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Gavin wrote:
>........Loads of Bantams were thrown at the Sov. allies too. Would that have
>anything to do with the fact that they were non-standard compared with the
>GPW?MB arrangement?...............
Not to pick on Gavin here but............Does anyone, anywhere, have
any photo proof or hard data that the Soviets EVER received ANY Bantam
built jeeps (or Ford GP's)???
I have spent many, many, mind numbing hours in the God awful mess
that is the Lend Lease files in the National Archives (US) searching for
data on the shipments of GP/MA/BRC and to a lesser extent the GPW/MB.
I could find the hard data on shipments to the Dutch (GP), British (GP
& BRC), Polish (GP), Canadian (GP), Chinese (GP) Australia (GP) and Brazil
(GP). By hard data I mean, I can now not only tell you how many GP's the
Dutch or Chinese received but even what ships, what ports, when they left
port, and the markings on the crates! (if anyone ever needs to know how
many knife,fork and spoons we sent them I have that too....)
However......... there is NO data confirming the Soviets ever
received anything but the standard MB/GPW. In fact, I have copies of
requests from the Soviets for motorcycles with side cars and replies from
the US asking if they would accept MB's instead as the US Army was no
longer purchasing sidecar rigs. (they did take the MB's after much persuasion)
These requests were after the production of the BRC/MA/GP had
ended. Please note that I am not referring to the MA's etc. that were
given out after the war but ones that were sent during it.
Hopefully, someone on this list may have some hard data that will
shed some light on this often printed but never confirmed, story.
I would point out here that I do have photographic proof of MA jeeps
in Australia and Britain during WW II but these were used by US forces and
not owned the those countries.
Jim Gilmore MVPA # 5843
Member Ist Michigan AOD Chapter MVPA
Great Lakes Chapter MVPA
Ohio Motor Pool Chapter MVPA
Red Ball Chapter MVPA
Ontario Military Vehicle Association
Midwest Military Vehicle Assocation
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Jul 02 2000 - 23:51:28 PDT