>BAUDUIN Raphael CNET/DSV/CAE wrote:
>
>> I have just found, near Falaise (battle of the Falaise pocket) the
remains
>> of a canadian Universal Carrier which was probably destroyed by a direct
>> hit.
***** A VERY interesting discovery! To stop the rust, consider using a
phosphoric acid which will turn the iron oxide (rust) into an inert black
material. This relic should not really be "restored" but rather should be
preserved in a museum (my preference would be that it come back to Canada of
course.) I always find that vehicles that have suffered battle damage are
so much more meaningful than those that are restored to factory new
condition. In Canada we find vehicles that have been shot up on the target
ranges, but rarely one that was shot up in battle. An exception is a
Canadian Forces 1985-86 Iltis that was ambushed by Yugoslavs while on a
United Nations peacekeeping mission - it is now in the Canadian War Museum's
collection in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - and it still shows all of the bullet
holes.
>>Photos of some parts are here :
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/raphael.bauduin/Images/
>
>Raphael You must be on the slowest server in France... Coupled with the
>large JPegs makes looking a nightmare. You should get a program like
>JPEG Optimiser and seriously reduce the size of the files...
******* Colin Stevens had no problem at all viewing the images using a 56K
modem on a telphone line. Maybe Jim Webster hit a busy time.
***** Photo # 1 shows part of the War Department number which appears to be
CT200??? Raphael, can you tell us the whole number?
>> Could someone help me identifying what model is it and to what unit did
it belong (55 in a red square on right front
***** The UNIT SIGN consisting of a number in white (or red for Signals), on
a coloured rectangular background was usually on the starboard (driver's
right) side on the front. "55" on red indicates the first battalion in the
senior brigade of a division. I have a copy of the list of all of the unit
markings from the First Canadian Army in 1944 and from it can tell which of
their units used "55". For this British marking system, also used by
Canada, one needed to see BOTH the unit sign and formation sign to get a
positive identification as the unit sign was repeated in each division. I
will dig out my reference for you Raphael and look it up.
>>and a blue square on the left front,
***** THIS SHOULD BE THE FORMATION SIGN ON THE SIDE OPPOSITE FROM THE UNIT
SIGN - Look to see if it is a dark blue or light grey ('French Blue") and if
there is evidence of a gold maple leaf in the middle. If dark blue then this
would be from the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. If light grey (French
Blue) it would be 3rd Canadian Infantry Division (which landed on D-Day)
[NOTE: Do not confuse them with the British Army's 3rd Division which also
landed on D-Day nearby.]
>>yellow diamond with DI inside).
****** This is a tactical sign. Headquarters (HQ) was usually a diamond
shape.
"DI" may refer to D Troop for an artillery or armoured unit.
>> The right lateral plate seems to be a MKI one but other accessories seem
to be MKII ones.
****** The hook for stowing the tow cable, and the fittings for the spare
bogie wheel on the front just to the left of the cable stowage (both visible
in Photo # 4 below man's hand) are in keeping with a Universal Carrier Mk.
II. The carrier also has the fitting for the high sides as used on D-Day
(and a collector recently found a UC
with some of these extension plates still in place in Normandy just a year
or two ago ! (ref. Wheels & tracks magazine).
>
>It appears to be from an unit of 61st Infantry division which is a bit
>puzzling as they didn't serve overseas and remained in the UK till the
>end of the war. Its possible that the vehicle [and crew?] were battle
>casualty replacements to an unidentified unit and they didn't have time
>to repaint the vehicle. As to the original unit the yellow of the
>diamond could follow a system used by armoured units and indicate the
>second infantry brigade ie. 183rd Infantry Brigade which consisted of
>7th Glosters and 10th Worcesters. As for the 'DI' I haven't the
>foggiest...
******* I need to know more about the formation sign before I could comment
further on the formation.
>Sorry I haven't been more helpful.
>TTFN
>Jim
>Honorary Secretary
>
>****************************************************
>http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/simonides The Simonides Group
>Simply the LARGEST military history & archaeology site on the web
>****************************************************
>http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/steelwind The Artillery Mailing List
>http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/steelfist The Armour Mailing List
>http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/milhst-spotter Military History News
>****************************************************
******* Colin Macgregor Stevens
MVPA Member 954 (since 1977)
& member B Coy 1 Canadian Parachute Battalion (Living History)
Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Canada
E-mail: colin@pacdat.net
Personal web site: http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net
1944 Willys MB
1942 BSA airborne bicycles (2)
===
To unsubscribe from the mil-veh mailing list, send the single word
UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of a message to <mil-veh-request@skylee.com>.