Jan Mostek]

For those who know Prague, teh picture below was taken near to Wenceslaus Sq., on Na Prikope street, after liberation of Prague in May, 1945.

[Keith Webb]

Originally posted by Jan Mostek
By the way, is there any trick how could I put more than one picutre into one reply?

Hi Jan
As the forum instructions explain, there is not a way to post more than one pic in a thread when you are directly attaching an image using the Forum server.

The alternative is to use something like Photobucket or other similar web service where you can have free space to place your photographs, then link to them using the "IMG" button when posting here.

Hope this helps.

Great to see the pictures you've posted!

[Jan Mostek]

For those who are interested in vehicles used by Czechoslovak uhnits of Allied armored forces, see also

http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/sh...&threadid=6752

Happy searching, Jan

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by Jan Mostek
And becauase the main subjects of this Forum are CMP vehicles, here is a F15A.

Could these two vehicles be 11/12 cab C15 trucks, rather than F15A's? The white painted convoy marker on the front vehicle appears to be painted on to a circular diff cover, while both vehicles seem to sit rather low for a 4wd. What I can see of the front hub cap on the closest vehicle looks like the "tin hat" shape of the C15 rather than the full dome shape of the 4wd front hubs such as would be found on an F15A.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Both are of course # 13 Cabs. I am hopeless at identification but the left truck has the Chevrolet-style two-leaf radiator guard support, whereas Fords used the rear-affixed support only, and it appears to have a Chevrolet badge. I discount radiator grille designs as these could be swapped.

[Jan Mostek]

But I have got the impression that we are speaking about the two 15 cwt CMPs depicted in the second post of this thread. I mentioned there both were F15A. If I understood well Tony Smith’s remark he expressed his doubts concerning (1) it is the 4x4 version (body seating rather low and hub caps looking like those on non-driven axle, see point 1 on the enlarge view below) and (2) he thoughts there is Banjo diff visible on the leading vehicle (point 2 on the view below).

Here are my notes:
Concerning the hubs, you might be right, Tony.
Concerning the banjo, I do not thing the differential housing is really visible here, the light area there seems to be the rear towing hook hanger and the rest is covered by the person between the vehicle and camera.
And one more note: The military CMP trucks belonging to CS forces were always mentioned as Fords in known documents. It however refers to the situation after returning to UK after the missions in North Africa. So it is not impossible the truck be Chevy but Ford would be more likely.

Happy searching, Jan.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Truck # 2 gives me the impression of having a Ford rear axle but this is of course not definitive. It is indeed difficult to make out. I can believe that they were Fords. The evidence is there were more Fords delivered to the Mid-East under early contracts.

[Jan Mostek]

Making the detial view copy above I recalled that I found also the picture in my archive which was already shown on MLU in some different thread. I wanted to post here the enlarged detail whicht might be interesting. The insignia which appeared on all Czech vehicles which arrived to Czecholsovakia in 1945 is reproduced in my Avatar shown on the left.

Happy searching, Jan

[Jan Mostek]

A colleague of mine sent me the picutre below concenring the identification of those two Light Utility trucks. My guess is that the front one is Hillman and the second is Morris, but this class of vehicles is not "my cup of tea", so to speak. Could some of you guys confirm or decline my ideas? I guess it is not necessary to stress that all these vehicles were in the service with Czechoslovak forces.

Cheers Jan.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by Jan Mostek
My guess is that the fron one is Hillman and the second is Morris, but this class of vehicles is not "my cup of tea", so to speak. Could some of you guys confirm or decline my ideas?

Jan,

As you say, the left vehicle is a Hillman and the other a Morris, motorcycle appears to be a BSA WM20 and the nearest truck at rear, a Leyland Retriever 6x4 3 ton.

Richard

[Jan Mostek]

Hi Richard and other enthusiasts,
Thanks for your commetns. I would like only to note that there are two different Retrievers, both belonging to the maintenance unit. Although I wanted to present the CMP vehicles first of all, I can not resist showing those Retrievers, so here is the first one, Breakdown Gantry

Happy searching Jan.

[Jan Mostek]

Here is the second Retriever, fitted with workshop body.

Happy searching, Jan.

[Vladislav Paulik]

Please do not forget about vehicles used by Czechoslovak units in (then) allied Red Army. Quite interesting stuff, bouth Russian and ex-lendlease softskines and armor.

cheers, V.

[Keith Webb]

Originally posted by David_Hayward
Both are of course # 13 Cabs. I am hopeless at identification but the left truck has the Chevrolet-style two-leaf radiator guard support, whereas Fords used the rear-affixed support only, and it appears to have a Chevrolet badge. I discount radiator grille designs as these could be swapped.

Just to further confuse you David, the late production Ford vehicles moved the radiator guard to the front face of the bumper using modified mounts for the towing "Ds" to accommodate them. Obviously the designers thought there was need for a bit more room for it to spring before hitting the sheet metal.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Thanks for that Keith!

[Alex van de Wetering]

Jan,

You probably know these two, because I took the pictures in the Czech republic earlier this year! They are on display in Rokycany.

The Bedford is displayed as OXD, but judging from the wheelbase and body, it recon it's a MWD fitted with a closed OY or OXD cabin, somewhere during its live.


Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Monkey face and cab13