I have a vague recollection he used something borrowed in his command
control unit, but can't recall whether it was an APC or a QL.
After 'Dunkirk' (Dunquerque), the Germans salvaged many British vehicles
for their own use. I had for some years a very rare WOT 3D. It was in
a good unrestored condition and had been in storage in a collection
since the war. In areas where the paint was wearing through it could be
seen that the colour underneath was grey. After deciding on a face-lift
for the elderly lady, we sanded her back only to find German insignia
and unit markings in all the usual places. And under that paint-job she
was in RAF blue and markings. We often wondered what stories she could
tell.
Going on a bit.....but another story relating to one of my vehicles that
I think would be of interest to other list subscribers, is that of my
1938 German 'Hansa Lloyd'.
I was always partial to the unusual and a restoration that required
serious research, a good percentage of my MV's have been fairly rare
types or special versions etc.
The 'Hansa', was discovered on a farm in Luxembourg by an aquaintance
who brought it back to England and I began the restoration. The
incredible story surrounding it's existance there is well worth
repeating.
In the latter part of the war an even bigger problem for the Germans
than fuel shortages, was the supply of rubber/sythetic tyres. Another
bit of German ingenuity, was to weld any wheels they could lay their
hands on with a usable tyre on it of similar size, to the cut out wheel-
centre of the original wheel. You have to admit it was a brilliant on
the spot tyre up-grade. Well this Hansa had just such two different
pre-war Citroen rims roughly welded to the original Hansa wheel centres,
when being used by two German soldiers retreating from the aftermath of
the 'Battle Of The Bulge'. A pot-hole in the road by the farm caused a
seperation of the rough weld on one of the wheels and brought about a
sudden end to it's use as transport. As soon as the area appeared clear
of any further troops the farmer retrieved the Hansa with the help of
two horses and hid it in a barn.
The reality of war is often very different from what is generally
assumed or taught after political correction. The reality is....that
there were many areas of Europe that preferred Germans to either
British, French, US or whatever other Nationality it was operating under
the 'Allied', banner. Even if it was under 'occupation'. There are many
stories of British and Canadian troops being spat at by the local French
in the areas of the DDay landings. (Remember the Allies especialy the
British, killed many thousands more French in Caen and surrounding areas
than the Germans did). Well there are many parts of Luxembourg which
until this day are still not very happy about being 'Liberated' from
German influence only to be put under French or other influence. And
the Allied air to ground attack strikes in Luxembourg killed many local
people.
Well back to the Hansa and the Farmer. The reason why the Hansa
survived in such an original running condition, is it was sold to a
local who's family had been killed by one such Spitfire shooting up
everything that moved in the nearby town. To show his continued
resentment of the Allies he used the vehicle right up until the mid 60's
as everyday transport in it's original Whermacht paint job with a new
registration-plate just bolted over the original Whermacht plates
showing behind. A dab of grey paint is all that covered the crosses on
the doors, still obvious in outline.
The 'Hansa Lloyd', one ton chassis was used for several different body
configurations. The most common as a van type used either as an
ambulance or with a side door by the N.S.D.A.P. (shortened by the Allies
to NAZI party), as 'Propoganda', vehicles. And then eventually taken
over by the Whermacht when transportation became critical. I restored
her back to the N.S.D.A.P configuration, and took her around the MV
scene for several years (won trophy's twice with it at Beltring). There
were several 'Hansa Lloyd' factories throughout Germany. The largest
being in Dresden and Lubeck. After the war the company produced the
'Lloyd Golliath', vehicles seen over Europe in the 50's and 60's.
At one show an elderly lady with an old gent in tow came up to me and
said in 'broken English', 'you know vot auto dis is, my husband vork on
dem as apprentice in Lubeck, he's shy but he say's he knows em
backvards'. Being careful not to make a fool of the old gent if his
memory was fading I said 'what do you remember about them'. He said, it
has such a tiny 1100cc engine for a 1 ton auto, and there are no
constant-velocity bearing joints in it, the four propshaft, gearbox and
steering universal joints are all flat pads made up of layers of leather
and canvas. It turned out that old gent knew his stuff.
I hope the story was not too boring and was worth the bandwidth.
Colin Brookes
Invicta Military Vehicle Preservation Society (IMPS)
colb@xtra.co.nz)
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