From: Nigel Hay -MILWEB (Nigel@milweb.net)
Date: Wed Dec 01 2004 - 00:08:24 PST
Just heard a broadcast on Her Majesties Broadcasting Service.....The famous
WW2 control tower the 91st Bomb Group ( Memphis Belle) used at Bassingbourne
in Cambridgeshire has just been granted "Listed" status by English
Heritage - that means it must be preserved faithfully and indefinately the
UK Govt have decreed. It is already a museum to the airfields of little
America as East Anglia was known. The location of William Wylers famous
documentary about the B17 crews. And of course the location of probably the
best known footage of a Cleetrac Airfield Tractor in action.
And talking of airfield stuff, a rare WW2 Clarkat bomb tug - the 3 wheeler
with the same engine as the Bantam jeep is for sale on www.milweb.net in the
light vehicles section.
NIGE
-----Original Message-----
From: Military Vehicles Mailing List [mailto:mil-veh@mil-veh.org]On
Behalf Of Steve Grammont
Sent: 01 December 2004 05:52
To: Military Vehicles Mailing List
Subject: Re: [MV] Fallujah action - Digging a hole
Jon,
>How long was it buried there?
>
> Looks like it has some German markings on it.
Yes, these are typical markings applied by the Germans to captured Soviet
vehicles. The Germans used literally tens of thousands of captured AFVs,
soft skinned vehicles, and large equipment.
The island this was found on, Hiumma (Hiiumaa), was retaken by the
Soviets in early October 1944 after a landing on the 3rd by the Soviet's
Leningrad Front. The mixed German/Estonian garrison there was tasked
with keeping the island to help protect the flank of the remains of Army
Group North. Prior to its loss the Germans and Estonians evacuated many
tens of thousands of troops, civilians, and prisoners through the island
and later to German ports. By the time the island was lost, Army Group
North was already doomed and therefore its loss was not as important as
it would have been a month earlier.
An obscure, though interesting, part of the history of the Eastern Front.
Steve
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