On Mon, 18 Sep 2000, COLIN STEVENS wrote:
> Compulsory military content: Ever wonder why German WWII vehicles are so
> scarce today? Well, other than the fact that they used so many horses, when
> one reads about the scores of the 2nd Tactical Air Force in Normandy,
> especially at Falaise Gap for example, one wonders how ANY of them survived!
A number of factors explain this, principally:
-After the was, the US sold-off all its unwanted stuff to all and sundry,
who used it for years and years, and so not only the vehicles themselves
were still around, but the spares were kept available,
I remember the in 1968, the French army still had WC5x in storage to be
used in case of mobilization (when the Russians came ?)
I was doing ROTC training in barracks in Britanny which was a "Centre
Mobilisateur" and they had all these Dodges, Jeeps and GMC lorries, on
axles stands, with the numbers 1-2-3-4 quartered in white paint on the
tires, 'cause the wheels had to be turned a quarter turn every month.
-Germany was not allowed an Army in 1945-1946 so all the ex-Wehrmacht metal
still existing was quickly taken to the smelters for recycling, instead of
being put back in use.
-Those German vehicles which could be used in the civilian market, either
in Germany or the rest of Europe (Kubels, Kettenkrads, Opel-Blitz) were used
to death there, and disappeared once they could not be maintained any more;
VWs survived mainly because mechanical spares were interchangeable with the
post-war civilian models..
-Outside Germany, German vehicles were not as popular as Allied ones, as
they were the "looser's" equipment.
The same factors apply also to French equipment, with the added point that
most French military vehicles were taken over by the Germans in 1940, and
quickly sent to the Eastern front where they mostly disappeared.
Cheers,
Ron the Frog, on the sunny banks of the Paraguay River.
--
If you can't learn to do it well,
learn to enjoy doing it badly.
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