I assume the full name of this 23H Sherman (in front of Antwerp Opera House, 4 September 1944) was "CHAMBER OF HORROR". I have always found this quite intriguing. On the one hand I imagine it reflected the feelings of its crew. On the other hand I am a bit surprised that it was allowed. Any other photos of intriguing vehicle names? The photo is an original from my collection.
My understanding is that, while the name is clearly not an 'official' one, such informal ones were tolerated. Most names were 'girlfriends' - dad apparently had Muriel (my mums Christian name) chalked onto his Sherman (drivers) hatch - or, like this one, indicating Army 'humour'. I think the most famous example is Therese(?) chalked onto the 3RTR tank with real name Cobra.
for interest http://mmpbooks.biz/mmp/tables/Vehicle_Names_V3.pdf Allied Vehicle Names and Census Number Listing
There is actually a version 4 created by the authors and which I had permission to post here on the forum as a resource: New Resource - British Vehicle Names and Census Numbers And I presume they are working on a version 5!
Common practice apparently, to use sinister names, in some part (all of C Sqn., or just one troop?!) of 23H. Some more darkish 23H Sherman names found in this great resource (thanks!): CALAMITY CATASTROPHE CHAOS Most of them a little less dark: BLANCO, BLOSSOM, BOMBARDIER, BRIGADIER, BUCCANEER, BUCKET, CITY OF LIVERPOOL, HUSSAR, POPEYE Would be nice to add some more photos here!
I'm not sure if people see this as a "Romeo" with a question mark? It caught my eye at first because for a second I had thought that it said "Ronson?" I guess that they might have been "Shakespeare" themed. Though I wondered why the "?" Comes from: Feast for 8th AB vehicle spotters.
Re. Interesting to see the names of the Polish "24th Lancers" tanks in there too. i..e "KASIA - 24th Lancers Regiment, 1st Polish Armoured Division" - perhaps largely 'girlfriends' / spouses too perhaps e.g.
This probably stems from British WW1 Tank Corps naming conventions when names reflected the battalion letter so that all B battalion's tanks had names beginning with a B etc. The actual name was left to the tank commander and often reflected his personal sense of humour - hence Frae Bentos of F Battalion a Mk IV tank that fought a famous action in 1917
I seem to recall that some tanks had names starting with A, B, or C depending on which squadron they were in.
And when the original squadrons expanded into battalions in 1917 so did the naming convention see my previous post.
...and similarly: A = 1st Royal Tank Regiment B = 2nd Royal Tank Regiment C = 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, with examples being Calais, Corinth, Crusader, Celerity, Cobra, Champion.....
Saw this recently (re. Keith Douglas "A" Sqd SRY) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Letters-Keith-Douglas/dp/1857544773 Keith Douglas - Wikipedia