Japanese invasion When the Japanese Army invaded the Dutch East-Indies, an officer managed to unload the first shipment of seven Marmon-Herrington CTLS-4TAY tanks; these were immediately put into action together with the Vickers tanks. {On 2 March 1942 the Japanese landed near Soebang on West-Java and the 24 operational machine-gun equipped tanks obtained "a considerable success".} A ship loaded with Marmon-Herrington tanks was sunk by the Japanese in 1942 and after they overran the archipelago a shipment of 52 Marmon-Herrington CTLS-4TAC/-4TAY tanks was diverted to Australia. (The rest of the Dutch Vickers tanks were subsequently used by the British Army where the type was known as the "Dutchman". One of these non-delivered Vickers Dutchman tanks survives today in Great Britain at The Tank Museum, Bovington Camp, Wareham, Dorset.) From "Marmon-Herrington tanks: The Dutch Connection", by Hanno L. Spoelstra (Marmon-Herrington military vehicles) Does anyone know if any of these "Dutchman" tanks was ever deployed? The link refers the fate of the armor sent down under, but nothing beyond that.
From the A.Kirk TANKS! site..... 600 (various types) of these were ordered in 1940 in America, of which only 7 arrived unarmed in Java before the Japanese attack. Part of the rest of the order was send directly to Suriname, while the U.S. Marines and Army took some as well. The U.S. Army used them in Alaska. Another portion of the order went to China. Three types were ordered, of which in total only 25 had been delivered by the time of the Japanese attack: CTLS 4TA (Y) and 4TAC: armed with 2 to 3 machine-guns only. 4TA(Y) had its turret at the left, the 4TAC had it at the right. Of these types 7 were delivered in time to participate in the fighting. These were the only Marmon Herrington tanks to see action. CTMS 1TBI three man tank: armed with a 37 mm gun and 2 to 3 mg’s. MTLS 1GI4 four man tank: armed with 2 37 mm guns and 4 mg’s. The seven CTLS tanks were issued to the Mobiele Eenheid ("mobile unit") on western Java. This unit was made up as follows: Eskadron Vechtwagens ("squadron combat cars"): 17 Vickers Carden Lloyd light tanks and 4 Marmon Herrington CTLS 4TA Compagnie Pantser Infanterie (company armoured infantry): 3 sections of 50 men each, 16 Overvalwagens type B (B for Braat?) Scoutunit: 3 Marmon Herrington MK. III MFF 4x4 and 1 White Scoutcar Section motorised AT-guns: and unknown number of Böhler M35 47 mm guns, probably towed by Vickers Utility tractors Section artillery: 4 Bofors 7,5 cm L30 Berg guns After the capitulation of the the Netherlands East Indies more Marmon Herrington tanks were delivered to Suriname and the Antilles where they were used by the Korps Mariniers (the Netherlands Marine Corps). No evidence of use on the Antilles has been located but there are rumors that some tanks were in fact issued to US troops on Curacao. The following tanks were delivered: 26 CTLS 4TA 28 CTMS 1TBI 20 MTLS 1GI4 On February 14th 1945 it was decided to scrap the tanks. Still, in 1946 some CTLS 4TA tanks were shipped to the East Indies but were never used again, and apparantly some tanks were still in use in the 1950’s. In total 99 tanks seem to have been delivered. Of the remaining 501 tanks 240 CTLS 4TA’s went to the US army as the T-14 and T-16 light tanks. Of the CTMS 1TBI some went to Ecuador )12), Cuba (8), Guatemala (6) and Mexico (4). The fate of the remaining MTLS 1GI4 tanks is unknown. More on the Netherlands Marine Corp: During WW2 a brigade was formed in the US called the Mariniers Brigade, also called Marbrig. This unit was used intensively in the fighting in Indonesia from 1945-1949. Little is published about them, except that they had 18 tanks, one of which was an ARV, the others being HVSS Shermans armed with a 105 mm howitzer. After the wars in Indonesia the unit was disbanded.
Might be worth a browse through the excellent Overvalwagen site Warlord. vickerstanks welcome to overvalwagen.com
Might be worth a browse through the excellent Overvalwagen site Warlord. vickerstanks welcome to overvalwagen.com Links are dead (at least through my server...)
Odd. Second one works for me, but first is dead, though the page is fully accessible from Google. Try pasting this: http://www.overvalwagen.com/vickerstanks.html (Edit:- Both proper links seem to be working now anyway, maybe a glitch, or possibly some sort of approval going on for external inks in - dunno.)
Odd. Second one works for me, but first is dead, though the page is fully accessible from Google. Try pasting this: vickerstanks (Edit:- Both proper links seem to be working now anyway, maybe a glitch, or possibly some sort of approval going on for external inks in - dunno.) Online now; thanks VP. By the way, the site just got my heart! Armor of the KNIL...
