>>a copy of the 1944 official British list of WD numbers covering
>>over 6 million numbers. It unfortunately does not list them one by one,
with
>>vehicle sn (wouldn't that be nice!) but it does list the WD numbers in
>>batches, usually with the contract number, manufacturer, and generic model
>>****** Colin Macgregor Stevens
>what about "CM 4242313" ?
>ciao
>maurizio
======================================
****** The 1944 British War Department "B" Vehicle Census list does not
help too much here. It says :
"4200000 to 4299999 Not on 'B' Census. Canadian."
If you have a jeep with ORIGINAL WD number CM4242313, then I want it!!!!!!!!
I suspect however that you are working from the famous photo shown in
CANADA'S WEEKLY 1944 August 11 page 515, in JEEP JEEP JEEP by Yasuo Ohtsuka
on page 49, and in Bill Gregg's BLUEPRINT FOR VICTORY photo # 268 and likely
in other books as well.
The photo shows General Harry Crerar, General Officer Commanding, First
Canadian Army driving one of his jeeps (CM4242313) in Normandy on 1944 AUG
04 at Amblie, France. His passenger in front is General Bernard Montgomery
and it is his Union Jack flag flying on the front of the jeep as he is the
senior officer in the jeep. The passenger in the rear seat is Finlay
Morrison, Crerar's Aide de Camp. Finlay lives an hour's drive from my home
and gave me General Crerar's jeep flag and a W.W. II jeep transfer (decal)
for First Canadian Army. The tire pressure markings are RS30CC25 (= Road
Surface 30 lbs, Cross Country 25 lbs) over all 4 wheels.
This jeep appears in other photos and I have a Xerox copy of a photo of some
soliders of the Regiment de Maissoneuve apparently (though identified as Le
Regiment de la Chaudiere) driving it on 1944 June 24 also at Amblie. DND
Army photo 35586. I have three other photos of this jeep copied from
Finlay's album (official photos so they should be in the National Archives
of Canada).
By the end of the war Gen Crerar was driving jeep CM4242267.
Crerar, like most Army Commanders, had a whole bunch of vehicles. In NW
Europe, he had
* 3 closed staff cars
* 1 open staff car
* a jeep CM4242313 and / or CM4242267
* two motorcycles for his escorts.
* He slept and had an office in a caravan mounted on a Diamond T (He shipped
this and his map trailer back to Canada for preservation at the end of the
war. This caravan combination was sold surplus out of London, Ontario after
the war as the Canadian War Museum did not want it. The caravan was rescued
by Dr. Bill Gregg from a tobacco farmer's field in Ontario many years
later - amazingly intact though decayed I noted when I went through it in
1985 - and has since been restored and placed on a Diamond T 4 Ton
Breakdown chassis apparently and is at CFB Shilo, Manitoba. His original
Diamond T has never been found. I have its markings and WD number on file.
* Map trailer (this was the office for my friend Finlay Morrison and as ADC
he briefed Gen Crerar in it every morning. This trailer is preserved and
displayed at the Canadian War Museum (with the WD number painted over and a
home service late style DND number assigned to it - likely done at London,
Ont)
* A captured German trailer (looking much like a railway car) that he used
in NW Europe for his VIP guests such as Winston Churchill, Monty, and I
believe Ike and King George VI. I'd have to check my notes but I believe it
was nicknamed the "Viper's Den" (VIP >>>> = Viper)
If you want to do your jeep up as General Crerar's jeep in Italy (since you
live in Milano, Italia) when he was commander the 1st Canadian Corps, it had
WD number M4232453 (note NO "C" prefix) with unit sign (passenger side of
white 17 on black with white bar across top of the sign) and 1 Canadian
Corps formation sign on the driver's side (horizontal equal stripes of
red/white/red, then a red diamond in the middle - outlined in thin white
line where it overlapped the background red stripes - with a gold maple leaf
in the middle of the diamond). I have an original of this transfer (decal).
This jeep also had the RAF type red/white/blue/yellow roundel on the hood
(bonnet) as an aerial recognition marking. He fitted a CMP rear view mirror
on the left fender, just behind the small blackout light (where the British
put them). There was a small flag staff at the front centre of the hood
(bonnet). Black out head light in left side (port) of grill without the
headlight guard. There was no large BODL light. No bridgeplate in this
picture but jeep following has a large one piece British chrome yellow
bridgeplate with a black number "2". (ref. Bll Gregg's CANADA'S FIGHTING
VEHCILES Europe 1943-45 Vol 1 Second Edition 1980)
I hope this helps,
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)
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