Vehicle Numbers - 141 R.A.C. (The Buffs)

The photos are generally of people and not enough of the tanks!
The one below is titled "13 Troop XMAS 1944 Somewhere on the Rhine", and this makes me think he was in 13 Tp. although I cannot recognise FIL in the picture, but he may have been behind the camera, as photography was a hobby.
There are two photos of (different) people in front of a Churchill in Rotenburg (as was SPITFIRE, above) - on one you can see "SHA" and the other "ARK". It looks like the same tank, but no other marking are visible. However it looks likely that SHARK is another name for the pool.
I have other photos in:
1944 Blowburg (Blauburg?),
1945 Oldenburg (May 2 - Ceasefire), Hamburg, Rotenburg, Schwabstedt, Tonning, Copenhagen,
1946 Husum, Luftwaffe Kaserne, Luneburg,

I will keep looking to see if I can find any further identifying marks.

Thank you,
Tim

 

Another one - on back is written "Hamburg-Bremen Autobahn C Sqn tanks at halt.

 

Tank Park - Rotenburg 1945

 

I note that your first and last photos do not appear to be Crocodiles as they are armed with the 95 mm howitzer. I believe all Crocodiles were converted from 75 mm armed Mk.VII.

 

That is an interesting point (and potentially complicates my research!). They were both taken at Rotenburg, where I think they were all (not sure how many - the Regiment or a part of it?) based pending decisions on what to do after the cease fire.

 

Tim

Great to see photos of C Sqn which are few and far between, thanks for posting these. Also timely with D-Day's 80th, there's a possiblity the photo of 13 Tp at Xmas shows Lt Shearman, the Troop Leader, who commanded 13 Tp on D-Day.

Wonderful to see all the men of the Troop in their Zoot/Pixie Suits. It's possible this troop photo shows all the tank crew in 13 Tp at that time, by this stage they were operating four Crocodiles per Tp so there'd be 20 crew per Tp.

Rotenburg was where they went in that period of occupation before the fates of regiments and the destinations of the men were announced. They moved to Rotenburg in late May 1945 and spent the next three months based there before moving on to Friedrichstadt and coming under 11 Armd Div which is why you can see the odd photo of 141RAC wearing the 11AD Bull. Their last moved was to Tonning in early October and it was here that the announcement of their disbandment came.

Not long before they moved away from Rotenburg, the regiment handed over all its Crocs to 3RTR, the photos of SPITFIRE shows a 95mm gun tank that would be in Sqn HQ, the number 65 inside the C Sqn marking is odd, not sure what that refers to and the other 95mm photo has the expected HQ inside the circle.

Was 14237068 Tpr Eric 'Ticker' Jones your father-in-law? If it is, there's a reprint of the 79th Armd Div history regularly on eBay that has signatures on the title page, one of which is 'Ticker Jones.' The item number on eBay is 292999979865.

John

 

John,

Thank you for that. Yes that is my FIL, and we recognise his signature. I have ordered one of the reprints so we look forward to that. Amazing that it has his signature on it.

Thank you again for the information.
Tim

 

Tim,

I’m interested in the photos that your FIL has from Copenhagen. Once hostilities had ended, one officer and 24 OR,s were sent to Copenhagen for guard duty on the occasion of the King of Denmark,s 75th birthday. My father, who was a tank driver with HQ squadron, was one of the men sent there. I have attached a photo of a group of the men, including my father. I would be interested to know if your FIL is in the group and of any other photos you may have of that particular trip. I do have a couple of others, but I believe they were possibly taken by a street photographer as some of the men were walking about the city.

Apologies to everyone else as the above post is totally off topic, but to make it relevant I have also attached a photo of my father on an HQ tank with name and partial number shown. I believe it may be. Churchill IV, but would be happy if any expert could confirm.

 

Thanks for posting the photos Granite Sheep.

Yes, I also think SUBDUE is a Churchill IV. The T-number apears to be 68595, although the last digit could be a 3 or possibly an 8.

 

Granite Sheep,

Sadly FIL is in neither.
I am travelling at the moment, but will post more images on my return. Hopefully I will be able to provide some useful information.
Tim

 

Tim,

That’s a pity that he wasn’t in the photo. I look forward to seeing what you have.

Andrew

 

Apologies for the delayed follow up.

I am trying to avoid manhandling the photos we have, which are in an album. Therefore I have taken a shot of each page, which I will post here, (and apologies for the poor quality). If anyone wants a better copy of any of the images I can remove it/them and scan it.

Hopefully the size/number of images does not cause a problem. This is Part 1, Part 2 to follow.

 

Part 2 of Photos

 

Fantastic collection Tim. I must take my time and have a close look at each photo.

 

Thank you so much for posting these Tim, what a wonderful collection, as Andrew says, lots to study there.

Completely understand your worries about removing the photos from the corners. I've developed a technique that works in most cases, there's always one difficut so-and-so, and avoids creasing or damaging the prints. I use an old metal nail file, one of those about 3in long with the curved end and thumnail scoop near the end. So anything remaotely similar will do, the stiffness is key, slide the file under the middle of the photo along the landscape side and gently prise up the centre of the photo. Next bit tends to depend on the size of the print, the bigger the easier it is. Use that arc that develops as you lift up the centre to gently grip the photo to slide one end out of the corners, the other side them pulls out easily. Harder to descibe that lift and pull action than visualise but hopegfully one of those actions that will be clearer once you try. To put the photo back it's sort of the same thing in reverse but no need for the nail file or implement.

Of course one of the teasers with photos in an album like this is, is there any writing on the reverse? Best of luck removing any of them.

John

 

Tim,

After a first look through a couple of bits of info come up, the latter photos in 1946 show the Greys' cap badge which is the regiment your father-in-law was transferred to during 141's disbanding.

On photo11 the chap top right marked 'Guess Who?' I'm pretty sure is the Sqn commander Maj Dan Duffy.

On photo3 there is part of the tank name, I think this is SUPERB which was in 14 Tp, C Sqn. The only other C Sqn one with 'UP' in the name I've found so far was SUPREME but the letter after the P looks more like an E.

John

 

John,

Thank you (and for the tip on dealing with the photos in the album).

FIL is the person in the top right image on photo3. The back of that one (I took the risk!) has on it:

""Superior"
Our Crew
Rotenburg
July 1945"

The picture that you are referring to with SUP is definitely not an R - it's either an E (or F?). On the back is:

"Allan
Jim Ellis
Kirwood
Len Davies" (we think)
"(Rotenburg July 1945)"

None is FIL

I probably need to take a few more out!

Tim

 

Tim,

I am interested in the group photo of the dozen men taken in Copenhagen as it is difficult to identify anyone. If possible, a closer scan would be great and if there is anything written on the back it would be a bonus. I’m just wondering if my Dad is possibly present. Comments on the back of a photo of this era can be priceless for identification purposes.

Andrew

 

Andrew,

Unfortunately it is not very good quality, but here is a better scan.
"Copenhagen SEPT 45
C Sqn Guard of Honour"

Hope this helps,
Tim

 

Andrew,

What was his name?